A few posts back I listed 7 tools I use to strengthen my marketing campaign and promised you a more in-depth explanation on each one. So here we go!

Number one on the list was Twitter. For those of you who don’t know what twitter is, it is a micro blogging platform. You know, to be honest, the first time I heard micro blogging, it was like a foreign language to me. What the heck is micro blogging?

Well, the easiest way to describe it: You know what blogging is. Blogging is writing posts like this one, and are kind of lengthy. Micro blogging is the same thing but with shorter posts of a just a few lines. Twitter, allows you to enter 140 characters packed full of useful information, links, etc. Okay, so how the heck is this information useful?

For me, I use twitter in two ways, to Give and to Get. The give is when I send out a tweet, or a micro post, that offers resources and links for my followers. The get is the exact reverse of giving useful information, instead you get useful information. Part of giving information is promoting your product, service, blog, business, etc. If what you offer is of value, you will benefit as will as your followers.

Here are some tools associated with Twitter that you can check out:

1. TwitterFox – A Firefox plugin that allows you to tweet and receive tweets as you browse.
2. Twitter grader – Used to find new people to follow, grades your account authority, and provides stats and useful info about your account.
3. Tweetdeck – A free software that is very useful in organizing your followers and who you are following. You can also type in keywords you may be looking for and have a list of tweets and tweeters who are tweeting those keywords. Very cool!
4. Tweetlater – Useful for sending automated and delayed tweets to your followers.

Twitter is a very addicting and powerful promoting and learning tool. I have found many uses for it and know you will too. Feel free to connect with me on twitter by clicking on the icon in the top right corner of this post. Also, for more information on how to use Twitter, you may also want to visit Twitip.com.

These are just a few of the tools I use and some of the reasons I enjoy twitter. I’d like to hear from you. What are some tools you use with Twitter and some ways you use twitter to promote, learn, or benefit from it?

Can you generate a significant amount of leads with blogging?

The answer to that questions is a definite YES! Blogging is one of the best ways to generate the most targeted traffic that in turn will produce the highest quality of leads you will ever have.

I built this website to educate Entrepreneurs through Personal Development and to find those who are looking for a Business Opportunity to teach them how to become successful. I have my static pages that provide general information about the opportunity but have a blog as well.

So how do you connect your blog to your opportunity and what do you blog about?

Your blog is the GIVE. Your static pages and lead capture forms are the TAKE! So in your blog posts give your thoughts, your advice, your expertise, what you have learned, strategies, results, polls, etc. In order to be effective at blogging for leads you must have great content. Content that brings value to your readers yet enticing them to want to learn more. For example: I wrote a blog post called Top 3 Ways How I Make Money. In that post I speak of ways that someone looking to generate an income doing something similar to what I am doing can gain from my content. So I offer free advice. There is no reason to hide my knowledge from anyone. Chances are, if they read the post and want to know what I do, they will contact me. Bingo, there’s a lead. It seems as the more open I am with my results and my expertise as an Entrepreneur, the more traffic I get and the more leads come in. Give and Get!

Also, if I have a blog post that I feel is good article content, I will submit it to article submission sites such as Ezine Articles and Article Base. Most article submission sites allow you to add links into your text that point back to your site. Find the appropriate keywords that fit your blog post and link it back to that post or a post with similar content on your blog. They will visit your blog and chances are, will get curious and look around your site a bit. If you have a contact form or lead capture form that is visible and user friendly, they just might fill that sucker out. Also, you have your author bio and your authors box just below your articles with links pointing back to your site.

So where do I put my contact forms and lead capture forms you ask? I have a contact form directly under each individual blog post, right before my Adsense ads. How simple have I made it for my readers to fill out the form? I also have forms in the sidebar of almost every static page I have. Also, I have a “Contact Us” page with a link for that page in my header. If someones interest is spiked, they feel they would like to learn more, it is very simple for them to request more info.

The easier your blog is to navigate, the more user friendly it is, the more leads you will get. Some visitors get overwhelmed with content and will leave the site within seconds. So make your blog content visible, legible, free of errors, and with value and after some time and consistency your blog will be a lead generating fool!

There are a ton of “tools” out there on the net that can be used to strengthen your marketing campaign. Some are useful for getting the word out and others will let you know where you stand via statistics and feedback. Here are a few that I use consistently:

1. Twitter
   
2. WordPress Plugins
3. Mint tracking
4. Website Grader
5. SEO Tools
6. Google Adwords
7. Feedburner

In the next few posts I will go into depth on how I use each of these tools to market my Business Opportunity and how they work!

