One of the most frequently-asked questions I get regarding article marketing is to how many directories should the article be submitted. Well, here’s my take – it depends. The key factors, in my opinion, are budget and overall marketing strategy.

More directories = Higher Costs

Once the article is written and paid for, it just makes sense to send it to as many directories as possible to get the most out of it, doesn’t it? Well, sort of… I agree, it does make very good sense to submit to more than one directory. But keep in mind that submitting articles to directories takes time. In my experience, it takes about 3-5 minutes to hand-submit an article to a directory. It is not a big deal with you only work with a handful of article directories.

But if you plan on submitting to 10-20-30 or more sites, then you can do the math and see that it becomes time-consuming. Whether you do submissions yourself or hire someone to do them for you, your costs (time or money) will go up as you increase the number of directories (or the number of articles).

More Directories Doesn’t Mean More Good Directories

The main reason reason why article marketing is so popular is because it allows to quickly build links back to your site. Typically, an article directory allows up to 3 links per article that lead back to your website. The logic is simple then – to get more links, submit to more directories! Except, of course, that search engine algorithms do not treat links in the same way.

Spammy, irrelevant backlinks and other low-quality backlinks do more harm than good when you are trying to improve your search enging ranking and have to be counter-balanced by even more high-quality content on the site you are linking to. Unfortunately, too many article directories are “fly-by-night” operators. Well, here’s what Google has to say about low-quality backlinks:

…keep in mind that low-quality links rarely stand the test of time, and may disappear from our link graph relatively quickly. They may even already be being discounted by our algorithms.

As a matter of fact, it is surprisingly difficult to find a large number of good and relevant article directories! There are lots of lists out there, but when you start evaluating each directory, many fall short.

Link-Building is MORE Than Article Marketing

If all you plan on doing for link-building is article marketing, then you will need a lot of links from a lot of directories to start seeing a difference. Hopefully, your link building plan includes more than just submitting articles to hundreds of directories.

More Article Marketing is a post from: 1Click Virtual Assistant

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1. Rates are too low;
2. Rates are too low;
3. Rates are too low.

The blame is then distributed between “overseas providers” and “the clients that asks for low-ball bids”. 

Well, I’m not going to talk about the “overseas providers” just yet.  What I really want to address is the low rates for virtual assistant work whether through Elance or not.

I might go against the grain here, but I don’t think that virtual assistant’s hourly or other rates should be determined based on the cost of living figures. You know, I have this ideal dollar-amount in my head (if you’re curious, it’s $100 per hour) that I’d love to charge for my work. I arrived at it by adding up all the bills I have to pay each month and dividing the total by the number of hours I can devote to my social media support business (ok, so I rounded it up a bit to max out my Roth IRA). However, my real rates are much lower than that. Why?

Because realistically, the work that I do does not cost $100/hour or even $50/hour for that matter.

There are plenty of good five-cent cigars in the country. The trouble is they cost a quarter. What this country needs is a good five-cent nickel. Franklin P. Adams

I just can’t say it any better than this Franklin P. Adams guy, can I? The problem, it seems, is that many of the VAs who complain about low-ball rates and many of the VA gurus who insist that VAs must charge $$ per hour are the equivalent of 5-cent cigars.

Excel data entry, article submission, basic blog setup and maintenance, etc, etc – these are all services that are very basic, don’t require advanced skills and frequently don’t allow for much optimization. In fact, many can be automated to a large degree. Sorry, but word processing, bulk mailing or fielding phone calls/e-mails is not worth $20-30 per hour. And neither does blog commenting, Wordpress blog installation or many other services.

But hold on, won’t you bring some invaluable insights and improvements into your client’s word processing or article submission tasks that would justify your rates? Most of the time, you probably won’t. First of all, the tasks are too simple, straightforward and limited to begin with. There’s also a bigger issue – do your improvements really work FOR YOUR CLIENT. Meaning does your client make more money or achieve their goals quicker because of your suggested improvements?

