Summary: Sometimes it’s the little things that count most. This can be true of ezines. Maybe you’re accustomed to making sure there’s lots of meat in your ezine, maybe there’s room for more dessert than you think.

When you work to put an ezine together what can you tell your site visitor that they have likely never heard before?

Obviously you will want to provide well-written content about the primary intent of your site. This could be a product testimonial, creative uses, long-term benefits, etc.

An easy way to break material into digestible nuggets is to place either ‘words of wisdom’ or unusual facts in between larger sections.

Here is a brief list of ideas that may help you understand what I am talking about.

TRIVIA

Leonardo DaVinci invented scissors.

People who laugh a lot are much healthier than those who don’t. Dr. Lee Berk at the Loma Linda School of Public Health in California found that laughing lowers levels of stress hormones, and strengthens the immune system.

The symbol on the “pound” key (#) is called an octothorpe.

The two lines that connect your top lip to the bottom of your nose are known as the philtrum.

The term, “It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye” is from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was, “No eye gouging.” Everything else was allowed, but the only way to be disqualified is to poke someone’s eye out.

WORDS OF WISDOM

Ideas won’t keep; something must be done about them. — Alfred North Whitehead

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still. – Author Unknown

The man with a toothache thinks everyone happy whose teeth are sound. The poverty-stricken man makes the same mistake about the rich man. — George Bernard Shaw

Authority makes some people grow — and others just swell. — Author Unknown

Life’s tragedy is that we get old to soon and wise too late. — Benjamin Franklin

If done correctly many people will return to your ezine if only for the tidbits they can copy and paste in emails to friends or print for placement on either the fridge or bathroom mirror.

Because we exist in such a fast paced world finding something that can connect in a short period of time is beneficial to your visitor and may leave them with a desire to see what you come up with next.

Depending on the type of ezine you are creating you could also add other elements of interest such as a recipe complete with photo, feature a classic auto with each issue or some other point of commonality with your target demographic. These elements may have little to do with the actual product you may be selling, but it also makes your ezine seem less about marketing and more about fun. When your readers have fun they like spending more time with your site. This paradigm often results in conversion from site visitor to customer.

GOOGLE SNATCH REVIEW

“Google Snatch” will be one of the most beneficial e-books you will read for some time to come! It will give you a remarkably clear understanding of the information being presented in a concise, easy to understand format. Will it offer you a way to change current techniques?

Well, let’s ask ourselves the question: What do I need to do to become successful doing online marketing? Let’s ask another question at the same time: How can I make a reasonable profit when cost per click advertising is so expensive these days?

One thing you should know right off the bat is: This e-book is unlike any other on the market today; it does not follow any of the standard guidelines associated with affiliate marketing. It will take you to new heights in your chosen field and, after taking you out of your comfort zone, bring you gently back, ready to take on an entirely new concept.

Let’s go back to question number one: What do I need to do to become successful doing online marketing? Will Google Snatch answer this? Absolutely! We all are aware of the things that will make you successful: Commitment, Loyalty, Integrity, Burning Desire to Succeed and the Ability to Focus. Now, will Google Snatch go beyond these given traits and teach you techniques to apply that will put you in a class only a unique few have achieved? Yes indeed.  It will bring you to a height you probably thought you would never achieve.

Google Snatch will bring you strategies to use and will tell you how to apply them and where. It will not bring you repackaged old techniques that we all know are a “dime a dozen”. No, instead, the techniques Latif brings to the table are absolutely focused, fun to use and if done correctly, will bring measurable increased profits. He has concentrated on substantially reducing or altogether eliminating cost per click advertising.

The e-book is brought to you in four sections and includes samples of what to do. The author has been involved in online marketing for ten plus years and widely considered by his peers as a top authority.

I am not going to tell you more about this product other than to encourage you to purchase the e-book. The week after I purchased Google Snatch and applied the strategies, we saw a traffic increase of about 70% and the best part of all . . . the cost was $0. Now, let me ask you this: What would a 70% free traffic increase do for your business? Hmmmmmm….

About the Author:

We have a total of 106 years experience in business including  Sales, Marketing, Business Development and Running our own Businesses with complete knowledge of all aspects of private business. We use this expertise to search for unusual businesses that offer only quality proposals. We do the leg work for you so that when you purchase from us, you will have confidence that you are purchasing outstanding products.   You will find Google Snatch at: www.bizgems.org.

