Tweetup? Yes, a tweetup. I know many many people on about any social media platform are still in the dark when it comes to a tweetup. In NWIndiana, we have a monthly meetup called #nwitweetup. It is a group of near like minded individuals, that range from teachers, coaches, business owners, and really a wide variety of attendees with a common theme. The use of some sort of social media platform (mainly twitter) and a desire to take the online – offline.

This idea of taking the online offline led me to head a panel at Blog Indiana this past weekend. It is a yearly event brining in speakers from Indiana and across the United States from the likes of a Jason Falls to Kyle Lacy to Doug Karr to me and my panel with Duke Long, Amy Stark, Cheryl Watterson, Dana M. Nelson and Will Hardison. Each one, hosting some sort of tweetup from a Social Media Club, Happy Hour or Meetup/Tweetup.

We discussed:

• how to set-up a Tweetup
• how to advertise
• our Tweetup successes and failures
• how to get everyone to engage and involved

Here is a quick video/audio of the event, where I speak of the power and ROI of a tweetup.

I want to thank all of those that were on the panel, attended the panel or watched it via blogindiana.tv live stream and asked some killer questions. I am working on step by step plan on how to set-up a tweetup and it will be available by Thursday this week.

First, I will admit that I’ve been very bad. Well, no, not really, I’ve been very good. I hve neglected my main sites, this one and getUnoticed.com, and have been building some money sites. As many of you know I am an affiliate and network marketer. I’ve had some really great ideas that I will share with many of you in the weeks to come as my “experiments” flourish as I sure they will. But, I digress, I got way behind on a few of my serial blog posts that I simply need to get finished.

This is my get refocused to the business at hand post…

As this ecomnomy continues to take us down whatever road it dman well pleases. I cannot stress enough your need to be prepared for it. You need to plan for your online and your off-line marketing. May business owners are sticking their head in the ground waiting for the worst to blow over, hoping and praying as they ride out this economic storm.

You can look all around you not only are people and businesses surviving, but they are thriving.

What I am really trying to say here is…
Don’t sit around and complain about it…Do something about it!

Here’s How:
1. Take a Screen shot
Really, take a few days, look around your office, you job and your industry, and get a real sense where all 3 are going. Then ask yourself are you cool with that?

2. Get a Clue
If you can see where your industry is going…how is your competition handling it? What are they doing about it?

3. Goals – (did I really just say that?)
What are your numbers? How much do you want to make? Now, compare that to your goals. What are you going to have to do to make your numbers? Drill it down pass the yearly number to the quarterly to even the monthly and weekly. I know a guy that had down to the action. How much money he was losing by waiting on the fax machine. Silly, maybe, but when he eliminated those mundane actions he made more.

4. You can get there from here
Once you got your goals set. You’ve got to ask yourself, “what is it going to take to get there?”
How much do I need to make per client?
How many more clients do I need
Or do I need less clients and more from each client

Once, you got all that figured out, you may need to go back and work on your goals again, and ask yourself how are you going to get there.

5. Action
What old ways are still working for you? What new ways seem to be working not only for you, but for your competition? With just a little creativity both the old and new ways can work and you can easily see an increase with just a tad more effort. Combining “old” media with the “new” media such as social networking and blogging you can enjoy the benefits of increased sale and brand awareness.

6. Get Help
Seek out those that are doing it. You will be amazed at who will take your call for an opportunity to share some ideas. They will learn as much from you as you will them. Really, they will.

Do you or your company need help with your marketing or branding?
Feel Free to contact me today…

Dave

I am sure we all have heard of the flight attendant in New York, who in a moment of clarity decided that he was done. He pulled the escape hatch on the jet and jumped down to the tarmac with a few beers and headed home. He, simply, had enough. I know a few times in my sales and mortgage career I’ve had the Slater moment. Where dealing with clients, banks or other employees. I just knew that I needed to be self-employed. I had to be on my own.

The road may be a little rough, but I know when I get to the end it will all be worth it.

Dave

As a Real Estate agent and Mortgage guy one of the hardest things to do sometimes is get leads, but when the opportunity is right in front of you and you ignore it. Well, that is just a crying shame.

Homes pop up for sale in neighborhoods like celebrity deaths. They rarely happen one time, but they come in a string of them. One celebrity dies and then before you know 2 or 3 more kick off. The same goes for listings, and I just saw happed here in my area. My neighbor listed his house and then the couple a block does it two weeks later, and then around the corner one pops and then down the next block all in rapid succession in about 5 week time period.
So, what are you doing to get that business?

Let’s talk “10-10-20 rule”

Like I said this is not a new concept but has been overlooked. Be an orignal and go out and do it on your next listing or the one you did last week. Heck, you can even go do it on the one you did last year.

