We’ve all heard the phrase “It’s business, it’s not personal”. One of the greatest things that Social Media has done for the world is made business very personal. So much so that if a business does not figure it out soon, they could be out of business.

The game has changed and now more than ever the power is in the hands of the costumer. Social Media can make or break a business.

Behind the Mask

For as long as advertising has been available, a business could pretty much tell the customer whatever they wanted them to know. They hire actors as testimonials, shoot commercials with the perfect looking person, having the greatest time at their store or with their product.

They could be the worst business in the world but put on the greatest show. They had all the power to put on a mask and not let you see behind it, until they had your money.

Social Media Changes the Game

Social Media has changed everything! The customer now has a bigger voice than ever! It does not take long for the news about a business that did something bad or good to spread with sites like Twitter and Facebook.

With review sites like Yelp, Google local reviews etc… Businesses have to be on top of their game and as personal as ever. Social Media has allowed us to see who a business really is. To see which businesses care about you the costumer and which do not.

When I was selling cars, they use to remind us that if you make a customer happy, they may tell 1 person. If you make a customer mad, they will tell 10.

With Social Media, if you make a customer happy, they have the ability to tell thousands. And you have the ability to it in front of thousands. And of course, if you make a customer mad, they can tell thousands, who then will tell thousands!

Small Town Rules

Gary Vaynerchuck posted a great video on Small Town Rules. He talked about how with Social Media, everyone knows your business. That means that more than ever we know which businesses actually care about the customer. It’s like living in a small town.

Services like FourSquare add even more to that, as you can now see where people are going most and what they like about that place. That sign on the window of every single coffee shop in town that says “World’s Best Coffee”, no longer matters.

Business is now more personal than ever!

My next post will cover how a business can effectively use Social Media.

Related posts:

1. McDonald’s Gives You What You Want
2. Why You Need an Autoresponder
3. What World of Warcraft Taught Me About Achieving My Goals

Whether you are a Blogger, Internet Marketer or a Business, you need an autoresponder. Whenever I mention email autoresponders I always get that weird look from people and the question of why they would need it.

So I want to clear up what it is and why it is needed.

What is an Autoresponder?

First let me define what an autoreponder is. I use Aweber (affiliate link) to handle my autoresponder service. What this does is allows me to place a form on my site that asks a visitor to give me at least their name and email. This is done normally in exchange for something.

This can be a newsletter, a coupon, a free gift etc… Once they give you the name and email they automatically get sent their gift.

Then that person can start to receive emails that you setup automatically, as many as you want. These emails deliver a message that you feel that person should be receiving to either market or inform. Plus you can send emails to the entire email list that you build when you have announcements or specials etc..

So what can you do with it?

Auto Marketing

First, I like to look at an auto responder as “auto marketing”. For some of you I just said the “M” word! Marketing is not a dirty word! It is all around you, you do it every day!

I recently was told that I should not tell people that I am in marketing because it scares people. If you are scared by marketing, then I can’t help you. It is essential to the survival of any business, and the success of any individual. You have to market yourself throughout your entire life.

With an autoresponder you can set up small email messages that are automatically sent at intervals you determine. These can be used to market your product to the customer or your business.

This person has taken an interest in what you have to offer and now you have a chance to automatically market to them on a daily basis if you wish.

Auto Informing

You can also look at an autoresponder as “auto informing”. Sometimes marketing may not be the right term. Informing may fit better. An autoresponder is a great way to give someone more information about you, your products or your company.

Sometimes that little bit of extra information can go a long way in building trust. An autoresponder can do that for you. One of my business clients is an appliance service. We set up the auto responder to send out 3 initial emails that teach the customer tips on how to maintain their home appliances.

In this case he is not necessarily marketing but is informing the customer in order to build trust.

Auto Retaining

Another great way to use an auto responder is for “auto retaining”. This is the area that most businesses fail at. They spend so much of their efforts trying to bring in new customers. They forget that retaining the current customers is much cheaper.

You can send out short emails thanking them for their loyalty. Offer discounts to customers on the list. Ask for referrals. There are many ways to use an autoresponder to retain current customers.

Auto Communicating

The bottom line is that an autoresponder can “auto communicate” for you. That is the most important thing. It captures leads and communicates whatever message you want to them.