What is Twitter?

It’s probably one of the easiest social micro-blogging, web2.0 sites to arrive on the Internet. Wikipedia describes it as “social networking and micro-blogging service” It is an immediate response social media tool. The way social media is growing Twitter is here to stay.

Social Media has made it possible for the ordinary, average entrepreneur to connect with people from every country and continent across the world in a manner that is unprecedented. What a time to be involved in Internet marketing and build a successful MLM Business Twitter has added a further dimension to the equation and has something to offer everyone.

When did it start?

In 2006 Jack Dorsey first thought up the idea as a means of contacting his friends and learning what they were doing. It grew at a rapid rate in 2008 and now in 2009 it has become a phenomenon not just for social conversation but as an incredibly simple but effective business tool.

How does it Work?

Basically there are 2 aspects- Follower and Following.  Follower counts how many people you are listening too. A high number of followers usually indicate that the person is providing content of value worth following.

When you see someone with a high number of follows it is normally an indication that the person is very social and likes to engage in conversation with others. It means they are open to receive tweets, replies and direct messages.

Twitter has set in place some basic rules for following to reduce abuse of the system. For more in-depth information go to “Follow Me.Follow You”

As you become more adept at using Twitter there are some analysis tools and sites you can use to view your stats. And rankings. Check these out for yourself. New applications appear almost daily.

Twitterholic – ranks users based on followers.

Tweetstats – tracks the average number of tweets posted as well as the times and days that you tweet.

How to use and set up your Twitter Account.

Twitter is one of the easiest applications to set up and to help you there is some superb click by click Network Marketing
Training at Renegade University The training takes you by the hand and shows you exactly how to set up and use your Twitter account.

Twitter only allows 140 characters so this forces you to be concise with your messages – a bonus for anyone who does not enjoy blogging. This can be a very quick and effective way to get you message across and promote yourself and your business.

Twitter is a t tool not only to socialize but to build your own personal brand. It is a fantastic exposure networking tool.

By engaging in conversations on topics that are of interest to you and asking engaging questions you begin to build an audience of like minded people. Twitter giv can leverage the news, leave your links, confirm appointments.

Twitter  is also a very humanising activity to do on the Internet. As you divulge more of whom you are – your personality, interests and beliefs;  you become a real human being. So important in developing human relationships and trust for your business.

Twitter can help build your reputation as a person with values whom you can trust.  The more you become transparent the more trust your receive and the more your business grows.

Twitter has the facility to retweet. Why retweet? It is so flattering to people. When someone retweets your information to their followers they are expressing confidence that what you have tweeted is interesting and good. Therefore one yardstick to measure the quality of someone’s tweets is the number of retweet that person has. Guy Kawasaki has some great information on retreating (link)

Twitter has some unique ways that can help your business grow. If you are publishing Ezine articles you can select to have them automatically notify your followers when you have posted a new article.

Whilst developing your uniqueness as a trustworthy human being it doesn’t have to be all business. Twitter is a great place to socialise, have fun, exchange ideas and make friends.

Mike Klingler (link) describes Twitter as one of the fastest growing fishing places on the Internet and if used correctly a money magnet.  So join Twitter today and add as another piece to your marketing funnel.

So how will you decdde who to Tweet?

Tweet me when you have joined: http://twitter.com/JudithAtkinson and I will retweet you.

Happy tweeting.

What Is This Twitter You Speak Of?

So what is Twitter and how can it be of benefit to you or your business? Twitter is a free online micro-blogging application which gives you the ability to send out short messages (up to 140 characters) called “tweets” to people who are following you on Twitter. You can send tweets either through your computer or by using your cell phone via a text message. These tweets/messages can be about anything you want and they can include links, as well. Making Twitter even more useful is the ability to send a direct message to someone you are following (this is done by entering @username at the beginning of your message) or replying to someone’s tweet with your own. You would be surprised how common it is to reply to someone’s message then to have someone who is either following you or the person you sent the reply to reply to your initial message and so on.

