One reason alone is why I’m on twitter. To make money. I don’t mean to give Lara the willies. But it’s true. I also post stuff about my kids. I also have made great friends from twitter. I’ve also learned a ton about the world. Still, at the end of the day, twitter is about earning customers for me. Or, should I say, helping people. It’s working. I’m doing enough business to support my family of 4, just from Twitter.

[Honesty Box: We live in the Midwest and are radically cheap.]

This is the ethos you need to have starting out:

1.) Value And Honor Every Relationship Possible. Twitter is about relationships. It’s about small communities, ideas bouncing around. You’re there to help everyone possible. You’re there to be of service. Get it? You have to help people. Let’s get specific: be of maximum service to 100 people at and around your level. Get to know them. Go out of your way to help. For free. If you need to, put a spreadsheet down to remind yourself to interact with them and encourage them.

2.) Stop Broadcasting & Automating. OK, you can repeat stuff. And you should. You can use Twuffer. And you should. But if you’re gonna roll with the “Hey, here’s a widget that gives you 9,000,000 indifferent followers in 5 minutes,” you’re not giving anything good. You’re not adding value, you’re the guy at the wedding trying to hook you into MLM. You’re also marking yourself as a newbie. Use search.twitter.com to follow keywords as I mentioned in this post.

3.) Stop begging for love from the big names. I see people trying to get attention from “name brand” blogger with 25,000 followers with nothing more to give than “Hey check out my site, what do you think.” You don’t make it big by getting a @mrskutcher to notice you. You make it big by giving value to someone with 500 followers, and having him get so happy he refers his friends to you, on and off twitter. Help people first and you’ll win.

4.) Get Local, dog gone it. Probably the biggest mistake I made was to eschew the local market to chase other business. That was dumb. It’s something I’m correcting, but I’ve lost the first mover advantage in Columbus, OH. I’ve just started reaching out. What I’ve learned? Twitter provides instant rapport when you call on them. Twitter + your local area makes it even better. Had I done this a year or more ago, I would have had results much sooner.

5.) Don’t Follow So Many People. Following is a promise. To care, to watch, even if intermittently. To link, to help. I “follow” 1800 and that’s far too many. I can only watch about 300-400. I am representing that I care about people I don’t know, and that, I find deceitful. Your mileage may vary depending on how you use twitter, but following people you don’t watch isn’t my thing. I’m in it and about relationships. True fans, true friends. Not mass numbers.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



5 More Things You Do To Get Business On Twitter

One of the most exciting features of Twitter is the ability to be able to search every possible tweet in the public timeline and be shown while you’re searching if a new tweet comes through. Now most Twitter users wouldn’t think that being able to search Twitter updates is a very needed or even useful function. For the business or professional user, this tool can be essential. Why is it so essential you might ask? Because the opportunities are endless. Let me run some through for you:

1. You can find work. I was literally shocked to find out that employers are now starting to tweet when they have an open position or when they need a temporary or contract position. This is amazing for me as I’m a freelance writer in addition to doing Internet marketing and still being a student. I’m going to explain later on in this post about how I find jobs as soon as they become available allowing me to be one of the first to respond.
2. You can find business opportunities. Are you currently looking for your next joint venture project or looking for another like minded professional to go on a tour with? Twitter has your answer for that as you can simply search something as simple as “Looking to start JV” and you can find other Twitter users who you can reach out and connect with on which I’ll also be explaining later in this post.

Let’s look at the first opportunity and see just how I currently am using it and how you can use it to. I use TweetDeck for all 99% of my Twitter usage which allows me to keep everything nice and separated within its own little sub window. One of the extra windows I’ve added is a Twitter search for the phrase “looking for writer”. What this allows is for TweetDeck to keep updating that search so when a new Tweet comes along, I can quickly go see what the Tweet says and if possible, reach out and connect with the other user who needs the writing done.

The next thing I’d like to discuss is using Twitter to find business opportunities. Let me start off by saying that if you are an established name in your industry, business opportunities will flock to you. All you have to do is ask. Ask by asking in a tweet, just say “Anyone want to JV?”. This gets the ball rolling and you can now reach out and connect with other users who are interested and as you learn more about each of them, you can make your decision. The best part about this, is that they’re coming to you. You don’t have to take time out of your schedule to go find them. If you’re looking for business opportunities though, you might want to use search.twitter.com as well, as you can find people looking to start businesses by simply typing in “Looking to start business”.

Here are some key points about reaching out and connecting with other users that you should be implementing in order to get the full advantage of using Twitter Search.

1. Introduce yourself personally. You might think that it’s best to send out the same canned response to everyone, but it’s not. Far from it entirely, in fact. What you should be doing is using there name when you respond to them and include a fact you found out about them. How will you find that fact? You need to research them. Go to their website, check out their blog, whatever they have, read it.
2. Make sure you have your contact details listed. This is quite frustration for me at times as the other user won’t have their email or website listed and having a tweet simply saying “Looking for a writer, DM me.” Well I obviously can’t DM them if they aren’t following me. Solution: Make yourself available and actually have a custom twitter background with your contact details on it.
3. Be friendly. Last of all, just be friendly. If you’re friendly, good things shall come.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Leveraging Your Opportunities On Twitter

When I first read about Twitter in a Wired magazine article a little more than a year ago, I thought: What a waste of cyberspace! Why on earth would anyone waste their time trading banal “news” items like: Wearing pink slippers and eating a PBJ. Or, Cleaned toilet. Now for the sink.

Even productivity guru Tim Ferriss called Twitter “pointless e-mail on steroids.” At the time, I couldn’t have agreed more.

But what a difference a year makes! Like me, Tim Ferriss has now joined Twitterville. Of course, he follows no one and has about 10,720 followers. But that’s beside the point.