An autoresponder can be the difference between a shopper and a buyer. Once they have filled out that form they have told you that they are interested in a service or product you have.

They willingly gave you their information and if you use it wisely you can gain not just a customer but hopefully a lifetime customer.

The most important thing with the autoresponder is to make sure that you have a call to action at the end of each email. Whether it is to buy something, visit the site or even just to reply to the email.

An autoresponder can be huge for a business or even if you are just trying to get information out!

Related posts:

1. Who Stays In Your Inbox?
2. McDonald’s Gives You What You Want
3. It’s Business and Now It Is Personal

2009 went by way too fast! I can’t believe it is 2010 already. To be honest, the closer we got to the end of the year the slower I wanted it to go. Why? Because I had not achieved all I wanted to in 2009. There were a few goals I set for the year that I had not reached and I wanted more time to do so. But that didn’t happen, so what’s next?

Analyzing my failures

I’m not afraid to call them failures, failures are not always a bad thing. Sometimes we fail due to lack of effort. Sometimes due to bad planning. Sometimes because we set the wrong goal.

Many of the goals I had for 2009 were actually unrealistic. Unfortunately I figured that out too late and probably put more stress and wasted time than I needed to.

Sometimes we have a goal or project in mind that we want to do, but fail to really evaluate how important it is or whether we can achieve it in the time we set.

My biggest failure in 2009 was taking on too much. Which really stinks because in this business that is what the experts warn you about. I took on a lot of projects which caused me to overload and not finish many of them to 100%.

I want to list some of them here so that I can read back on it and see if I learned my lessons.

My Failures

I started blogging as a serious blogger in late 2008 – early 2009. 2008 was kind of experimental but it was last year that I made the decision to really work at it. One of the dumb mistakes I made was taking way too much time designing my first blog instead of actually blogging. This was a huge mistake that was mostly made in 2008 but affected 09.

I also ended up with 2 blogs within my first year, which I definitely do not recommend.

Too many projects. As I started to increase my understanding of Internet Marketing and wanted to do more of it, I took on too much. This cost me a lot of money because it became very hard to finish a project.

Many of them I cannot list here but one of them is Tweet Matrix. This was one of those cases where I had a great idea but did not evaluate the time I would have to invest. I also did not consider outsourcing the work and come up with a plan to do so. So it sits there and waits for me to get time or drop it.

Not being as organized as I wanted to be was another failure. Although I am more organized than ever it was not good enough to be as productive as possible. I can definitely say however that the last 3 months have been very productive. So I did get it about 90% down toward the end of the year.

Moving Forward

So moving forward into 2010 I actually am taking a tip from Chris Brogan and using the “ 3 words” method.

My 3 words for 2010 are:

Grow – There are a lot of areas in my life that I have room to grow. A lot of things I have learned that I know I could perfect. I don’t think we ever stop growing in any area of our life but I know there is growth needed in 2010.

No – I have to work on saying no more. No to people who need my time when I don’t have it to give, and no to myself. That includes not taking on too much. Some ideas need to be filed in the “long term” file. I say yes too many times when someone needs my help, it’s great to be helpful but not if I just don’t have the time.

In fact there is one project I have been a part of since 2004 that has taken a lot of my time. It’s a good project but I always find myself unable to give 100%. Going into 2010 I am  phasing it out.

Structure – This is my term for organizing in 2010. I like structure, little systems for getting things done. When you structure different areas of your life you will find that it is far more organized. And many times each area affects each other and we don’t realize it.

So what are your failures in 2009? List them in the comments and reference back to this post next year. What are your goals for 2010?

Related posts:

1. What World of Warcraft Taught Me About Achieving My Goals
2. Who Stays In Your Inbox?

Just recently I went through my inbox and was trying to get it more organized. I use Gmail for all of my email accounts and have many just forwarded and some are pop3. But I have like 10 different email accounts and it can get cluttered.

As an Internet Marketer I also subscribe to many other Internet Marketer’s email lists. I like to see what they are up to and always keep learning. This can lead to a very busy inbox. Many times a hundred or more emails a day from Internet Marketers.

I also follow many Bloggers and receive their emails. It’s one of the ways that I keep learning. But not all of the emails are all that helpful. In fact 90% of them are just selling something. Which is not always bad but some value mixed in is always good.