People can follow you and your tweets by first signing-up for their own free Twitter account at the Twitter site then adding you to their list of people they are following. Once you have created your account, you can either check your Twitter page (your own personal page which appears after you sign-in at the Twitter home page) for any of your friend’s new messages or you can send out your own. But it is much easier, in my opinion, to use one of the many online or desktop applications which give you the ability to do all of this and more.

Twitter As A Communication Tool

Twitter is a quick and easy way to communicate with family, friends, business associates, and also within a company setting. Being an online service, Twitter is available to anyone with online access. All you have to do is login to your account through any number of third-party applications developed for Twitter or through the Twitter site and you are ready to go. Within a company setting, employees could have a Twitter account created for them with the option to have their messages protected. This means only people they (or you or the person in charge of creating the Twitter accounts) approve will be able to send and receive messages from them. The same thing could be done using an instant message program but with Twitter, there would be no software to install and it would be accessible from anywhere with an online connection. Additionally, the person who is in charge of the Twitter accounts will have the power to control who is and who isn’t part of this private Twitter network.

Even though there are tons of online communication applications available, Twitter can also be used as a way for people who are collaborating on a project to stay in touch with one another regardless of where they are. And depending on which third-party application they are using to Twitter with, these conversations can be saved for future reference. There are even some third-party apps which you can use to send files up to 10MB to anyone you are following as long as they are using the same application, that is. Still, a handy feature to have and one which may become a feature of Twitter if there’s a big enough demand for it.

Marketing With Twitter

Here in lies the great thing about Twitter from a business perspective: the marketing potential it offers users. Sure, it is great to send messages and chat using Twitter, but it can also be a great marketing tool if used correctly. Have some breaking news you want to get out quickly? Send it out as a Tweet. Made an important update to your blog or web site? Let people know about it instantly with a Tweet. Want to promote your project, book, movie, whatever by giving away a free download or preview? Send out a Tweet with a URL to the free download. Only want to market something to certain individuals you are following? Simply enter their username preceded by the “@” and you are set.

Another simple marketing tool available with Twitter is the ability to befriend people who are following someone you already follow. While this practice could backfire on you if you begin to add everyone you find following someone you are following, be picky and just befriend those who either share similar tastes that you do or work in the same field as you or already follow many of the same people you do. Otherwise, you could come off as a spammer which will be a hard image to shake.

Twitter Now And Beyond

Twitter represents a fundamental change in the way people communicate online. There have always been instant messengers and they have their place and purpose but they don’t offer the one thing which sets Twitter apart and that is the ability to instantly communicate with either a couple of people or potentially thousands without the need for proprietary software. No need to download this piece of software in order to communicate with this person or that organization.

Much like how blogging has become a staple of today’s society, Twitter and “twittering” is on the same path to becoming ingrained in today’s culture despite only being around for less than two years. So simple in its execution, powerful in the marketing opportunities it offers, and ease of use, Twitter will be one of the top web technologies to gain worldwide prominence in 2008.

The 5 basic Applications I Have Found Most Useful by Judith Atkinson.

Twitter is growing at an incredible pace with well over 2.5 million visits per month.  Each month it increases by between 250,000 – 500,000 visits.

There are new sites popping up almost daily but these sites I have found to be easy to use and helpful to my Twitter business.

So now you have learnt how to use Twitter and you have some followers and are learning to follow it’s time to take a look at some tools that will help you check out rankings and  stats.

Twitterholic

This site ranks users based on followers, friends and updates. It also gives you the amount of time you have been on Twitter.  For those who are interested you get a list of the top 100. CNN was number one when I last checked.

The site is so user friendly and simple and fast.

Here’s what they say about themselves:

“WE”R IN UR TWTTR PAGES, READN UR STATZThis list is being constantly updated so you can find out who the most popular twitter users are. To participate, do what you normally do — twitter constantly — if you deserve to be on the list, we’ll find you. The most popular users on twitter are crawled every day, everyone else gets crawled randomly.”

Enter your Twitter name in the URL box and it will crawl your stats. It takes a minute or two to get the results.

What I found very surprising is that I had one general statistic but they also crawled me in Spain where I live and I was number 2. Very pleased!

Mr Tweet

Mr. Tweet is your personal networking agent who helps you expand your network easily.

