I’VE GOT A GREAT WEBSITE… BUT I GET NO TRAFFIC!

So you are a business owner, and you are trying to increase your sales by offering your products or services on a website. You spent a pile of money paying a designer and a programmer to get your site up and running. The day finally came that your site went live, and after all of the fireworks fizzled, you discovered the fact that you have a little bit of a problem… YOU HAVE NO VISITORS!

The buildup and letdown described in this scenario is a common occurrence with brick-and-mortar business owners that are trying to increase their cash flow with web-based sales. Most will turn to SEO “expert” consultants or other marketing consultants and spend yet another considerable amount of hard-earned money to fix the problem and bring the much-needed traffic to their website. But the fact is, they are overlooking the most effective and cheapest solution to the problem… Twitter marketing.

Twitter just happens to be the fastest social media community on planet earth for attracting and retaining new potential clients within a specific geographical area. There is no other way to accomplish such a feat on any other platform on or off the internet. When properly implemented, a Twitter marketing campaign can start bringing in targeted customers within days of getting started. To tap into the ever expansive reservoir of potential clients dwelling within the Twitter community, follow these simple steps:

1. Create A Friendly Twitter Presence – If you don’t already have an account, get one now. Post your picture so people can identify with you as a person. Make several well thought-out tweets to introduce yourself to the community, and tell everyone about yourself and why you are there.

2. Create An Inviting Profile – Your profile should be clear about your business intent, but it should also let people know that you are a human being who likes to interact with others, have fun, and give back to the community.

3. Link To A Custom Landing Page – Create a special Twitter landing page just for your Twitter visitors. Focus on selling yourself before your products or services. By doing this, you will create long-lasting relationships that will translate into sales from life-long customers instead of one-time buyers.

4. Use Twellowhood.com To Find New Prospects – Use www.twellowhood.com to find people in your local target market to follow. Introduce yourself and get involved! This will create the bonds that you need to grow a loyal following of new clients for your business.

5. Post Every Day - Don’t let a day go by that you don’t post to Twitter. Give more to the Twitter community than you take by sharing meaningful information and interact with your followers. This will give you the best long-term return for your investment of time!

For advanced ideas on aggressive Twitter marketing, check out my Twitter Turbo program at my blog site, www.carltonzone.com!

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TWITTER TRAINING COMING TO CENTRAL MISSOURI!

Today I was blessed to have been interviewed by the awesome David Lile on KFRU Radio in Columbia (1400AM). David is a very charismatic gentleman who carries quite a large following with his radio broadcast. He had some great questions waiting for me, and admitted that he has not spent much time at all on the social media front, nor was he entirely motivated to do so. But by the end of the interview, he saw value in social media participation for business owners and professionals, and even stated that he may look into getting on Twitter and Facebook himself!

We had 3 callers in the latter half of the interview who all had excellent questions. I was surprised that all were interested in learning how to use Twitter, and wanting to know ways that it could be integrated into their marketing strategy. From the questions that were asked, I get a good feeling that there is a need for fundamental Twitter marketing training in Central Missouri. I plan on helping people get the basics of Twitter marketing by providing basic info in my marketing strategy podcast, and also through live webcasts. In the future, as demand dictates, I will be offering workshops and individualized consulting.

My goal is to help business owners and sales professionals explode their current market base and expand the extent of their reach by utilizing the popular social media networks, thus increasing traffic to their businesses and increasing profits. All of this is possible with the right methods and a solid strategy. For more information on social media marketing, listen to the audio podcasts on www.carltonzone.com/blog and chime in to the discussion.

Do you have a question about using Twitter or Facebook to promote your business or organization? Write in a response to this blog post, or contact me via email at carlton.flowers@gmail.com. I’ll be waiting to help you!

Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist

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TWITTER LIST BUILDING – TAKE THE DIRTY SHORTCUTS, OR BUILD NATURALLY?

In today’s podcast presentation we’ll talk about building your following on Twitter. Do you prefer to ramp-up the speed of your follower list growth artificially, or do you prefer “organic” follower building methods? With artificial Twitter follower list building, people hire consultants to handle the grunt work of collecting masses of new followers. Others pay an outright fee for a bulk amount of followers. But with organic building, these Twitter citizens prefer to meet and connect with others based on common interest and 1-on-1 interaction.