Then there are some who I always want to read because even if they are just selling something, they are very gifted at their email copy and so I learn just by reading what they write.

So to be successful at actually learning something here I have to filter it.

Filtering the Noise

In Gmail I use filters and labels a lot. For those who do not know, with Gmail I can take emails from a certain person and have it labeled “Internet Marketing” for example. Gmail will then label all emails from that person. This organizes my emails kind of like tags. If you are using outlook it’s like your folders.

Gmail also allows me to “skip the inbox”. Meaning that the email just goes straight to the label/folder and does not show in my inbox. But I can still see that I have a new message in “Internet Marketing” or “Blogging” etc…

This allows me to not get caught up in checking those emails all day and look at them later or tomorrow when I have more time. I can leave the inbox for only important messages.

But some of those Internet Marketers or Bloggers I want to see as they come in and don’t want them getting lost in the mix and possibly ignored for a few days.

The 2 ways to do that is have them starred automatically or have Gmail leave them in the inbox. So as I was setting up my filters I was taking notice of who I was leaving in the inbox and who I had skipping the inbox. I thought it says a lot about that person and how much I respect their emails. It was kind of an inadvertent way of seeing who gives me the best content.

Who Stays in My Inbox

So who stays in my inbox? (in no particular order)

Frank Kern – Frank is one of the most brilliant Internet Marketers I know. Not only does he send out good content but his emails are generally really good and I like to read them.

Darren Rowse – Darren was one of the first people I started learning from. Before I got into Internet Marketing it was blogging that got me interested in working online and that then lead to Internet Marketing. Darren’s newsletter is great and I am also subscribed to his ProBlogger Community.

David Risley – David was one of the early people I found as well and was pretty excited when I found out that not only does he live near me but he also runs a local meetup group every month. I have been going to that group for almost a year now. David has a great blog and puts out some good content in his emails. He is one of the few I know of that is combining Blogging with Internet Marketing and doing it really well.

Chris Brogan – Chris is constantly offering great content on his blog and also puts out some really good stuff in his newsletter. I would highly recommend signing up for that.

Jeremy Schoemaker aka Shoemoney – Jeremy is also one of the guys I started following early. His blog is pretty diverse but he is a genius when it comes to Local Affiliate Marketing which as a business consultant I have found great use of.

This list is not a list of the only people who I find worth following, it is just a list of the people I consider to give enough good content that I want to see their emails daily as they come in.

There are several other really good people out there who I love to keep up with but because of time, may not be able to do so every day.

This list is also not a list of the people who have influenced me the most, I am actually working on a post about that, that I will be posting soon.

So who stays in your inbox?

You may not even realize it but there are probably some people you follow that are providing more great content then others and you are already filtering them but don’t know it.  If you aren’t, make sure that you are. It is always good to surround your self with motivators and good influencers and then identify the ones that really help you and separate them.

Might even be a Twitter Group or List. Or using Gmail like I am.

So who stays in YOUR inbox?

Related posts:

1. Setting Up Gmail For Multiple Accounts
2. Why You Need an Autoresponder
3. My Top 10 Apps 1st Edition

Last night I was up until 3am organizing my office. I cannot believe how much clutter I had on and around my desk. Every morning I was literally shoving stuff out of my way to have room. If you are like me, you probably do not work well when things are messy. I find that I am way more productive when I have a clean environment.

Over time though we can let things build up and then we are working in an extremely cluttered environment. So I took action and cleaned it all up. My wife was amazed at how much I got done last night. Now I am sitting here and feel way more productive and ready to be more productive.

What got me started on this mission to cleanup the clutter was actually an email from Robert Plank. I signed up for his Time Management course called Time Management on Crack. He gives you a 10 part mini course for free.

One of his emails was about keeping a clean office for better productivity. I had always known that but got lazy and it was a good reminder. So I thought I would share that with you and give you a chance to get the free course too.

Hopefully you are already smarter than me and always keep a clean workspace. It definitely does help.

Related posts:

1. How To Be Productive When You Work From Home
2. Who Stays In Your Inbox?
3. 2010 Here I Come!

With the economy as bad as it is and unemployment so high, it amazes me how many people are just sitting around waiting for it to get better. The only way to be successful in this situation is to go out and do something.