Search Engine Optimization is a great way to market your blog. Now I know you can do a search on SEO and get a huge variety of information on what is most important. There is definitely not a shortage of information out there. It’s just doing it that is so tasking. Remember, to have the results you desire or to have something you have never had, like search engine rankings, you must do something you have never done! Search Engine Optimization is fairly simple, just time intensive.

Once your site is optimized, I feel that powerful content and link building are the most powerful tools in SEO. The better your content, and the more of it, the better your chances are of getting listed in the search engines. When I speak of link building, I am referring to the number of sites that link back to you site or blog. One of the best ways to get links on other high ranking websites is to create a profile on that site. So I have compiled a list of 10 blog directories to submit your blog to. Create a profile, add a link back to your website where ever possible. Most sites that allow you to create a profile will have a designated place for you site. So here they are:

1. http://www.blogtopsites.com
2. http://www.blogtoplist.com
3. http://www.topblogarea.com
4. http://www.blogratedirectory.com
5. http://topofblogs.com
6. http://www.bloglines.com
7. http://www.mynewblog.net
8. http://technorati.com
9. http://www.blogarama.com
10. http://www.globeofblogs.com

There you have it. This will give you a head start on getting your blog out there and getting some links coming back to your site. Make sure you place your blog in the appropriate category and also have some quality content on your blog.

I know there are many more blog sumbission sites out there on the net. I have provided just a handful. What other submission sites would you recommend?

Allow me to share with you a little technique that has brought success to myself and many who I have had an opportunity to mentor. It is called the “Drip Technique!” Now when I say drip, do you understand what I mean? I mean, slowly drip your message, product, or service to your target audience. If you think about it, water can and has worked itself through massive rocks and formations just by a simple drip. The Grand Canyon wasn’t formed in a weekend! It took a consistent and persistent flow of water to develop one of the greatest natural attractions known in the World today.

Just as the Colorado River formed the Great Grand Canyon, you can create a massive income in your business that can be immediate and residual at the same time by using this technique.

Some of your potential customers will respond immediately while with others it may take a while with more exposure to what you have to offer. For some, the timing might not be right now, but when they get your email, or newsletter down the road, the timing could be perfect.

The Drip Technique

Here are a few ways that you can drip your audience:

1. Newsletters
2. Auto-responder emails
3. Letters or Postcards
4. Follow-up Phone Calls
5. RSS Feeds from your Blog
6. Brochures
7. Voice-mail marketing

I would have to name numbers 1 and 2 the most effective ways to drip someone the pieces of your bigger puzzle. The idea is to give them a taste. Every newsletter or email sent should contain a little piece of information which will entice them to want more and by the time they receive a few, they will be ready to buy, sign up, or commit. But there must be three key ingredients:

1. Consistency
2. Proper Frequency – Don’t overdue it!
3. Value in each drip!

In other words, be consistent, drip your audience once every week at the most, and offer a link, a free resource, or helpful information in every drip that will entice them to want the next one! Ensure your success by utilizing all the tools that are available to you as an Entrepreneur!

Also, knowing that I have a brilliant audience, what have you found to be effective in using this method in your marketing efforts?

So how do you get hundreds of people contacting you who are in search of a business? The answer is simple…..go on vacation! I’ll tell you what, when we returned from Rome we had over 200 hundred people requesting more information about this very simple income opportunity. We are still getting back to those people. It always seems to work out this way. Every time we take off on vacation or go out to just live our lives, our business thrives!

So, while away in Rome our business was still working for us. The power of the internet is truly amazing. It never sleeps! I have heard of so many network marketers who struggle with lead generation. I can tell you this much….if you have the desire to learn, lead generation is easy. You just have to become a student and dive into it. Instead of getting caught up into waiting for someone to do it for you or to call you up and teach you step by step, start doing it. Type into the search bar, “lead generation,” and see what comes up. Most lead generation techniques are self-taught. I can show you where to go but unless you write that ad and place it somewhere, you will never know if it works or not. Become a student of it and you will master it.

So, I have over 200 eager people to call back and a few hours to do it. I think a good income goal for these 200 leads would be between 30k and 60k. We’ll see what happens….but all I know is all I have to do is call them, provide them with the information to get started here, and then, collect a check. The business is that simple!