image by jmilles

As much as I would like to say that everyone on Twitter cares about everyone else, you probably already know that isn’t true. Not only don’t they care, many of them are not even real. For those of us who have been using Twitter for years, this is not new news but if you are new to the platform or only dabbled before, you might wonder what to do with the spammers.

The Basic Rules for Following on Twitter:

1. First of all, you don’t have to follow everyone who follows you. Some people will tell you that this is the way to build numbers but numbers are not always the best way to grow true relationships. Choose who you want to follow. Every tweet you push out can attract odd followers. Yesterday I was talking about how I shared my photos with Twitpic using both my PC and Windows Phone and this morning in my new followers is Appdealswp who represents apps for Windows Phones. Keywords will bring you followers but not necessarily the ones you planned.
2. Does the person have a photo? I know some people are camera shy but really? If you want to be on social media, you need to have a photo. The standard egg on Twitter brands you as a newbie or worse, a bot.
3. Look at the stream, if you see the same thing repeated over and over whether or not there is a photo, it probably means it is a bot or at least someone who is clueless about how Twitter works.

When to block someone?

When you see a continuous stream of the same thing, it is time to block and report them. It crowds the stream and frankly it is just annoying. Whether is is walmart gift cards or an IPad giveaway, if it sounds too good to be true, just block and report. People (or bots) can appear in your stream even if you never followed them. If they use your name, you will see them.

Be careful who you block and report because it will eventually lead to their account being suspended. Twitter checks for these types of accounts anyway and they do get blocked by Twitter too.

Using this strategy will decrease the annoying accounts that bother you much better than setting your status to protected tweets which will decrease your opportunity to enjoy Twitter.

If by chance, you were thinking about using bot-like, mass broadcasting strategies on Twitter, don’t! As you can guess, you might be the one blocked if you do.

image by Frederick Md Publicity

I hear conversation from people about SEO from so many different sources. I have to ask why that is such an issue with so many people. I think instead of worrying about SEO, you should focus on what you really want and decide if getting better SEO will get you there.

Should you be looking for high traffic?

Personally though as a writer, I love being read by as many people as possible, I am not looking for high traffic. Though there many be some options in the future for products that don’t involve me (Julie) delivering services directly, right now my services are tied to Julie delivering the services. I know how many people I can work with at DesignResumes.com and there will be a specific number of people I can work with here on The Marketing Results Blog.

What kind of reader do I want?

I want to reach people who would find working with me to be something they really want to do. I also want to provide a resource to people who will never work with me but would benefit by my information. I can’t do that through plugging in an SEO formula and kicking in key words that are meaningless to my business just to get readers who will never want to work with me and who have no interest in my subject matter.

I want committed people who have a desire to learn. I want some of those to be people who understand the value of investment and are willing to see our working together as an investment in their future.

What have I found that works to increase the SEO for my blogs?

1. Write interesting content applicable for my subject matter. If I want people to find me on this blog, I will talk about content marketing, social media, blog organization, entrepreneurship, and other things related to the main topic of Marketing Results. On my other blog for Design Resumes, I focus on job search, career marketing, resumes, and how to cope with the attitude issues of being unemployed.
2. Since this is a WordPress blog, I make full use of all the areas within WordPress’s backside (the post writing area) to make sure I have created searchable content and do have key words, such as the title, categories, tags, and the content itself.
3. Use the Headway theme (affiliate link) tools. Not only does using Headway let you create an attractive looking site, the team at Headway has built-in SEO tools. When I write a post, I can enter in the title, a brief summary, and several key words that fit the topic of the post.
4. Use sharing tools. Right now this blog is using ShareThis which lets people share to many different platforms. Since the top sharing for me is on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Stumble, I have chosen those tools for my blog. As soon as Google+ is included in ShareThis, I will include it because that is one more platform I am using regularly.
5. Be visible on the social networking platforms you enjoy using. People share things for people they know so build relationships.
6. Check to see what is bringing traffic to your blog. Jim Connolly suggested that I use Woopra’s app in addition to Google Analytics. Woopra has real time analytics which I can use to determine who is on my site, what queries are attracting them, and what keywords are being sought. Potentially, I could focus my topics and writing to meet the needs of the people who are visiting or tailor my posts to focus more specifically on what I would like people to be searching for on my blogs.

I know SEO has value but I think people worry about it too much and fail to realize that numbers are not their goal. Unless you are selling small widgets and can push them out in high volume, most small businesses need clients or customers who value your services or products and will share your message. I want to build advocates who understand what I offer and see me as a resource for themselves and someone they feel comfortable recommending to friends and family. If I can create content that builds those advocates, I have accomplished my goal.

image by Rosaura Ochoa

When you look at the many social media options out there, it gets confusing. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, and many more. Not only that, they change. The image above was a 2009 image.