Go create something. Find a service you can provide. Anything that will make you money. I would not be surprised if things get worse. So will you be sitting there hoping for something to change or out making change?

Set Your Priorities

Recently I had to take a break from blogging. The reason for that was that I had some tasks that were falling behind and I needed to take care of them.
They were tasks that provide income and therefore should be number one on my list. As things got a bit busy and hectic I had to take a break from the blog.

I had to prioritize to catch up.

Hang Out With Like Minded People

This past week I was at a monthly meetup group I attend. It is for Internet entrepreneurs that David Risley put together. This meetup usually has about 15-20 people.

Strangely though it usually always has 2-3 new people each month who are looking to get into making money online. Those 2-3 people are usually different each month because many of the new people don’t stick it out.

As I sat there last week talking with Melanie Milletics and Ryan Magin, both who are working fulltime for themselves online. We discussed how bad the economy was and that at least we were there at the meetup.

We are doing something! Were not at home wishing we had better jobs. We are doing what it takes and at the same time meeting with like minded people who are also working for themselves and taking action.

It’s amazing that at over 11% unemployment now here in Tampa, there are not more people at a meetup like that.

Do Whatever It Takes

So go out and do whatever it takes to make it happen. If may take a lack of sleep and you may have to watch less TV. But taking the time to learn and take action on something will be worth it, especially when the economy no longer determines how you live.

You may have to be creative with your time. In fact as an example I am writing this post from my iPhone while at my parents house. I got a break from the activities and I am using it.

On the way home I will probably write another. I use my time as wisely as I can because I want to be successful.

Now instead of just reading this and thinking it’s something you should do, go out and do it!

Related posts:

1. How To Be Productive When You Work From Home

Recently I was thinking about my follow strategy on Twitter. Well, strategy is probably not the best word. Method or style would be more fitting.

I was wondering how much value I was getting from the people I followed. And how much was I getting from my followers.

This was really easy to gauge based on the ReTweet’s I get, the @replies and how many clicks I get when I post a link. Overall just how much of a conversation was Twitter vs. just a numbers game.

The answer was very little compared to the 3200 + followers I had and the 3000 + people I was following. No doubt some were following just because I followed them. These people are the ones who will rarely add value to Twitter for you.

So I decided that it was time to start a new strategy to get more out of Twitter. No I do not plan on unfollowing everyone as some of the “gurus” have done.

I actually am still not 100% sure that those who did are doing the right thing. In fact I wrote up a post about how wrong I thought it was but have not posted yet. Want some time to evaluate further.

Quality or Quantity

I wrote a guest post for Twitip called “Twitter Followers: Quantity or Quality?” I laid out the arguments for having quality followers, being the ones who will ReTweet, reply, visit your site etc.. vs. quantity of followers who will just boost your numbers but pretty much ignore you.

My thoughts on those are unchanged but what has changed is how I handle who I follow back.

To Follow or Not to Follow

I have never auto followed. Because I know doing that would have me following a ton of spam accounts. I also did not want anyone to look at who I’m following and find some webcam site.

So my method was to take time and go through my recent follows and look at their profile and recent tweets to see if it was someone who had similar interests.

This of course took quite a bit of time and during busy times I fell behind on it.

Keeping Track

The biggest problem with following a lot of people is how do you keep track? The way I have done that is by using TweetDeck. I have created different columns.

My first column is all of the people I am following. And yes I do look at that as often as possible and try to reply or ReTweet anything of interest. Then I have a few other columns for the people I like to watch for more often. That way I can still see everyone’s but I can also make sure I do not miss certain feeds.

But again watching the main feed can take a lot of time. But I feel it is necessary to engage in conversation and get a better quality of followers.

Increasing Quality

So here is where I started to rethink my methods a bit. I have over 3200 followers. But I only average 20 clicks when I post a link to my blog or an article I found.

That’s not even 1%! This tells me that I have a ton of followers who are pretty much ignoring me. I also gauge this my how many responses I get to a question I ask etc..

So I knew that I needed to try and increase the quality of my followers. And to do that it starts with who I am following.

My New Method

So my new method of following is that instead of going through my recent followers and following anyone that looks interesting, I will instead follow those who engage in conversation. Anyone who ReTweets or replies to a tweet I will make sure I am following. Those are the followers that will make Twitter far more interactive and beneficial.