But what about the added value of a long-term relationship? In my experience, Elance clients (and non-Elance clients as well) expect the following from partnering with a virtual assistant:

1. Assigned work gets done on time and to quality standard
2. Detailed status reports and time-sheets are submitted regularly
3. Virtual assistant is reliable and attentive

But really, these are such basic customer service expectations that charging more for them is like having an ice-cream shop charge more for staying open late on summer weekends or for offering a variety of flavors and not just vanilla and chocolate. In short, these are the same basic 5-cent expectations.

Here’s the VA rates advice I’m sick of hearing:

You are not a secretary, you are a virtual support specialist! Your services are valuable! -  honestly, I’m yet to see one good explanation of how a virtual assistant is SO different from admin or marketing assistant in skills, experience or knowledge to warrant double or triple the hourly rate. And as for all the talk about long-term partnership, the owner of an ice-cream shop I frequent does not charge me more because she knows me by first name and remembers our family’s favorite flavors. In fact, she gives me occasional discounts because of that. Again, these are basics of customer service. 

You are not an employee, you are a business owner now! - this argument, when used to justify higher rates, is so illogical that it makes me cringe. True, as a self-employed you have certain new expenses to worry about. But demanding higher rates just because you’re not an employee is kind of like selling $20 burgers just because you chose to build your restaurant in the most expensive part of town. Can you do it? Yes, but these burgers better be something special.

By accepting low rates, you’re showing your desperation and letting clients use and abuse you - there’s some truth here, but only if the value that you offer is greater than the payment you receive. If you’re selling 25-cent cigars for 5-cents, you are indeed a dummy and quite possibly a desperate one.   

Again, the solution here is not to play the blame game, but to look at the what you offer and how you offer it and then determine how much you offer it for. And if turns out your services, the way they are right now, aren’t worth as much as you thought they might (or as much as your rate calculations worksheets tell you you must charge), then it’s time to either get a regular job or upgrade your offerings. But please, just stop blaming others (that’s an employee’s mind set, after all).

True, Elance and other such sites, have their share of unreasonable-ness. There’s some (ok, a lot) of “the lowest bidder gets the project” attitude and good old fishing around for advice. But it’s not much different in non-Elance and offline world.

Virtual Assistant Rates and Elance Work is a post from: 1Click Virtual Assistant

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This is a tag cloud of this post I created on http://www.Wordle.net

When it rains, it pours. It is true for, among other things, article marketing. Lately I’ve been doing lots and lots of it for a couple of clients. I’ve also started getting more inquiries into my article marketing support services.

Online article marketing has been around since circa 1999. I remember writing my first article as a ghost writer years ago and getting paid very good money for it (that was before $5/article sweat shops and article spinning software became all the rage). Articles were submitted to directories to build backlinks to authors’ websites as well as to get free exposure.

Ten years is a long time for anything Internet-based and article marketing is not an exception. You’d think that by now any myths and misconceptions about how to market with online articles would be dispelled. Yet almost every day I come across a blog post or, even better, an article (and sometimes even an e-book) that professes to be a well of article marketing wisdom, but in fact simply repeats the same old myths and hearsay.

Some of the most harmful and plain wrong pieces of article marketing advice include:

Myth 1 – Article marketing is FREE

Oh, boy, where to begin with this one… Ok, how about I just repeat what I said earlier, “Lately I’ve been doing lots and lots of it for a couple of clients.” And by clients I mean business owners that pay money to have me write, edit, optimize, and distribute their articles to various directories.

But let’s say you want to completely DIY your article marketing efforts. Sounds great, if you have the budget for it. Wait a second, isn’t that the whole point of DIY-ing to not pay a dime for your marketing? Well, free stops being free if you take into account the time it takes you to write and publish even a single article. And to start seeing results from your article marketing efforts, you’ll need a lot more than one or even ten articles.

Myth 2 – Articles are CHEAP

True, you can hire writers for $3-5 per article. Private label rights content is even cheaper. With rates like this, you can afford weekly or even daily articles. Except here we’re running into the good old “you get what you pay for” issue.

One of my best clients for whom I do article marketing and vendor management has a rule – he does not hire any writers who charge less than $10 per article. Why? Because he knows first-hand that cheap articles require extensive re-writes (occasionally, complete overhauls) to make them readable and in compliance with article directories’ editorial guidelines.