Think about what we would call important now. Certain networks work best for most people and there are some that you will feel comfortable using.

Too many apps?

I find myself in the career industry looking at new applications all the time. If I was a job seeker, I would be very confused. BeKnown, Branchout, and many more lesser known ones are crying for your attention. As a business owner and as a solo entrepreneur, there are so many options calling out to me.

I will test applications to see what works best for me but I don’t want to use all of them. I tested Quora for a little while early this year because the question format seemed interesting but then abandoned it because it was one more thing.

My Top 4 social media networks

I can’t be everywhere! You can’t either. So where will I be?

1. LinkedIn was my initial venture into social media and it started my brave new world. I still think that LinkedIn has its purpose but I see it as the most professional of all of the social networks. I certainly have had client contacts from LinkedIn but I don’t use it for talking to people the way I do Twitter or Facebook or Google+.
2. Twitter came next for me on my social media journey and it is still one of my top places for conversation. This morning was particularly talkative and I found myself having conversations with multiple people in various parts of the US and UK all at the same time. I think I love Twitter because it rapidly lets you meet people from so many different places and yet you form common bonds.
3. Facebook was next and has since become a favorite for me. I use it both for business and personal and my Facebook updates crossover between both personal and business. Unlike some people who want to keep Facebook for friends and family, I find that if people get to know the real me on Facebook, they are more likely to either choose to use my services or recommend me to someone else who needs my help.
4. On June 28, 2011, Google+ launched. I was slow to join mainly because my family and personal life had some challenges at that point. I missed much of the information about how to use it best but then I found myself just learning how to use it as I do many other things by trial and error. I find it a place I want to be and enjoy the differences from Facebook enough to put some time in there not only posting my own things but reading things I might not see on other platforms.

I know that there are many other places to be but for now, these four will get my attention. I know I can’t be everywhere. For some people, four would be too many. But I find that I divide my time and pop in and out and it works for me.

If you haven’t already joined me, please follow the links on my sidebar to join my communities. What about you? Where will you be in 2012 and how many places can you be without getting overwhelmed?

image by JoshSemans

You decided that you want to use some of these new communication tools such as Twitter. I know that it takes time to get up to speed. It is easy to go the wrong way. You need to constantly be asking yourself: “What message are you trying to send?”

Let me help you out with some of what I have learned along the way.

Julie’s Twitter Basics

If you are planning to use Twitter as one of your communication methods, you need to know some basic tips:

• Don’t protect your Tweets! If we look at all the issues that people face with privacy on the internet, you may think that you should set your status to protected. Unless you are planning to have a private communication system within your company or a group of friends, you really don’t want to protect your tweets. When I see someone following me but their tweets are protected, I don’t connect. It is one extra step and I have no idea if they are open to connections. For more about what I think about protected Tweets, go here.

• Create a compelling profile! The 160 characters you have for your bio on Twitter compels you to be innovate and use tight writing strategies. One of the challenges for me is that my Twitter profile needs to represent mainly my career marketing side. I tried two Twitter accounts but found it way to complicated and decided to use one for both Designresumes.com and this blog. Here’s my latest bio statement:

Today’s economy is nothing but challenging. As a resume writer, I market you and design compelling online profiles, using cutting-edge career marketing tools.

But the great thing about this profile area is that you can change it whenever you want. Just remember to write tight and think about your message. A cohesive message is better than trying to jam everything anyone might want to know about you in 160 characters.

• Don’t use DMs for marketing! Every once in awhile I connect with someone and they send me a DM (direct message) telling me to go to their link. When I decide to connect with anyone I don’t know on Twitter, I read their profile and check out the links in the profile. I am not going to get excited by your product just because you send me a DM with a link to your site.

• Watch your photos! I find this most often with young people. When you select a profile pic you need to check the message you are leaving. If you are in a job search mode or trying to use Twitter to market your business, don’t post suggestive photos of yourself. Twitter is now incorporating the photos you share on Twitter with TwitPic or other tools and if you aren’t careful, you may be giving the wrong message here too.

• Use Twitter to build community and build relationships. People who are new to social media think that broadcasting your message works. It doesn’t! It comes off as spam and you rapidly lose people who might have been great contact.

No matter what your objective is with using Twitter, you will have a better experience using these basic Twitter tips. And if you are looking for marketing results, you will find yourself building relationships that do just that!

Under Settings: General, you will find an area that looks like the selection here.

If you accidentally check the “anyone can register box”, it allows anyone to register as users on your site. Somehow this was checked on both this site and DesignResumes.com.

When I discovered this, I found that multiple people with spammy looking names registered. Fortunately because the setting was set to a default role of Subscriber, it didn’t give this people any rights other than setting up a profile.

Is anyone registered as a user on your WordPress site besides you?

You can check who is registered as a user on your site by opening the User tab like the one on the left. You can then delete the users you don’t want.