It recommends people for you to follow based upon your own network.

Click “Mr Tweet Bird” and follow on Twitter.

Retweeting Sites

Retweetist is a site that measures retweeting activity and shows who may be worth following on Twitter because they are very active and have many followers. It is however, important to follow people who are in your niche or target market and with whom you would like to develop conversations.

It’s important that you learn how to use Twitter and Retweeting  to their  full advantage as part of your marketing funnel . This will ensure continued growth  of visitors to your  Twitter site. It’s rather like going fishing is a huge lake.

Tweetburner

Track links that your share on Twitter

It also shortens long URLs.

Tweetstats.com – Graphin” your Stats.

Shows Tweets per hour, month. Timeline.

These sites are the ones I have found most useful to date.

For all the latest information on Twitter developments go to Twitip

What Twitter Tools and Sites Do You Use?

Share your Twitter knowledge and experience with us.

Twitter Applications and Tweets

Twitter applications are becoming known to every person rapidly, the reason might be these are user friendly and can be used in cell phones like Blackberry. Those who are technology savvy can understand very well what the importance of using applications through cell phones is. When I was new to twitter, I had no idea what I was doing — as is the case for most people when they first sign up. After I started following a few people I noticed all the different applications their Tweets were coming from various applications like Twhirl etc. How do you sort through all of them and find the right application to use? Is any one of them better than the others? After trying nearly everything, I have a few ideas as to how to find the right Twitter application to suit your needs…

Read further by clicking here…

What Is Your Behavior On Twitter?

Twitter is after all nothing but a gathering of people where people are talking incessantly about what they like. Think of a party scene where small groups gather and discuss about things that interest them. A new entrant will go and join a group, which he/she finds interesting, right? It is true with Twitter. We are all human beings and our behavior changes little. On the Internet, as many of us enjoy anonymity, we feel more free to express our thoughts. Otherwise our behavior remains same in physical or virtual world.

Let us discuss about your behavior, expectations and response on Twitter. What is your method for following others? Do you follow anybody who has many followers, or do you select people carefully to be followed. Had Einstein been alive he would have less number of followers than any top celebrity. Which of them would you have followed? I am talking about herd mentality here. As everybody is doing this, I am also doing this. Are you one of them or you know exactly what you are doing? Think about this carefully because you may be wasting a lot of time following people who talk about their clothes, fashion, love etc. and this information may be of no use to you. Let us not forget that our life is made of the time we live and we must spend our time judiciously.

Read further by clicking here…

Twitter- Make Money Online

Twitter, is a FREE service to communicate with your friends, family, co-workers and people around the world. And stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to simple question: What are you doing?

Twitter is really hot right now, and it is gaining members so fast like crazy, so a lot of Internet Marketers/Bloggers take advantage of this service because it’s FREE of charge and just answer the simple question: What are you doing? Now let me asked you, what are you doing right now?  Oops… Let me guess, Of course you’re reading this article of mine.

Read further by clicking here…

Twitter is the current top “hot property” on the Web, but its popularity and how to use it has mystified many business owners. Many people think that they want to, or should be using Twitter, but simply do not understand the platform, its use, or its place in building web exposure. This article will demystify Twitter and help you to learn how to use it in the workplace and to promote your business.

First, I have to say that I had been confused on how to use Twitter to benefit my own business until I downloaded TweetDeck. TweetDeck is a desktop application that allows you to review and post status updates on Twitter and Facebook simultaneously. I consider it a “must have” application for anyone who wants to make sense of Twitter. TweetDeck allows you to sort the people you follow on Twitter into groups, allows you to limit the number of Tweets (Twitter micro posts) to be shown at any one time, and also allows you to remove all Tweets you have seen with one click. Additionally, using TweetDeck, finally a Twitter search on a topic makes sense.

Since using TweetDeck, I have had a much better Twitter experience. As a Twitter newbie, visiting your own Twitter home page is intimidating; it consists of post after post from people who you are following, who you may not know much about, and it just seems like a huge volume of content. To get started effectively first group the people who actually have something interesting to say on TweetDeck and voila, you have a powerful tool that keeps you at the forefront of what is happening in your industry and on the Web.