When it comes to private label rights articles, many sites expressely forbid use of PLR in submissions. Extensive customization of PLR is possible, but takes time and money. And even then, some of the best directories will reject your articles.

Myth 3 - You can’t publish the same article on different sites without SPINNING it 

This is one of those article marketing myths that is particularly difficult to eradicate. The reasoning goes something like this: publishing the same exact (word-for-word) article to different sites creates duplicate content. Posting duplicate content will get you in trouble with article marketing sites.”

So here we go, the good old “duplicate content” monster that scares you into spending countless hours re-writing each article for each directory and buying article spinning software that turns even well-written articles into garbled pieces of low-quality junk. (Can you tell I think this myth is particularly irritating?)

So let’s put this myth to rest once and for all (bear with me please since this will save you a lot of time, money and heart-ache):

Straight from editorial guidelines of some of the most popular article directories that require manual approval of each article by their editorial staff:

MUST NOT be a submission of the exact same article as one that you already submitted. Some authors have submitted the same article multiple times with only a few words changed in the body — we reject these and ban authors who engage in this practice. (from EzineArticles)

Remove any duplicate content or duplicate articles which are submitted to the site. This includes articles which are submitted to numerous categories with no attempt to change any of the content in order to relate the category intended (from ArticleAlley)

All articles must be original articles. Multiple submissions of the same article will not only result in the article being removed, but it can also lead to the author being suspended should we consider them to be abusing the system. (from ArticleBase)

You see it, don’t you? The dreaded duplicate content refers to submitting an article to the SAME directory more than once. If all those editorial guidelines quotes leave any doubt, here’s something straight from the horse’s mouth:

Syndicate carefully: If you syndicate your content on other sites, Google will always show the version we think is most appropriate for users in each given search, which may or may not be the version you’d prefer. However, it is helpful to ensure that each site on which your content is syndicated includes a link back to your original article… (from Google Webmaster Central) 

Article marketing is a great tool to include in your online marketing strategy as long as you understand that it requires hard work, long-term commitment, and understanding of the basics of content creation and SEO.  If you are not sure whether what you’re reading online about article marketing is true, my best advice is to READ EDITORIAL GUIDELINES for each article directory to which you want to publish.

3 Article Marketing Myths That Cost You Money is a post from: 1Click Virtual Assistant

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I mean, does your work stop after the project is delivered? And when you do work on a project or a task for your client, do you think of the present or the future of the results you deliver. Ok, I guess I better clarify.

Just like giving a great Valentine’s Day gift, completing a task or a project for a client requires more than a standard approach:

#1 – Go beyond roses and chocolates

Just as with Valentine’s Day gifts, there are some stereotypes associated with pretty much any project. Don’t be afraid to offer something different to your client – different format layout, tracking software, status updates schedule, etc – as long as you believe it will benefit your client.

I recently worked on a project where my client required daily status updates with Excel spreadsheet. I suggested that Google Docs might be a better solution for real-time tracking, easy version control, and simplified collaboration. That was a simple change that made my client’s life a bit better.

#2 – Serve breakfast in bed (metaphorically speaking)

On Valentine’s Day (and on most weekends) my husband cooks me breakfast. I know, I know, he’s awesome! But he’s yet to discover a very simple way of moving to the next level and becoming “super-awesome” – buying and occasionally using a simple folding tray.

Most of us already go above and beyond to make our clients happy. But how about (once in a while) doing something super-awesome and really making their day. Here’s what I did for one of my most favorite blogging clients – I created a log file of all their blog posts for the last year (about 60 posts).

This log file included basic information about each post, including number of comments. It also included a “Blogging Ideas” column where I entered ideas based on the previous posts’ content and reaction from the readers. There were a few other nice social media-related features in that file. The client absolutely loved the log file and it has already proved to be a very useful tool.

#3 – Don’t forget to clean up

It sure is nice to get fresh flowers, except that now you have to change water in a vase and, eventually, get rid of the dried out arrangement. Well, that’s another opportunity to move from “awesome” to “super-awesome”, both in personal and business life.

I’m talking about following up even after the project is delivered or the task is completed; making sure that everything works the way it should; answering last-moment questions even after the project is over; and asking for feedback not just to use it as a testimonial, but to improve your services.