Dave
No realtors were hurt or put in harm in any way while filming this video


I hear about the near constant struggle of realtors, mortgage brokers and about every other business out there of getting leads. They look for the magic bullet. For years it may have been the newspaper, then direct mail, then having a website, then blogging and now social media sites. But, still they need good people to buy their product or service. They struggle to find that next new client and they plunge head first into every new concept out there with little thought to a strategy.

Many think that all they need to do is add the 3 “F’s” (fans, friends and followers), but what they really need is raving fans, great friends and die hard followers and the idea of adding thousands upon thousands does not cut it. You don’t want to wade through all the spammers and bots to get that one real person that seeks you or your product out.

What is your strategy when you start a new program whether it be social media, social networking or any other form of advertisement out there. Are you satisfied with just having your name shouted from the mountain top knowing full well that at any moment you could be easily tuned out. I see it on Twitter all the time when one person just simply becomes an echo chamber with her near constant drip of “come see me, come see my site, come hear me talk” banter that has to drive nearly everyone mad. It is like clock work that she found a new toy in the “send later” button and she scheduled it for every two hours.

In the coming weeks, as my life gets back to a normal state as I am launching a plethora of new affiliate sites while maintaining a happy home life. I will delve into a success strategy for social networking across the many platforms of social media sites and my own dual blogs of DaveWoodson.com and getUnoticed.com.

I am sorry that this has taken as long as it has to get this out, but within days of Social Media Day I went on vacation.

I had the pleasure of being a part of two different Social Media Days, one here in NW Indiana and the other in South Bend.  It was great to see the 35+ that showed up at Pepe’s in Valparaiso for the #nwitwtweetup summit, if you will.  We had some great first timers with a great mis of the usual crowd. I then made my way over to South Bend to be a part of their panel after a great talk by @donschindler and was hosted by Michelle Hillaert and Pinnacle of Indiana.

Thanks again to everyone that came out to both events

Dave

The largest, the most heard excuse I hear from the many business owners, real estate agents, mortgage professionals and countless others is that a website is too expensive, it takes too much time and they general believe they lack the knowledge to develop a site.

I pin them to the floor when I explain to them the costs that I incur when I set out to develop my first site and the annual cost that I pay to run a site like this and about 40 others. My costs per year are less than what I pay per month for mine and the Wife’s cell phone bill.

Domain & Hosting
I use Hostmonster*, and I pay roughly $5 to $7 a month. I pay it all up front and so I get a little bit of discount.  I like hostmonster, it allows me unlimited bandwidth and domain hosting. It gives you free email accounts, easy one button WordPress installs(plus, other services) ad great support for those that need it.

Godaddy.com for buying my domains,it has way above average support, and it runs specials all the time for even cheaper domain names often in the $7.49 range.

WordPress

Is a free blogging software that Google really loves, it offers tons of free themes. However, this is the biggest expense that I occur and it is often a one time expense.  I like the Frugal* theme and that is what this blog is built on.  It offers no coding options for color, width, SEO, and many more that other “free” themes do not offer.

I went to bed last with a feeling that this is not a complete list. So, I there will be a 2nd part to all of this.

Dave

* FTC require for me to alert you that I make money when I post an ad or a link

Are you toeing the line?  Are you engaging others in your social network or are you harassing them into talking to you or turning them off that they unfollow you or hide your stream. Essentially blocking you.

ready, set…

Dave

Busy: the new not committed

I recently did a blog post about being busy yet productive. I’ve learned that I may have been just not committed.

I recently heard a great podcast featuring the who’s who in affiliate marketing as well as direct marketing. Which I am learning can still be very effective with the right follow-up procedures but more on that coming soon. The whole podcast was very informative, if you don’t know I rarely passively listen to the radio anymore preferring to learn than be entertained.

I will admit that my ears perked up when made a comment about people complaining to him about being too busy.

“Busy is the new not committed”

Wow, that really hit me…and I mean like a 2×4 right up side of the head. For months, I played that card as I buried myself with events, speaking and other little side projects.

Recently, a new leaf was turned over in my life. I set a launch date for several sites and met each and every goal with success in my back pocket. I have set out on newer goals and markets to break into. I am creating what I have told others to do. I know the successes are there, I have witnessed other clients do it.

So, as I reach out, I know that I will not always find success, but I know that I will learn with each new venture. But, I know that for each failure brings me a tad closer to success. I tell my clients that all the time as I get many of same complaints of them being “too busy”. While they ask me about the latest TV show or did I see some baseball game. Yes, I watch them to, but I do it on my time, but not without a pad of paper near for when I have that good idea.

I am not preaching any “get rich quick” scheme. What I do takes time and it rarely happens over night, but without some work you will never get close to it.

If you want it you will work for it. I have a business partner and between us we put in over 60 hours a week working on content and a way about user experience.

So, the next time you say you are “too busy” you may as well say, “I am not committed”

Get committed, not busy

Dave