It did feel a little like someone had entered my home without permission and maybe they might just drank a glass of water but the feeling of an uninvited guest is unnerving.

I unchecked the box and still don’t know why I would have checked it in the first place unless I thought it had something to do with comments. (It doesn’t!).

I did find that the WordPress documentation is much more detailed that I thought and a search of Google gave me many answers quickly right from the WordPress Codex site.

image by jazzlah

Customer service is an integral part of any successful business. There will be times when you are unable to answer your phone and some services or questions that require a phone call. Some businesses have turned to automated systems to diffuse some of the questions. However, I think that most of the time, they have missed the boat.

The Technology Smart Customer

For customers like myself who live on Google, we have already been to the website. If we are looking for current balance information from a bank, credit card company or insurance company, we have probably already looked it up. If we have not been able to find the information we seek online, we will call. But we want to speak to a person.

If we are calling a retail business, we have also checked that out online in advance and looked up any product information that we need. If we call your business at that point, there is probably something that we cannot accomplish online and we need to speak to a person.

If we call a restaurant, we have checked out your menu, your hours of operation, and double-checked your location. We may even have looked for an online order or reservation system. If we call your restaurant, we need to speak to a person.

The Technology Challenged Customer

My father-in-law is 89. He bought a computer two years ago but never uses it. His career was in utilities and he is very savvy but he is not a technology geek and will never become one. Like many of your customers, he is not going to your website. He counts on mailed statements, advertising in newspapers, and customer service on the phone. When he calls the bank, he doesn’t want to jump through 15 stages (press 1 for….), he wants to speak to a person. No matter who he calls, he wants to speak to a person. No matter how much information you automate for him, you will make him mad. He wants to speak to a person.

Why I hate automated systems

This morning I called a financial company because I have to speak to a person to transfer funds from them. The computer voice that answered didn’t understand me. It would not release to customer service when I said customer service. Pressing zero (0) didn’t get me out of the loop to get me to a human voice. I had to find a way to get it to cooperate.

By the time I accomplished my goal of speaking to a person, I was furious. Is your goal to make money? For most companies, the answer is yes. Are you investing in advertising, customer research, detailed studies to find out how to build more business?

Here’s a clue. You want more business. Hire a human to answer your phone or at least provide an easy way to opt out of your phone system and reach a human.

You are losing more customers from your automated system than you might know. Is it worth the cost-savings? I love technology and you could get voice mail at my office if I cannot answer the phone but guess what? A human (me) will call you back. Most of the time I answer my phone unless I am with a customer or in a meeting or otherwise indisposed.

How about you? Who do you want to talk to on the phone? I bet it’s not a computer!

image by Foxtongue

I shared this list on a career industry e-list this morning. The initial question was what lists should I put my blog on and how do I know they are the right ones. My answer went a very different direction but it is the way I have built my business on Design Resumes.

If you are a beginning blogger or thinking about starting to write content, this is a good place to start to better understand how to make content marketing work for you.

1. Start by building content on your own blog. You need to let Google do its own work. When you own your own real estate by putting the content on your blog ripe with great and interesting content as well as the key words that will attract people to your niche in the industry, you will bring the traffic (and Google) there.
2. Blog regularly. You need to build blog content. In the beginning, start with as many times a week as you can handle. Blogging 2-3 times a week is a great start.
3. When looking for ideas for content, make notes when you are away from the computer or better yet keep a pocket recorder or use an app on your phone to record blog topics. (they come easier when you are not staring at the screen.)
4. As you write, link to your own copy when appropriate. Each blog post should have at least two links and your own or someone whose content fits your topic is great.
5. Make your blog comment friendly. Andy Bailey’s Commentluv plug-in is a great way to reward your commenters for stopping by with links to their site.
6. Make it easy for others to share your content. The plug-in, Sharethis is a reliable one that connects to multiple networks.
7. Use the common social networks to promote your blog: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. But build community on the them by posting other content and by communicating with other.
8. If you want to go outside, start with Business Exchange from Business Week. Traffic will come back. You connect with your LinkedIn account and can share your own and others content there by topic. I was first alerted when Laura DeCarlo asked that we make Resume Writing a topic on Business Exchange but there are many other career-related articles.
9. Read good blogs. When you read others, you will be inspired. And besides career industry content, read marketing experts. My favorite is Jim Connolly. Others you might be inspired by include Danny Brown and Copyblogger.
10. Comment on other blogs but make sure you have your Gravatar set up with your photo and link back to your own blog. A rich commenting strategy will build those links you want, especially with CommentLuv blogs.

There you have my initial thoughts. Hope these help. After you master all of the above, then carefully study where the best in the industry are sharing their content. This comes after you have been out there and you may or may not want to do this depending on your marketing goals. Blessings!