What I’m trying to say is that if you’re not orbiting in the Twitterverse, you might as well be living on Mars.

Everyone is all atwitter about Twitter now. It’s the THING. It’s the new pet rock of the worldwide cyber village. But I also don’t think it’s a fad. Twitter and other social networking tools are changing the way companies and individuals do business, get information, and communicate.

And the Twitterverse is getting more crowded by the day because late-adopter dolts like me finally get it. We’re all doing the “I-coulda-had-a-V8” head thump: Duh! Twitter is great for growing your business.

If you own a business of any size and you’re still not Twittering, you’re missing out on what amounts to a worldwide virtual chamber of commerce networking event that’s at your fingertips 24/7. Only on Twitter, you don’t press flesh or swap business cards—you exchange links to your Web site, blog, e-books, and online résumé. And you build relationships 140 characters at a time.

Still not convinced that Twitter can help your freelance business? Maybe my list will change your mind. As a business tool, Twitter can help you:

1. Find new clients

When I first joined Twitter, I didn’t think my participation would amount to anything but wasted time. But as my list of followers continued to grow, I began to realize the full potential of this microblogging tool. Just in the last week, I’ve received two inquiries from people who found me on Twitter and are interested in hiring me to do some writing for them. These are people who I would not have met otherwise. And I’m betting they would not have stumbled across my online portfolio and Web site without the aid of Twitter.

2. Make new contacts

In the past few days, I’ve made contact with two magazine editors and a literary agent via Twitter. We’ve chatted back and forth, and I’ve received an invite to pitch a story idea to one of the magazines. If not for Twitter, I never would have made these contacts or had the opportunity to talk to these people in near real time. Most editors and clients have overflowing inboxes, so I’m finding that Twitter can help you bypass the e-mail backlog that plagues most editors and potential clients these days. I’ve also made contact with other writers and editors from all over the world, tech people, social media gurus, other self-employed professionals, recruiters, and a number of other really interesting, talented individuals. Next time I’m looking for someone to interview for an HR or business story I’m working on, I’ll know exactly where to look—in my very own list of fellow Twitterers. And if I don’t have the expert I’m looking for in my current list of followers, all I have to do is use the Twitter search function, look for new people to follow, and contact them.

3. Stay informed

Staying on top of breaking news events and other news in your industry is a snap with Twitter. Witness how Twitter forever changed the way elections are reported or how the recent tragedy in Mumbai was broadcasted almost instantaneously by people who were actually living the nightmare. I don’t think Twitter will ever replace good old-fashioned reporting, but it sure does add another layer of real-time information that is invaluable. And if you have a question about a particular topic, all you have to do is post it and someone will answer. The other day, I wanted to find out how to change the background on my Twitter page. Within seconds, I had answers and some great new tools at my disposal.

4. Generate story ideas

Can’t figure out what to write about? Tune in to Twitter and listen in on some interesting conversations. Twitter is great because it allows you to be a virtual fly on the wall. In fact, I would argue that tracking Tweets is the cyber equivalent of sitting in a coffee shop with a notebook and writing down interesting snippets of conversation (if you’re a writer, don’t tell me you’ve never done this). My followers and the people I track on Twitter also have some very interesting blogs and articles sitting out there in cyberspace. And if you’re like me, reading always helps generate more story ideas.

5. Build your brand

One thing that distinguishes me from other freelance writers and editors is my area of expertise: HR and business. So every time I write an HR story or a post for The Golden Pencil, I publicize it on Twitter with a link. This helps build a following, and also provides information about my writing to potential clients, editors, writers, and other professionals. It also helps build my brand. Building a brand is a must for your business. I know, for example, when Darren Rowse has posted on Twitter, there’s probably a new story about blogging or Twitter that I will want to read. So if you Twitter often enough in a targeted way, your followers will start associating your name with a particular area of expertise. And that will help you grow your business.

6. Drive traffic to your Web site

Every time I Twitter about one of my blog posts on The Golden Pencil, I see a nice spike in traffic. And since I started building more business relationships on Twitter, I now have a few more regular readers who drop by every time I post a new link. If not for Twitter, I’m certain I would not have these new readers visiting my site every day. At the moment, I can’t think of a more immediate, effective, interactive marketing tool than Twitter. Can you?

7. Improve your writing

I can almost hear some of you now: How on earth can Twitter help improve my writing? Each post only allows for 140 characters! Well, as one of my journalism professors used to say: “Write tight!” Twitter helps you learn how to trim unnecessary fat from your sentences. And as someone who writes a lot of headlines for various e-publications, I’ve found that it’s also a great way to practice headline writing. You can tell when you’ve written a good one, because you’ll get a lot of comments. And on occasion, someone will like it so much that they’ll retweet it. This is valuable information—particularly if you have a blog. Using Twitter as a training ground, you learn how to write headlines that make people click on the link and read the rest of the story.

8. Learn about new tools

I recently started following @AlbertMaruggi, a very nice gentleman on Twitter who knows a ton about about podcasting. After finding out what he did for a living, I started asking a lot of questions. And as a result, I found out about Utterli. which is without a doubt, the coolest tool discovery I’ve made in weeks. Twitter also is how I learned about hellotxt and Ping.fm—two tools that I now use on a daily basis.

So have I convinced you yet? Let me know! Please feel free to say hello on Twitter: @JennyCromie. Or drop by and visit me on my blog at The Golden Pencil. I’d love to hear from you!

Written by Jenny Cromie, a full-time HR/business freelance writer, editor, and Twitter convert. Jenny also is editor of The Golden Pencil, a b5media blog about freelance writing and how to build a successful freelance writing business.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



8 Ways that Twitter Can Grow Your Freelance Business