The term “great customer service”, much like Valentine’s Day, can be annoying and meaningless. Or it can be real and simple, as simple as taking care of that withered bouquet and maybe even bringing some fresh flowers. What do you think?

Who Throws Away Dry Bouquets, You or Your Client? is a post from: 1Click Virtual Assistant

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2 Reasons You MUST Include Features in Your Copy
 
I was reading Robert Plank’s Time Management on Crack 2.0 this past weekend and was thrilled to see a comment in the sales page section about remembering to include features in your bullet points.
 
Because features have apparently become the Chucky doll of copywriting.
 
It started out innocently enough. Well-meaning copywriters started spreading the word that you need to stop focusing on features and focus on benefits. And that’s true–far too many companies think their tech specs, coaching process or whatnot is going to dazzle the masses into buying from them…while most buyers have no clue what those things mean and could care less.
 
But like the “small” hamburger that’s now dwarfed by all the super-sized-Whopper-Thickburgers in fast food land, we tend to take everything to excess. To the point that now I often see strident proclamations from pseudo-copywriters that you should NEVER talk about features in your copy.
 
Um, there’s one teensy problem with that…
 
Most people have this “odd quirk” about wanting to know what they’re actually, physically getting for their money.
 
I was considering a product recently from a well-known marketer and while there were tons of benefits and teasers about what I’d learn, there was nothing about how it would be delivered. A manual? CDs? Smoke signals? I was mystified.
 
Don’t make me play Nancy Drew. Tell me EXACTLY what I’m going to receive–how many pages the manual is, how many CD’s there are, or how long the videos or teleclasses are.
 
It just takes a sentence or a quick set of bullets toward the end of your sales page to enlighten your prospects but it’s important because it makes what you’re asking them to shell out money for more tangible…creating that “thud factor” in their minds.
 
(“Thud factor” refers to the weight of a book or package when it’s dropped on a table. People usually feel they’re getting more for their money when they’re buying something with a big thud factor.)
 
For information products and courses, the sections and lessons you plan to cover are important features as well. Prospects want to see how much will be new to them and how well it’ll solve the problems they’re facing right now.
 
Just inserting your table of contents from a product or giving the titles of the classes in the teleseminar series is a good start. Of course, I’d recommend taking the opportunity to highlight several important things they’ll do or learn in each one as well…
 
In short, wow prospects with lots of bullets showing how they’ll benefit. But don’t forget to tell them what they’re actually getting as well.

Tracy Needham, founder of Compelling Communications, LLC, helps small business owners boost their business through compelling copy and marketing strategies that make the most of their time and money. Sign up for her FREE Special Report: The One Press Release You Can Write to Get Thousands of Dollars Worth of Free Publicity at http://www.compellingezine.com

Technorati Tags: copywriting, sales copywriting, sales letter

Features are NOT Evil is a post from: 1Click Virtual Assistant

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As I thought about it more, I decided to jot down some of the points. So here we go, in no particular order, what makes me want to continue reading a blog:

A well-defined niche that matches my interests - if a blog is too general or strays off topic often enough, I switch to something else. 

Regular updates –  I see blogs that go from daily posts to weekly ones or even once every couple of weeks. Worse yet, I see blogs with latest posts being a couple of months old. That’s not good. I might sign up for RSS feed from a infrequently updated blog, but I sure won’t sign up for a blog that appears dead.

Not too many posts – I simply don’t have enough time to read through multiple daily posts from the same blog. Ok, this is not entirely correct. I do make a couple of exceptions, but these are for blogs that are highly visual, with lots of images and links to resources.

Limited monetization – by this I mean promos of blog author’s own products and services or those of her affiliate partners, sponsored posts, etc. Some blogs get downright ridiculous – every link is an affiliate link, every other post is a promotional post, and the blog itself is plastered with banner ads. Yikes!

Great content – I’m not saying it has to be 100% original nowhere-else to be found content (although that’s a big plus). There are a few blogs I follow that have almost no original content, but are more like aggregators. They scout the web for interesting and relevant articles, products, questions, blog posts, images and videos and then put them up on their site, with proper credits and links. But people behind these blogs make sure that whatever they select to publish is really and truly great content!