Image by o5com

Every once in awhile I run into a service provider who doesn’t take any payments except checks and cash. I was that way at one time too. Now I find that expanding the methods of payments that I take has opened the doors to many more clients.

Just like technology, methods of taking payments have changed dramatically in the past few years. I suspect there will come a time when checks become obsolete too and I already have career industry colleagues who don’t take checks. I prefer other forms of payment but will take checks.

Have you ever been to a garage ready to order major car repairs only to find that they don’t take credit cards? Now ideally you should have this in a savings account ready to go and not use credit but realistically many people don’t have enough fluid cash to pay a $1000+ bill. Even if you do have that amount available, using your debit card is much more convenient than paying cash or even writing a check.

What are the options and risks for taking payments?

• CASH – You can take cash but you then have to take it to the bank. There is no risk… unless your customer or client ended up with counterfeit money somehow.
• CHECKS – Checks don’t clear immediately and you can provide services before they clear or the check can bounce completely and you might not know it until the customer is long gone.
• DEBIT CARDS – Most people carry them now and you aren’t adding to their debt. Clearly the best option from a financial management angle.
• CREDIT CARDS – As I mentioned earlier, easy way to get payment, people don’t have to have fluid funds in their account and just as with debit cards, you will know immediately if the funds are available.

Is it hard to set up payment processing systems and what are the options?

There are so many options out there that I couldn’t possibly list them all here. Some of the ones that I am most familiar with include:

• QUICKBOOKS MERCHANT ACCOUNT: Signing up for this service can be done right in QuickBooks, you will have some fees depending on your bank. I pay $19.95 per month plus a $14.95 for the online billing option and then there are the fees which are based on the volume you generate. If you don’t have any charges in a month, you only pay the basic fees. The advantage is that everything runs through QuickBooks with no external systems and the potential negative is that fees could be lower elsewhere.
• PAYPAL: I’ve used PayPal for the last two years. Even if your customer doesn’t have a PayPal account they can still pay through PayPal using their debit or credit card. I have not experienced any trouble at all and the fees seem reasonable.
• BANK MERCHANT ACCOUNT: Our bank had told me they could process through QuickBooks with their merchant service provider. It turned out that wasn’t an option and when I asked to quit the service they told me there was a $500 early cancellation fee. I eventually got it waived but not before they took it out of my account. I fought hard to get it back. Make sure you read the fine print. Your bank may be totally different.

As I said there are many options out there, you can find one that works for you as a business professional but if you have decided that using PayPal or Merchant services is not for you, maybe you should think again. You are potentially losing many customers.

Image by Creative Tools

Despite numerous blogs and books on Twitter, some people are clueless about when to use a Direct Message (DM) on Twitter. Here’s a message I received from someone I just connected with on Twitter:

Interested in Social Media ‘Hands-On’ training? check out my workshops: (link)

So what is wrong with this DM?

• I never talked to this person at all. I simply added her.  In my post, Do I know you? I talked about E-mails that ask for link connections but have never built a relationship. This is the same thing, I have no relationship with this person and obviously she knows nothing about me.
• I suspect this is an autoDM, making it even more scummy and annoying.  My DMs come to me both by email and phone so wasting my time with an autoDM only alienates me more. I find that there is no reason at all to use an autoDM. If you are too busy to build relationships and send personal messages, you are using the wrong tool.
• And, with the above reasons, she’s claiming to be an expert. An expert I would want to learn from would never use these strategies. If I wanted to learn how to make people angry, annoy people, and get my messages tossed out, I could learn from those e-mail spammers than keep telling me I won $12 million, just send them my banking information.

What should you use a DM for, then?

• I get DMs from colleagues who want to share something outside of the main stream or check if I am available for a call.
• I get DMs from clients who want to schedule another appointment or learn more about one of my services.
• I send DMs to share information with my inner network to celebrate a success.
• I talk with Twitter friends who want my thoughts on something but don’t want to use other communication. I have held whole conversations using DMs.
• If someone I trust hasn’t found my e-mail or phone number or just needs it quickly, I send it via DM.
• If I want to make sure someone checked their e-mail, I also use a DM to let them know I sent them something that way.

Next time you are tempted to use a DM, think about this. If you are building honest relationships that may lead to working together or with someone, make sure you are using this powerful tool correctly.

Image by *clarity*

If you have had a web presence for some time, you have probably gotten unsolicited e-mails from someone who thinks you should work with them or buy their product. Here’s one I received yesterday, directed to me and referencing my other blog site:

Dear Julie Walraven,

I just got done reading your “How do I know I’ll like the new job?” and loved it!

I was wondering if you did advertising?  I’m marketing out a few sites and can pay you $50 via PayPal to add a text link into one of your older posts.  The link would go to an education site and I’d make sure the site relates to your post’s content.

Thanks and let me know if we can work something out!

Wrong way to build a business relationship

How do you build relationships online?