So how do you get started with Twitter? Well the first thing is to start on Twitter yourself to understand what you like to read, who you like to follow, and to clearly identify what you like about Twitter. For me, it boils down to this: I like to follow people in my industry who say something of value, who provide a link to a new application or point me to an interesting new article, video, or blog site that I should review but may have never have found myself. Based on what I like, and the people who I find interesting to read, I now write my Twitter posts using this same formula to grow my own Twitter audience.

What I also like about Twitter is that the people who I follow also know how to show their true personality in their Tweets. Ye,s I do like to know what Danny Sullivan (famous search engine marketing guru) ate for lunch, but better yet is the link to the video he thought was funny. I love following Ashton Kutcher (movie star married to Demi Moore who just hit 1 million Twitter followers in April). Man, that guy is really funny and is having a ball with Twitter. His posts are great and he has just earned the status of the user with the most followers. This is why you can’t hire someone to “Ghost Twitter” for you. It’s about showing the real you – you can’t fake that!

So how can you use Twitter for business? Twitter is an excellent tool for linking and this is the real value for businesses. By using Twitter to point people to content on your website, articles you have written either on or off your website, or by linking to a service you want to highlight, you drive traffic. On top of that, Google actually indexes Twitter and so your Twitter page can appear in the organic search results so make sure your bio is well thought out. Don’t waste time using Twitter to point to blog posts, use TwitterFeed to post your blog posts directly onto Twitter. If you have a blog or website, you’ll get new Twitter followers by posting your TwitterFeed right onto your web pages. People who may not have known your Twitter ID can simply click the bottom “follow me link” and start following you on Twitter.

What’s important to be successful in using Twitter is to identify what you personally like about this new media and then deliver the same type of things that you like back to your own followers – work to provide value not drivel! So you’ve got to play with Twitter and learn how to use it first before you can really become successful with it for your business.

So how do you get followers? Well, I started by following everyone (who I found by doing a Twitter search) who had the last name McCord. Then I searched for web design, search engine optimization, and pay per click. Any site profile that looked good, I clicked to follow the writer. It was that easy. Many times people who you follow yourself will choose to follow you. That’s how you initially build up your Twitter base. Over time you will start to identify your “Twitter voice” and refine the type of Twitter presence you want to have by changing your content style and the things that you Tweet about. As you refine your presence, you will build a following.

Another cool Twitter use is that you can reply to any of your followers by simply putting an @ in front of their Twitter ID. For example to send something to my attention use @mccordweb at the very front of your Twitter posting and click enter. Just remember that this post is seen by all followers on my site and on your Twitter site. If you need a more private exchange, go to the direct message link on the Twitter.com site and select a follower by Twitter ID name and send your message from there. This note will be private. If you are using TweetDeck you can click on a follower’s Twitter ID icon and then select to send a direct message or @reply to them. TweetDeck will automatically insert the correct syntax for you in the Tweet.

For many businesses the ability for users to communicate with top management using Twitter is an invaluable resource. This one-to-one exchange allows a company principal to keep tabs on customer viewpoints, concerns, and interests. As a Twitter reply or direct mail does not use email and does not require a response, this is a great way to tap into social networking to test new ideas and to ask for user feedback. For example, if you have a new software product ask your Twitter followers for feedback on a specific feature, or provide a link to your beta version for their testing.

How you use Twitter is all about your personal business needs. The best advice that I can offer to you is that you need to use Twitter a bit yourself first to understand the medium and to find out what you like to read best using Twitter. Then, create your own Twitter network sharing information that you find interesting and have some fun.

Currently I am following 204 people and 183 people are following me on Twitter. Personally I find Twitter great fun and a very cool way to find out first what’s happening in the world before you see it on TV, read it on the Web, or see it in the newspaper. That’s the real power of Twitter; you share, you find out, and you know, all by a person-to-person exchange of information.

For those of you clicking in from my e-newsletter the rest of the content on Twitter applications and uses follows.

Below are some of the Twitter applications that I like and use regularly for my business.