We will discuss the difference between the two methods, along with the following topics:

• When Twitter becomes nothing more than the Chicago phone book
• What happens when cheaters, scammers, and con artists all get together in one community
• The advantages to organic Twitter follower list building
• Why trust is vital to Twitter marketing for businesses
• The “Instant Rock Star Bait-and-Switch” dirty Twitter tactic

As always, feel free to post your comments and questions below, or call our Google Voice line at (636) 377-0006 and leave a short message to voice your opinion!

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 Dirty Twitter Follower List Building Tactics [9:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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UPS VIDEO – SEIZING SOCIAL MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES

This video by Adam Ostrow via the Mashable blog comes from the “Seizing Opportunities” video series produced by the UPS company. Adam gives a straight-forward explanation of why you should monitor the social media activity in your industry and create your own social media marketing plan.

We all realize by now that business marketing is making a serious shift to social media sites. The three most important social media platforms today are Facebook, Twitter, and blogging in general. If you are just getting started in “web 2.0″ marketing, this would make a great foundation, and you don’t have to create anything elaborate. Getting involved and interacting with people should be your main goal.

Adam explains that it is vital to keep track of what is going on in your industry. A good way to do this is to follow industry leaders on social media websites. For example, I pay close attention to Fox Television’s Clayton Morris on Twitter to stay on the edge of social media strategy consulting. A useful site that you can use for searching out industry leaders is Twellow.

Next, you will want to decide on what management software platforms that you will use in order to stay up on the information that industry leaders are putting out on the web. For example, desktop applications for Twitter such as Tweetdeck or Twihrl will allow you to organize the way that you keep up with this information. There are also numerous cell phone applications that allow you to track Tweets. You can even sign up for social media alerts which will email you any time your business name (or one that you are tracking) has been posted to a social media forum.

Overall, I consider it a “best practice” to stay connected with industry leaders and your clientele via social media websites in order to maximize your exposure and marketing potential. Enjoy the video!

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IMPROVING THE PERFORMANCE METRICS OF “STONEHENGE MEDIA” ADVERTISING WITH WEB 2.0 LEVERAGE

How do you currently measure the success of your “Stonehenge” media advertisements? What type of feedback or response do you use to gauge the effectiveness or success of a newspaper ad, radio spot, tv commercial or billboard? In today’s podcast, we’ll talk about traditional performance metrics for Stonehenge media and how you can leverage your response rate with the addition of social media marketing.

Additionally, we’ll discuss “click tracking” as a method of evaluating effectiveness, and whether or not this is a dependable indicator. Listen to the podcast and post your questions and responses below!

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 Measuring the Effectiveness of Traditional Media Advertising [11:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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BUILDING A MASSIVE TWITTER FOLLOWING – IS THIS THE BEST WAY TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS?

In today’s podcast, the topic of discussion centers around Twitter marketing. Is it really advantageous to spend time building a huge Twitter following for business exposure? We’ll discuss the pros and cons of Twitter “list building”, and whether or not you are really getting the most bang out of your buck. Also up for discussion: paid list building services and what you really get for your money.

We are now seeing everything from website sales pages to even eBay auctions promising to add a certain number of followers to a Twitter account for a certain fee. Some are even charging an exorbitant amount of money for their service, but what do you end up with? What is the quality of the list that you have paid your hard-earned money for? And who’s to say that the list sellers aren’t pulling a scam on their customers?

As easy as it is to create fake Twitter accounts, I would be cautious about the validity of purchasing guaranteed followers. Even with real accounts, there’s still no way to qualify the list members. I caution any sales professional or business owner to seriously think about delving into list purchasing before wasting their money. Many Twitter community members now frown on others who participate in artificial list building. In the end, you may not be able to “buy” your online reputation back if your fast-track idea turns sour.

Last but not least, I give my insight on what metric you really SHOULD be tracking instead of the size of your Twitter following or the number of clicks you generate from your link posting. Most marketers gauge success by the number of clicks they receive for an online advertisement or pitch. However, there is one metric that goes far beyond click counting. What is it, you ask? You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out!

Click the podcast icon below to listen in and then share your thoughts, questions and comments on the blog!

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 The Truth About Twitter List Building For Business [9:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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NEW FTC GUIDELINES CRACK DOWN ON PAID BLOG PROMOTERS

New rules from the FTC could trigger $11,000 fines per incident of non-disclosure on bloggers who are being paid to promote various products and services.

If you are an internet marketer using a blog to promote an affiliate product, you may want to pay special attention to this new ruling. The basic premise of the ruling is to curb the activity of “fake blogs” that purport to be unbiased individuals who are actually being paid a commission for driving sales to a particular product. For example, everyone has seen the blog site and advertisements that claim some stay-at-home mom has discovered a natural way that you can whiten your teeth for under five bucks. It attempts to come across as a person breaking information about a new discovery, but leads to an advertisement for a teeth whitening product.

