SaltandRachel.com

Twitter For a Local Business – 3 Tips For Social Media Success

Rachel Weekley — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:23:13 +0000

If you have been online for any length of time, then you have probably heard about how Dell Computers managed to generate $1 million dollars in revenue using Twitter. In fact, the internet is littered with stories about big brands increasing their market share simply by incorporating the social networking website into their web marketing strategy. However, you would be wrong in thinking that only mega corporations can benefit from the power of Twitter. Twitter is perfect for local businesses too.

Twitter is a great way to network with potential customers as well as generate buzz about your local business. More and more people are turning to social media outlets to share information about products and services, so having a presence on the hottest social network online can enhance your brand and get people walking through your doors. Here are 3 tips to help you successfully use Twitter for your local business.

Network with Local People

As a local business, you want the majority of your marketing and networking efforts to go towards attracting people in your immediate area. After all, no one is going to fly 3000 miles to get a triple shot, mocha latte from your coffee stand, no matter how good it is. Luckily, there are tools that can help you sift through Twitter for local businesses and individuals near you who would be interested in your products and services.

One helpful tool is the Twitter directory, Twello. You can search this database to find all of the people in your city who are using Twitter. For a local business, this is a great way to interact with the neighbors to let them know that you are in the area. Make sure you take the time and vet your results so that you only have the people who would use your service. There is no use in trying to market a steak restaurant to a vegetarian.

Balance Marketing and Networking Tweets

Using Twitter to promote your business is like walking a tightrope. You have to have a good balance. People don’t mind when you advertise your business. However, if you post too many sales messages people will think you are a spammer and ignore you. You want to make sure you have a lot of quality content mixed in with your self-promotional tweets.

But what is quality content? To answer that, you have to understand what kind of content people come to Twitter for. Local business news, interesting stories, informational articles that teaches them how to do something better. This kind of content always gets noticed.

Be Active

To be effective, you must participate on Twitter on a regular basis. There are tools that will help you manage your activities so that they don’t consume your life but there is no substitute for good old fashioned conversation with your customers. Pick a schedule you can work with and stick with it. As long as you are on there regularly then you will be able to make the connections you want. Since most people work, mornings, lunchtime and evenings are a good time to be on the site.

Using Twitter for your local business is a great way to build recognition of your brand and to rope in local people to using your services.

Rachel uses Tweetminer for Twitter to network and promote her Internet Ecommerce Business.

3 Tips For Buying Into an Ecommerce Business Opportunity

Rachel Weekley — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:51:52 +0000

It seems like every time you turn around, an ecommerce business opportunity is popping up offering you a chance to make a ridiculous sum of money in an unrealistic amount of time. While there are many businesses out there that you can use to generate income, you have to be careful and make sure that you get involved with the right one for you.

Ask Questions

The cornerstone of every good business decision lies in making sure you ask the right questions. Understand that the salesperson is focused on getting you to sign up with the ecommerce business opportunity and will play up only the positive points of the program. You will have to induce them into giving you all the information by asking questions.

Instead of just accepting the numbers they give you about income potential, ask the salesperson the average amount of money people make with the ecommerce business opportunities. There are going to be top producers in every program and salespeople like to play up those numbers so try and get and estimated average per person income. Also be sure to ask about how much time you need to commit to building the business, how the business is marketed and how long before you’ll see a return on your investment.

Get a Second Opinion

With the ease and availability of the internet, there is no reason not to do thorough research on the ecommerce business opportunity you are considering. Take all the information the representative gives you and search for mentions of the company. With the increasing social nature of the internet, chances are good that someone has spoken about their experiences with the company. You want to consider all the information available.

It is also a good idea to talk to someone whose advice you trust about the ecommerce business opportunity and get their feedback. They may produce some questions that you may have forgotten to ask. At the very least, they will give you a different perspective about the opportunity that you may not have thought of.

Evaluate the Long Term Potential

This perhaps is the most important aspect of any ecommerce business opportunity. Is it a long term solution? Is it likely to be around in the next five or ten years? Many businesses fail because interest in the product was fleeting, the market gets saturated or the company simply didn’t plan for long term growth.

Evaluate the product. Is it something people will need and use for a long time? Is there room for yet another business centered on this type of product? What are the company’s long term plans? Do your best to get satisfactory answers these questions.

Owning your own business is the first step towards personal and financial freedom but make sure that you get into the right ecommerce business opportunity that will help you reach your goals.

Visit http://www.EasyAnswersForYou.com for a checklist of things to look for to help you determine if the business opportunity you are considering is one of the 97% that will fail.

3 Internet Marketing Tips For Small Business Owners

Rachel Weekley — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:26:16 +0000

An estimated 1 billion people are using the internet and that number continues to grow every day. As technology advances and extends the reach of the internet into the farthest corners of the Earth, it is important that you market your business online in order to compete effectively in the marketplace. Here are three internet marketing tips for small business owners to use to ensure you are making the most of your online presence.

Know Your Target Audience

Not every person will be a good fit for your products and trying to pursue customers who aren’t interested only results in wasted resources. So knowing your target customer is perhaps most important of the three internet marketing tips. For small business owners, this means sifting through the population and picking out those people who can benefit the most from your products.

Take a moment and write down a basic description of your product. Next, think about how your product would be used and by whom. Try to work out as many details as possible such as gender, age range, lifestyle and even level of education. For example, let’s say you sell high end cookware. Your target market might be men and women in midlife who enjoy gourmet cooking. They may have gone to culinary school and they might even work in the food industry. All of this information can be used to craft a sales message that grabs their attention and gets them buying from you.