It’s nice when you can use a medium like Twitter to find out what products are good. Or get advise about a blog post etc.. But if 99% of your followers are ignoring you that won’t help.

By following back less I will have less noise in my “all followers” feed and can reply to them more and engage in conversation more. This will create stronger relationships.

Of course there are still going to be people I follow who do not follow back. That’s fine because I do not follow to get followed back, I do so because I am interested in you and what you have to say.

So what should you take from this? You should do exactly what I do! lol

NO! I could still be completely wrong! Do what you feel is right and what works best for you.

Related posts:

1. What Is Your ReTweet Number?

I named this 1st addition because I am sure that these will be evolving and changing every year. But I wanted to share the apps that I use the most and how they help me. I have always loved these types of posts when others make them because I like to stay up on what apps are best out there. So I figured that I would share mine.

These are not in any particular order just as I thought of them.

1. Gmail

I recently switched from Outlook to Gmail. Outlook was just giving me way too many errors. This was a big deal for me since I have used Outlook for so long and have always loved it. I thought there was no way that Gmail and Google Calendar could take it’s place. Well, Outlook had me on edge and then crashed again one day and that pushed me over. I migrated all of my accounts into Gmail and copied all of my emails over.

I have actually been more productive since doing so. Gmail just seems to do a much better job of organizing with labels than Outlook did with folders. It has also made it much easier to deal with important emails than Outlook did. I have also found that the star feature works better than Outlooks flag system. Oh and I highly recommend the multiple inbox feature in labs.

Since I used Outlook for email and calendar I am listing Google Calendar with this. I again was very surprised at how well Google Calendar works and how productive I have been with it. The tasks are far easier to use and schedule than Outlook.

And the fact that there are offline versions of both is a nice bonus.

2. Evernote

Evernote lets you type or speak notes and stores them online, so you can access them from any computer. They also have a great mobile app to take notes on the run.

I must admit that at first I was not sure that I would get much use out of Evernote but I definitely have. It is a much better way to take notes since they are kept online and can be accessed anywhere, this is a big plus. I can go through the day taking notes and then the Evernote websites is one of the first things I look at in the morning and see all my notes.

I also use it for bookmarking sites that I wish to take some action on. For instance if I find a blog with a nice feature I want I will bookmark it in Evernote and place it in my blog folder. That way I know to attend to it. For more long term stuff I use Delicious and maybe mark it as a tutorial etc..

I use the audio feature a lot because I can be out driving and see something I wish to blog about, instead of having to write it down or hope that I remember it, I can just speak it into Evernote and it will be on my home pc when I get home to handle. Audio is also much better since I can say more than I would write and you can sense emotion in audio.

3. TweetDeck

If you are using Twitter, TweetDeck is the best app I have found to keep up with tweets, organize your groups and even handle multiple accounts. Out of all of the Twitter apps I have tried this has been the best for me. Without it I would definitely not be so active on Twitter. If you are not on Twitter get with it and get an account.

4. Windows Live Writer

Windows live Writer has made writing my blog posts so much easier. It has great options in it that help me make the posts look nicer as well. I can also use multiple blogs with it and switch back and forth from them.

It is much easier than logging into Wordpress to make a post. Especially if you do not have internet access at the time. I am actually using it right now to write this post while my wife is driving.

5. Digsby

I have a lot of contacts on instant messenger. Digsby is a great way to put all my accounts into one. I use to use Trillian but they got real outdated and took forever to release their new version which catches them up with Digsby. But it was too late and I already got use to Digsby and see no reason to change.

6. Skype

Skype has been a great app for IM and voice chat. I use it on more of a professional level than my other IM’s. It’s become my business IM service. The audio and video features are great for conferencing.

You can also use it as a phone service but I use Magic Jack for that.

7. Camtasia

If you are doing video blogging or video editing this is a great app. It is not as expensive as others and it definitely gets the job done. All of my videos are edited on Camtasia. I also use their screen capture feature a lot to do tutorials or case studies. Very simple program to use and it does quite a bit.

8. Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver is hands down the best app for building websites. I use this constantly for building my sites. The only exception would be that sometimes I will use Xsite Pro which has some nice features for quick site building.