Great presentation – images help, but I’m talking more about proper formatting - short paragraphs, lots of visual markers (sub-headers, lists) that help me to scan your content quicker. Some say blog posts shouldn’t be any longer than 500-600 words. My thought on this that it’s not so much the length of the post as the information value it carries. 

Full posts in RSS feed – some blogs’ RSS feeds are configured to only show a post summary. You have to click on the link to the original post to read the full article. That’s very annoying. I understand why it’s done, but I still don’t like it. A blog better be really outstanding and the summaries are very enticing for me to continue subscribing to and reading it in this case.  

Links to resources – my favorite blogs, the ones that I’ve been reading for over a year, have lots of these. Some have links to and reviews of books. Others point to events, happenings, webinars, etc. Others regularly put up helpful documents, checklists, templates, and reports for download and make them absolutely unconditionally free (they don’t even ask for an e-mail). Yet others post step-by-step instructions or upload how-to screencasts. And most of the blogs I subscribe to link to other great blogs.

With all this in mind, I’ll be taking a good hard look at my own blog. I’m sure there are things I can do much better that would address at least some of the issues I mentioned. If you have some blogging pet peeves, let me know!

Technorati Tags: blogging, business blog

What Makes Blog a Subscription Magnet is a post from: 1Click Virtual Assistant

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In particular, I’m talking about instances when a client contracts a vendor who, in turn, sub-contracts part or all of the project to a bunch of freelancers. In all likelyhood freelancers in all niches have their horror stories. Well, I’ll be focusing on what I know best – virtual assistance industry and, more specifically, on working with multi-VA agencies.

But first, a DISCLOSURE – I’m not a lawyer and in no way qualified to provide legal advice. What follows is my honest opinion based on my own experience both as a vendor manager and a sub-contractor.

So, it all starts with a sub-contract agreement. Ok, so it really starts a bit earlier than that, with applying to the agency or answering their inquiry. But the next step is surely signing a multi-page agreement full of legal jargon. The single most-important thing to remember about this agreement is that it is an AGREEMENT – something that satisfies both parties and that is open to negotiation.

This means, if you don’t like some of the terms for one reason or another, you can request making changes to the contract. Most freelancers simply sign on the dotted line, even if some of the terms make them cringe.

Some do it because they hope for the best. To these I say, from my recent experience, hope for the best, but  prepare for the worst. 

Others do it because they think if they don’t agree to all terms and conditions, the agency will simply dump them for a more pliant freelancer. Here’s my two-cents on this (and these come from my experience as a vendor manager) – if you are an average unremarkable easy-to-replace cog, then yes, the agency will go with someone else. If, on the other hand, you bring unique value, they will be more willing to discuss changes to the agreement with you.  

So, what kind of changes am I talking about. A typical services agreement has a few standard sections and clauses that warrant close attention:

Scope of Services (aka Services to Be Performed) -  If the scope of your services will vary over time and from project to project, then make sure to include that such services will be described on separately executed Statements of Work or Work Orders.

Term – Check if there’s a automatic renewal clause or “effective until terminated by either party” clause. If there isn’t, take note of the date the contract will terminate. Some multi-VA agencies, especially the ones that don’t have good vendor management in place will forget to renew contracts or to let you know to stop work (yes, weird, but it does happen).

Termination – IMHO, some contracts are particularly unsavory in this department. How about this example:

The Agreement may be terminated by either party upon fifteen (15) days written notice to the other party. If Independent Virtual Assistant terminates agreement for any reason other than an emergency, the Agency reserves the right to withhold payment of any monies not paid for work performed.

The Agency reserves the right to terminate the Agreement without notice or less than 15 days notice for failing to meet standards of performance and /or non-compliance with any term included in the Agreement. The Agency reserves the right to withhold payment of any monies not paid for work performed.

Notice, that in this case, if a contractor terminates the agreement for any reason (other than emergency) with or without proper notice, the agency has all the rights to not pay the contractor for completed (and delivered) work.

And here’s a caution about standards of performance (non-compliance with which would also prevent a contractor from getting paid) – make sure that these said standards are specified very clearly in the agreement. Otherwise pretty much anything can pass for “failure to comply with standards of performance”, especially if turns out you’re dealing with a unscrupulous agency.