In a nutshell, the rule states that you can no longer include testimonials for your product you are promoting without being truthful about the “real” average person’s experience. Previously, you could get away with stating “results not typical” at the end of the advertisement. But that won’t work any more. If your typical customer doesn’t lose an ounce after taking your weight loss product for 6 months, then you would have to include a statement as such. You would either have to disclose the truth or just don’t include any testimonials at all.

Some people think the new FTC rule means bigger government delving into the private affairs of citizens. Others think it is a necessary action to cut down on deceptive advertising. What do YOU think? Click on the Podcast icon to listen to the audio, then share your thoughts below!

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 FTC Declares War On Bloggers [7:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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A WORKABLE TWITTER STRATEGY FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS

I’ve seen this many a time… a local business owner signs up for Twitter to begin a new media marketing campaign with dreams of instant stardom, only to struggle with it for a month or two and then quit. What makes business owners give up on their Twitter efforts so easily? Lack of feedback. When the Twittering fails to bring people in the door who buy their stuff, they see it as a waste of time. However, armed with the right strategy and realistic expectations, Twitter marketing for local business owners can prove to be fruitful.

In today’s podcast, I give a step-by-step strategy for business marketing on Twitter that can lead to results, and even be multiplied exponentially by merging new media marketing efforts with traditional media advertising that not many people currently are pursuing. If done correctly, this marketing strategy will not only produce results, but it can actually be tracked and evaluated down to the detail.

Listen to the audio podcast and post your questions below, or chime in with your very own social media marketing tips that you have found to work for your small business or sales career!

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 Local Small Business Twitter Marketing Strategy [7:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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TODAY’S TOPIC – PAYPAL SHOPPING CART, REAL ESTATE MARKETING, & GOOGLE WAVE

Hi folks,

For the October 5th, 2009 podcast, I talk about Paypal Shopping Cart abandonment issues, the big marketing mistake that I often see real estate agents making in Twitter marketing, and an introduction to Google Wave. The podcast is only 9 minutes long and straight to the point. You can make comments about these issues right here on the blog, and feel free to ask questions. I’m also open for topics that you would like to see me cover in the future. Enjoy today’s information, and don’t forget to drop your comments and suggestions below!

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 New Media Marketing Podcast 10-5-09 [8:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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TWITTER DOMINATES THE NEWS AS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING CONTINUES TO RISE

For the past few weeks, it seems that Twitter has been dominating news reports, television & radio discussions, and even household discussions. We have finally arrived at the point that it is a difficult task finding someone who has not at least heard much about Twitter. Television stars, radio show hosts, network news reporters, and even top athletes are being turned on to Twitter at an alarming rate. Chad “Ocho Cinco” has even made plans to post a tweet during an NFL football game as a touchdown celebration!

But what does the future hold for Twitter and social media marketing as it relates to the business world?

I think this marks the beginning of what I predicted last November (2008). The groundswell is about to start, and we will see a tidal wave of change in the business community. We’re on the cusp of that 6 to 18 month “gestation” time that we talked about. This is where it will begin to be an exciting time for everyone.

I’m going to step out on a limb and tell you that social media may be one of the few sectors that has a positive effect on reversing the current economic trend. It has the power of leverage, and is generating the excitement needed to attract investors from all levels. The reason I say this is due to the fact that the valuation of the major players has risen to astronomical levels (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube). Facebook is sitting on a market value of about $15 billion. Twitter could be worth a few billion. Both companies are starting to attract suitors.

We saw Youtube get purchased by Google for $1.65 billion in 2006, only 2 years after the site was launched. I believe Twitter is next. And I also believe that Google will be the purchaser, and they will pay a premium. I’m not sure how much it will be, but I look for it to be more than the Youtube purchase price.

This major investment talk is going to trickle down to the business community quickly. When local businesses, both small and large, see the seriousness of the potential buyout, they are going to start paying attention to the power of these social media websites. It’s bound to happen.

Until then, I am going to focus on helping to educate small business owners and professionals on the potential of social media marketing. I have a free audio offer (you just have to pay the cost to have it shipped to you) entitled ”The Seven Secrets of Revolutionizing Your Business Through Social Media Strategy” which is located at http://carltonzone.com/seven-secrets.php. Get a copy of this audio and heed my advice!

To your continued success,

Carlton Flowers

Marketing Strategist

573-893-9498

carlton.flowers@gmail.com

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