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By Adam Shore in Featured

spn_exclusiveIf you’re reading this, you’ve probably executed Search Engine Optimization campaigns and are interested in finding new ways to boost your website’s visibility and lead generation capabilities. True, SEO is a continuous process, and results might not come right away, but if you set your sights too far into the future, you may miss out on some immediate benefits. By implementing a pay-per-click lead generation campaign (PPC), you can quickly improve your SEO efforts both now and in the long run.

Both marketing channels are essentially trying to achieve the same goal – generate leads and increase sales revenue. When properly implemented, just about everything you do for SEO can be coordinated with your pay per click campaigns, and you can drive targeted traffic to your best and most profitable content using PPC. Combining PPC and SEO enables companies to maximize return on investment, provide consistent messaging, and jump start efforts that may have been slow to take off.

For newly developed brands or companies, marketers can use PPC to buy targeted traffic while the site gains search engine authority through SEO. At the point in time when your site has established its online reputation and built links and traffic flows, you can shift your strategy so that PPC becomes more of a complementary tactic.

Design Your Pages for People – Not Search Engines

This refrain is the go-to line of advice from Google’s Matt Cutts. Certainly, it is a safe phrase designed to summarize what your should do to boost your site’s SERPs, without disclosing Google’s secrets. If you have recently adopted ppc advertising after exhausting your seo ideas, buying traffic can be cathartic. PPC advertising is expensive. When you are charged for every click, you must rack your brain to maximize
the impact of each visitor. In doing so, you will notice that you begin to focus more on the behavior of visitors, and less on how you believe search engines will treat your content. You might be surprised to find out that by designing your content for users, you are actually designing it for search engines.

You can learn a lot about SEO by understanding PPC, and vice-versa. For instance, someone who has extensive experience with PPC can learn a lot regarding improving their quality scores by learning basic SEO basic best practices.

Unified Messaging

Many companies delegate the tasks of SEO and PPC to separate individuals. If this is the case in your organization, you should understand that both marketers are not competing with each other, are on the same team, and that their message needs to be unified. Both share the responsibility of driving traffic and generating leads. Communication is essential to ensuring that both marketers are utilizing similar phrasing and language. Again, the goal is the same, only the routes used to get there are different.

Social Media & Direct Links

It’s no secret that social graph metrics now play a key role in SERPs. By purchasing traffic, you increase the exposure of your website, and increase the opportunities for users to “like” your page, tweet your content, or directly link to it.

While social media recommendations, tweets, etc., are all the rage of late, direct links are still the most powerful avenue to boost your site’s rankings. Search engines treat backlinks from other sites as a recommendation of your site’s quality.

The same is true from social media, only with an added twist. Google now includes pages recommended through social channels such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google’s very own +1, in search results for users. While this is still in its infancy, it stands to reason that recommended links experience a higher CTR than regular results, and thus, generate more leads.

CTR and Direct Search

Google’s algorithm has hundreds of components. Most SEOs believe that a site’s organic click through rate and volume of branded searches for your site are among factors Google looks at when ranking your site. By increasing the overall volume of traffic to your site, you are bound to see an increase in users searching directly for you.

Double Rainbow!

…or close enough, and it does mean something. Once your site has been indexed and ranks for your coveted keywords, you will begin to reap the benefits of valuable double links. A double link occurs when your organic listing appears on the same page as your ppc advertisement. Users will often see both listings and perceive your content to be relevant. Obviously, you would prefer if the user clicks on the free link, but even a click on your paid listing will improve your ad’s quality score, and reduce costs in the long run. Still, if possible, try to
creatively incentivize the user to click on the organic search result.

Conversion Data

Increasing the total volume of traffic to your site can give you a better idea of which keywords actually convert into leads and sales. By using SEO alone, you are limited to data surrounding the keywords for which you have a high rank.

You naturally have pre-conceived and biased notions of what the best keywords for your business may be. Often webmasters and marketing coordinators are surprised when they discover leads generated by keywords they once deemed irrelevant.

Adam Shore coordinates marketing for an offshore call center in the Philippines, while living in Massachusetts, USA. His expertise includes lead generation, data entry outsourcing, virtual assistant services, customer support, and appointment setting.