9. RoboForm

What an amazing app this is. RoboForm has saved me so much time and made my passwords more secure, as it has a feature to generate a password for you. And since you do not have to remember them they can be really secure.

I use to use the same password for everything so I would remember it. It will also open WebPages for you and login automatically for you. So if I need to get into the admin section of my blogs I just click on them and it opens the login page and logs in.

It will also fill forms for you. I highly recommend this app. It is also password protected so no one can get into your passwords.

10. Dropbox

I am actually pretty new to Dropbox but I already love it. It has been great to share my files on all pc’s and mobile devices. That has been something I struggled with for a long time.

Only downside is that the files must be in one folder for sharing so if you wanted something like all of the contents in your documents folder you would have to move them all there.

Right now I use the free 2g account but have a feeling I will be upgrading very soon.

There are a few more great apps that I just don’t have time to list.

What are your favorite apps?

Related posts:

1. Setting Up Gmail For Multiple Accounts
2. Who Stays In Your Inbox?
3. I Was Wrong About The iPhone

Many times I speak with people who are looking to get into Internet Marketing or Blogging and they have a ton of excuses on why they can’t do this or that. It’s usually “I don’t have the time”, “I don’t have the equipment”.. etc..

They have a long list. I also consult with many businesses who I advise on how to increase traffic and get more leads. Sadly I get excuses about time or often about wanting to have the right equipment.

For instance one of the businesses, I have been telling that they should go out and get a flip camera for $100 and ask the customers for testimonials when the job is complete. He could get on average 3 of them a week.

They still have not done it and every time I mention it I hear that they are waiting to buy a really nice camera so they can make dvd quality vehicles. NO! You will never do it! And even if you do you will probably not have it with you everyday because it’s too nice to get it damaged. So we are still at square 1 with no video testimonials!

Just Do It!

Look, if you have no intention of succeeding then fine, don’t do it. But if you want to see things happen and succeed, then you need to just make it happen.

When I started doing video blogging, I had no camcorder. I needed at least something to do this. My webcam was so bad that it could not be used. So I went on ebay and got a flipcam for $100.

It was good enough for me and I was able to take action and get it done. I did not have a tripod though and really needed one. But instead of making excuses and not shooting videos because I did not have one, I created one.

Here is a picture of my first tripod. I just used chairs and books and boxes and my flip camera. Oh and for lighting I put a lamp behind the camera. People watching the video did not know that and who cares?

So what is holding you back? What are you putting off because you think you don’t have the time or the tools?

No related posts.

Say what you will about McDonald’s food but you have to admit the company does business well. They continue to get better and better at giving you what you want.

You want fast food! Not only are they getting faster but adding the variety that you want. Now they offer their Cafe line of coffees and Lattes. And I must say that their coffee has grown to be one of my favorites.

The Mcdonald’s by me has to be the fastest I have ever seen. They actually have a person out in the drive through with a tablet device taking orders. I talked with them about it and they explained that it frees up the 1st window to just take payments. This speeds up the process.

I went through there the other day and from the time I pulled up with 4 cars in front of me, to the time I had my food could not have been more than a minute and a half. May have even been a minute.

Give The Customer What They Want

They have a great business model of providing what you want. They stay up with what you the customer are into and want in a fast food chain. You wanted salads, you got salads.

You wanted better options for your kids, you got apple slices.

You wanted more desserts, you got McFlurry’s and sundaes, and pies.

You wanted more chicken items you got them.

Free wifi, they just keep adding more reasons to go there.

Even if you do not like the food, you can now go there for a cup of coffee and use the internet to get some work done.

Reaching The Customer

Their advertising is always unique and catches your attention. They keep upgrading their restaurants to be as modern as can be. They do a great job of getting in front of eyeballs and making you remember them.

They are often the trend setter and if they are not they are quick to adapt.

Upsells and Backend Offers

As any good marketing campaign has, they have the upsell of supersizing your meal (I know I know can’t say that anymore it’s Large size now). They have backend offers which are their variety of desserts. They have their act down and continue to adapt and give you what you want.

Related posts:

1. It’s Business and Now It Is Personal
2. Marketing Lessons From Congo River Mini Golf
3. Why You Need an Autoresponder