Rates  – clearly specify your rates and whether these are time- or project- based. If time-based, specify your time-increments – 1 minute, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, etc. For project-based rates, I’d suggest simply stating that rates and fees will be specified in the applicable Statements of Work.

Payment Terms – I was once foolish enough to accept, without negotiating, a no-retainer no-downpayment monthly invoicing terms with a very small one-person agency structured as a sole proprietorship. After a few months (call me slow on the uptake), I realized how risky such an arrangement was for me and asked to change the terms to bi-monthly payments. The response was a resounding NO (which swiftly put an end to that relationship, but that’s another story).

Records and Reports – basically, if you do hourly work, then the contract needs to state how your hours are to be tracked and reported, including on invoices.

Work Product Ownership – typically, an agreement specifies that a sub-contractor transfers all ownership to the product produced under the agreement to the agency. This is another area that can be negotiated along with whom to credit for the completed work.

Non-compete Clause – make sure that a non-compete clause is both fair and not overly restrictive. Also, it’s worth noting that, at least in the US, many states have their own laws regarding non-compete agreement. Different states might have different limitations on the terms of non-competes as well as geographical areas they apply to.

Ok, this seems to be it. So don’t be in a hurry or feel pressured to accept the terms of the subcontract agreement “as is”. You have the right to negotiate the terms to be more advantageous to you.

Technorati Tags: virtual assistant, outsourcing, subcontractor, services agreement

Don’t Sign That Subcontract Agreement is a post from: 1Click Virtual Assistant

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Who is important? Well, you’ll have your own answers based on your business’ specific needs. Mine included clients (current and potential ones), joint venture partners, competitors, companies that provide software and services that I use for my business (or would like to try), industry-related events and training programs, and of course people who I consider my mentors (even though they don’t know about it).

Whoever is going to end up on your list, you can benefit from these tools to make your efforts of getting in touch and staying in touch easier and more streamlined:

• Mr. Tweet – Show the influencers and followers you should follow and suggests you to enthusiastic users relevant to you.
• Just Tweet It – A user directory for Twitter organized by genre to allow for users to easily find other Twitter users to connect with.
• Retweet Rank – Retweetrank lets you find rank of any twitter user. With the rank, latest retweets of the user are shown and an RSS feed can also be grabbed for the same.
• Twellow – A directory of public Twitter accounts, with hundreds of categories and search features to help you find people who matter to you.
• TwitteRel – By using Twitterel.com you can make your life a lot more interesting, we thought of a way to connect to other twitter users who share the same interests as you do.
• Friend or Follow – Who are you following that’s not following you back? Who’s following you that you’re not following back?
• Twitoria – Twitoria is a web app that tidies up your Twitter friends list by revealing inactive friends that haven’t tweeted in a long time so you can unfollow them.
• Topify – Twitter application that improves Twitter’s email notification and allows to follow and reply to direct messages by email.
• Tweepler – A Twitter application that allows you to organize followers.
• Twimailer – Tired of shallow e-mails from Twitter when someone follows you? Want to know more about the people who are following you? Twimailer is a free service that delivers that information right to your inbox!
• TweeterTags – Get the most out of Twitter by finding the right people to share the conversation: Tweeter Tags makes it easy to declare your interests and find new, like-minded friends. Have a question you need answering? Find relevant people on Twitter to ask.

Technorati Tags: Twitter, Twitter tools

Whom to Follow on Twitter is a post from: 1Click Virtual Assistant

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My hubby on the other hand is pretty much an unreformed believer in most marketers being spammers. Needless to say, we have lively discussions on this topic once in a while. But I’m grateful for this since it constantly makes me look at my own marketing with a critical eye – is it going to be perceived as spam?

Here’s what changed my mind about the whole marketing v. spam issue. Years ago I signed up for MyPoints.com program (Full Disclosure – I no longer participate in this program, nor am I their affiliate or am being paid to write this). The deal was they would send me e-mails with various offers and specials. I was under no obligation to even open these e-mails, much less to view or accept any of the offers. But if I did, I would earn a certain number of points that could be redeemed for merchandize.