Twuffer – I love this one, it is a Twitter post scheduler. Some people feel that Twuffer defeats the immediacy of Twitter posts or Tweets, but I like it as I will schedule Tweets on days that I am not blogging to keep my followers advised of things I find important. It is easy to use, allows you to Tweet ahead, and lets you select a posting schedule by day and time. If you are pushing content on a service or product this is an excellent tool to use. Set your Tweets up one week or one month at a time and feed your content to readers in addition to your regular Tweets. Make sure to use www.TinyUrl.com to change any long URLs you point to in the Tweet to a Twitter-friendly short version to save space.

Twitter Feed – This is another one of my top favorites. TwitterFeed allows me to show my blog posts from “The Web Authority” directly onto Twitter. It also allows me to post my Tweets back on my blog (by installing a widget) in my blog template – very cool cross interaction! I pick up many Twitter followers with this technique. Readers come to visit my blog and then choose to follow me on Twitter.

Twitter Grader – This one is a vanity application that allows you to see where you stack up against other Twitter users. Twitter Grader measures the power of a Twitter user based on followers, number of updates, and posting frequency.
 
TweetBeep – With this application, you can manage your online Twitter reputation. Alerts will be emailed to you whenever a Twitter user Tweets about your business, name, or domain. You select the alert criteria and what to watch for using TweetBeep. This is great for a business that is concerned about branding and online identity. PR professionals should make sure to use this tool to watch for comments about their clients.

Twitoria – Clean up your Twitter followers by finding out which people never use Twitter or post infrequently so you can delete them right from the Twitoria interface.

 Qwitter – If you want to know when someone stops following you, sign up for this service. Actually, this can be an excellent tool to find out what a reader hated that you posted about and caused them to “chop” you, so you can fine tune your message. If you get a flood of drops after a Tweet, it allows you to learn that people don’t like a certain type of Tweet – instant feedback at an anonymous level!

One big thing about Twitter that I have not even mentioned yet but is actually one of Twitter’s best features is the ability to text-in Tweets from your mobile phone. Although you can’t easily link to great content typically on the fly like this, the ability to connect with others without being tethered to a computer is an opportunity to show the “real you”. Maybe your followers do want to know what you are eating for lunch or about a seminar you just attended, just be kind and don’t vomit out Twitter spam using your Blackberry on meaningless drivel.

You can easily set up the ability to receive text messages from your Twitter account to your cell or Blackberry, but be careful as you may be inundated if you have a large following. I would recommend receiving Twitter updates via text message to your cell only from a small group. For example if you have a project team, set up a Twitter account for each member to allow them to post just to this small unique circle of team members. The value to track and interact with each other at anytime and anywhere using Twitter by computer or by cell phone adds real value for work groups and teams – particularly team managers. Twitter even allows you to make this type of group private.

Another feature of Twitter is the ability to add hashtags in front of keywords in your Tweets to help with sorting to allow others to find your important content. For example if you wanted to Tweet about a recent earthquake in LA you would use #laearthquake in the front of your Tweet.  By using hashtags you enable Twitter to return your information for topic searches on newsworthy Tweets. You can visit Hashtags.org for more information on the current hot hashtags that are in use for today so you can follow, add to the topic, or create your own. For example in Twitter World, Fridays are the day you post with #followfriday and enter in the Twitter IDs you want to recommend to others.  You would be amazed at the cool new people you can follow and interact with from recommendations of the people you follow.

In conclusion, Twitter is one of the hottest new mediums to arrive on the Internet scene since Facebook. Although it is not exactly “new”, Twitter has just recently become very high profile. If you are in business, Twitter definitely warrants your attention. Not only is it a very smart new tool to use in your marketing arsenal, but I think that the more you use it you will grow to love it and find it fun to use. The ways that you can use Twitter are endless:  for teams, for family members, for business networking, to stay at the forefront of news, to promote yourself and your services, and to just have fun connecting with others online. Just remember you can’t really make sense of Twitter for business without using TweetDeck or another similar aggregating and sorting application. Thanks for reading, see you on Twitter, you can reach me at @mccordweb or visit me at www.Twitter.com/mccordweb.

About the Author

Nancy McCord is the founder and President of McCord Web Services LLC which provides search engine marketing, web design, blog writing, and webmaster services globally. Since 2001, Nancy McCord has developed a national reputation as an expert on search engines, blogging, and how businesses can harness the power of Web for profit. You can visit Nancy and her firm at www.McCordWeb.com.