Start Small

A frequent mistake that entrepreneurs make is to get on the internet and try to do everything at once. They will start a blog, join multiple social networking websites and participate in every forum remotely related to their products.

There is nothing wrong with trying to get the word out about your business. However, you don’t want to do too much too quickly. You will run the risk of spreading yourself too thin, burning out and defeating the purpose of what you are using these internet marketing tips for. As small business owners, we already have enough on our plate without adding a grueling marketing campaign on top of it. Start with one idea. When you feel you have a good handle on things, then add another one.

Know How to Respond

Perhaps the most common sense of our internet marketing tips is for small business owners to have a policy in place that dictates how they will handle complaints found online. More business reputations have been torn to shreds because entrepreneurs respond to criticism in a manner that incites a senseless internet fight.

To avoid this, you should have rules in place regarding how your company responds to complaints posted on the internet. Remember, it is not the problem itself but how you handle it that attracts or repels customers.

Http://www.EasyAnswersForYou.com has many more internet marketing tips for small business owners that they can use to successfully market their products and services online. You will learn why 97% of businesses fail and how you can prevent your small business from becoming a statistic.

4 Ways to Find the Best Multi-Level Marketing Business Opportunities

Rachel Weekley — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:24:25 +0000

Time and time again it’s been proven that owning your own business is the best way to secure your financial future. But starting your own business can be a difficult process. You have to develop a product, choose a business model, decide on a pricing structure, get licensing and market the business.

That’s why many people are turning to multi level marketing business opportunities. Offered by established companies, these business opportunities allow individuals to start a business without all the hassles associated with building a company from the ground up.

Essentially these companies hand you a ready made business complete with products to sell and a marketing plan to follow. Since most of these opportunities include training, you don’t need any prior experience to get started. Usually all you need to do is pay a nominal membership fee and you’re open for business.

Finding these companies is just as easy. Here are four ways to find the best multi level marketing business opportunities that will help you achieve the personal and financial freedom you’ve been dreaming of.

Tap Your Social Network

Talking to friends and family members is a great way to find the MLM business. There are tons of companies out there and chances are good that someone in your network is signed up with one.

The great thing about talking to people in your network is that they are more likely to be honest about their experiences which will help you separate the best multi level marketing business opportunities from the ones that are all hype.

Trade Shows and Job Fairs

Another good place to look for the best MLM opportunities are at trade shows and job fairs. You can often find one or two booths being operated by representatives of popular multi level marketing companies. Keep in mind, though, that they are there to sell you on the opportunity and thus will naturally play up the good points and minimize the bad.

The Internet

The internet offers a multitude of ways to find the best multi level marketing business opportunities. A simple query entered into a search engine, like Google, will bring up pages full of listings. There are also several directories online that offer a catalog of all the multi level marketing business opportunities available today.

Because the internet is really just one big social network, you will often find reviews of the business opportunity you are considering. These reviews usually detail both opportunity’s strengths and weaknesses which will enable you to make an informed decision about joining.

Magazines

Lastly, there are several magazine publications dedicated to showcasing and reviewing the best multi level marketing business opportunities on the market. You can find these magazines in just about any retail store. While a magazine is not as interactive as talking to a friend or using the internet, you can use these publications as a starting point for your search.

Finding the best multi level marketing business opportunities is only the beginning. Taking the next step and actually building your business is where the real work begins.

The One Trait That Only Multi Level Marketing Companies Share

Salt Weekley — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:11:45 +0000

It is tempting to think that all multi level marketing companies are the same. After all, most of these multi level marketing companies use the same business model. The parent company develops the products and handles the endless details associated with starting a business. They, then, offer individuals the opportunity to buy a membership with the company that allows them to build an independent business selling the company’s products.

They all have similar compensation structures where you make money through your personal sales as well as earn a percentage of the sales made by your team members. In addition, the majority of these companies allow you to set your own hours and work from the comfort of your home.

But there is one trait that sets the best multi level marketing companies apart from all the others on the market. One trait where those who get it right enjoy phenomenal success and those who get it wrong suffer dismal failure. And just what is this one trait that will decide the fate of your home based business?

The best multi level marketing companies are able to effectively market their products and business opportunity.

Without powerful marketing techniques that capture the attention of prospects and customers, a MLM company is almost guaranteed to fail. An extraordinary marketing system will sell a million pieces of a mediocre product. On the other hand, outdated and ineffective marketing techniques will cause even a cure for cancer to languish, unnoticed, on a shelf.

Almost all but the very best multi level marketing companies employ sales tactics that actually push customers away. It is common knowledge that people hate to be sold. Yet some companies still exhort their representatives to cold call prospects or to chase down potential customers in grocery stores and parking lots.

Not only does this cause you to waste time selling your business opportunity to people who aren’t the slightest bit interested, but you are forced to suffer the humiliation of being rejected over and over and over again. Really, who wants to put their self esteem through that kind of drama?

Smart MLM companies know that the best leads are the people who come to you for information. They provide their members with a marketing strategy that gets customers calling them rather than forcing their representatives to treat everyone they meet like a prospect instead of a person.

When evaluating these opportunities, be sure to take a close look at the marketing techniques you’ll be using to attract people to your business. If you have to use inferior sales tactics that require you to hunt down potential customers and hard sell them on your business opportunity, you can almost guarantee that your business will fail.