The e-mails with ads, offers, and ”hot” specials that I got through MyPoints helped me change my point of view.

Spam is about taking the choice away from someone and delivering them information about products and services without their permission. Spam comes in the way of unsolicited emails, junk mail and telemarketing. Spam leaves a bad taste in our mouths and for good reason. We have not asked to be inundated with the information that we find floods our inboxes these days.

On Twitter we each have an option as to who we will follow. And one might suggest it is that choice that gives others the right to “spam”. Wrong. Spam is irresponsible and annoying. Ok, so maybe your Twitter followers won’t block or unfollow you. But they will simply ignore you by “tuning out”.

So how do you know if your tweets will be viewed as spam or marketing by your followers? Ask yourself these questions before hitting the Update button:

1. Are you sharing a valuable service, product or resource?
2. Do you take the time to share on a personal level as well as sharing on a business level?
3. Have you established a relationship with your followers?
4. Is the information you are providing timely and appropriate?

If you can answer these questions with a yes answer then your message can effectively be considered marketing rather than spam. Your followers will welcome your update rather than turn away from it. Share your tweet with others and in turn respond in kind to their own messages and tweets. After all, marketing is all about the relationship and spam is about nothing more than the bottom line.

Technorati Tags: Twitter, social media marketing

Are You a Twitter Spammer? is a post from: 1Click Virtual Assistant

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3. What Should You Be Tweeting About?

The reality is that your competitors can view your Twitter account and connect with the same people.

Right after reading Chris’s post I was forced to spend a couple of days without Internet access, so I had time to think about what he said, mostly because his advice went against my own Twitter strategy.

As soon as I got my hi-speed wireless connection back, I went over to Referral Key’s small business blog and started commenting. But turns out, I have a lot to say. So I might as well say it here as well (read Referral Key’s original post first to follow along):

I am not sure I’m with you on this one. Yes, the competitors can (and will) check and poach each others Twitter connections. But there are so many easier and faster ways of searching for targeted people to follow. Here’s an example – go to one of the Twitter directories (I personally prefer Twellow) and search using your keywords. In your example of two pizzerias (sp?), I’d narrow the search down to local using TwellowHood first. You’ll end up following many of the same people your competitors do, but without time-consuming picking-through of competitors profiles.

Second point I’d like to bring up is this – following someone on Twitter doesn’t guarantee them following you back. And if they don’t follow you back, you’ll be basically the proverbial tree in the forest – they aren’t going to hear you anyway. Nor can you DM them or build any kind of relationship.

Which brings me round to the next point – the relationship. I’m going to use your pizza example again. I mostly make my own pizza. But on the evenings I feel lazy, I order from my favorite place up the road (shout out to Gourmet Factory in Raleigh. Almost daily I get coupons, flyers and other ads (print, direct mail and online) from about 5-7 pizza joints, including some other non-chain local ones. In the last four years I bought about 12 pizzas from the Factory (I don’t eat out much) and none from the other guys.

On the other hand, I see several good points about staying connected with past and present clients on Twitter, most having to do with listening for:

1. Any complaints they might have about my services (or my competitors services)
2. Any opportunities I can glimpse from their conversations
3. Giving them another way to connect with me
4. One more way to remind them of my services
5. Great comments I get about my services (which I can promptly Favorite and then use as testimonials)
6. Sending resources (links or referrals) that my clients might like or find useful.

I think the same logic can apply to adding associates, JV partners, etc to Twitter.

Besides, if your existing customers or partners don’t see much value in what you offer, they will go to your competitors regardless of whether the competitor follows them on Twitter or doesn’t.

Finally, what would you do when your relations with one of your Twitter prospects moves to the next level and they become your clients? Would you unfollow them?

What do you think? Do you connect with your clients on Twitter? Why or why not? Have you had a bad experience when a competitor “poached” your client because you were connected through a social network (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc)?

Technorati Tags: small business, social networking, social media marketing, Twitter

Should You Add Existing Customers to Your Twitter? is a post from: 1Click Virtual Assistant

Related posts:

1. Connecting to Competitors on Social Networks
2. Twitter Tools, Part 1: Get in Touch
3. Whom to Follow on Twitter