By Stephen Monday in Featured

googlelogoOnline traffic has greatly increased in just the last five years, and it is expected to continue in growth.

One of the main reasons for this is because broadband, and other high-speed Internet services have become much more affordable, as well as available in more areas.

On any given day, there are hundreds of millions of people online who use GOOGLE search to find information, videos, entertainment, goods and services, and other things of interest.

With the boom in search engine traffic, how can you leverage their search to bring them to your Web site or Sales page? Keywords – is the answer. The right keywords.

Most Internet marketing “gurus,” will tell you to target the low-competition, and long-tailed keywords for your Sales or Landing pages.

I will not tell you this. In fact, I would advise you to target the high-competition keywords, and use GOOGLE keyword finder to amass many broad-match keywords, and phrases in your research.

Once you have your list of keywords, then take full advantage of the Web. That is right – go to the high-traffic, major article directories, and surf the titles of content which contain some of your keywords.

Find the most informative, well-written articles that target your niche, and then scan the content for the parts that have the best up-to-date information available.

Then copy and paste these bits of information into a word processor like Microsoft Word.

Create bullet style lists of information, using sub-heads, (because people love to scan) and compile bits of information from five or six great articles, or other sources of helpful, informative content.

Do not steal other people’s content as this is against the law, and the search engines will flag or penalize such into a sub-directory, which they would consider to be duplicated content. (Some have paid huge fines for doing this, and lost their domain as well)

The information you have compiled will simply serve as a basic guideline for the new fresh article you are about to write.

When I say write – I mean use your own words. Do not even try to get away with using partial sentences or phrases, previously published on the Web.

Do not try to simply reword other people’s content, as this will not work because copy-scape and other plagiarism tools will spot such in a jiffy, and you could face a 250,000.00 fine.

You are allowed to assimilate the entire information, and then write a totally new article.

Researchers have to check facts, and compile information every day, as this is legal.

However, you can use such research to craft high-impact, informative, engaging, article content for your own site. (as long as no part of it is plagiarized)

Write in a clear, concise manner that is personable, as well as informative. Weave your keywords you have chosen into the copy in a fashion that is natural sounding, easy to read, and lively.

People will not read boring material, so pick a subject, which you have good expertise in, and give helpful, informative insight of your own about the subject matter.

This is what will make it your own, and unique. Do not try to put over 2-3% of keywords into the content (even broad-match wording) as this will be seen by the reader’s and the search engines as keyword-stuffing, and it will come off as being boorish, and flat.

When you follow the guidelines in this article, concerning how to write great content that folks will like to read, you will discover you can be competitive (even for high-competition keywords)

I have many articles, which targeted super-competitive keywords such as (expert sales and landing page copy) that still hold their first place listings – even more than a year later – in the GOOGLE search results.

It is the presentation, and manner in which the copy is created, that will determine whether the page ranks on the first page of search results – or if it is placed so far back in the listings – (it becomes lost in cyberspace)

To create great content takes skill, and some practice, but the rewards it brings are hungry visitors who want to know more about your products or services.

It will pay you to learn how to do this, again and again. Once you become so much of an expert in your preferred niche, you will discover that you will no longer even have to do research (except, to fact check) to be able to write good articles.

If you find you do not have the time to learn to do this, you could always hire a good Web writer who will do the same.

Nevertheless, great content will bring targeted visitors to your Web site, and make you sales.

Get your free – Sales page evaluation from professional Web Copywriter Stephen E. Monday. See Website: www.AAAWebcopyservices.com.

By Anthony Harris in Featured

Lead generation is the best way to open opportunities and mine for information in multi-level marketing or network marketing. Lead generation is a selective process because MLM is not for everyone. You as owner, will need to uncover and determine which individuals to target and work with.

What it entails

Lead generation is a time consuming process and in some cases, quite costly. You will need to make a lot of phone calls, follow-ups, meetings, presentations, emails and even pay for advertising campaigns to promote your products or services to prospective customers or recruits.

Working to pump up your lead requires that you have patience, self-confidence, initiative and an undaunted spirit. MLM is not for the weak of heart and if you think you have what it takes, then this just might be the break that you need.

How to start

First, look at the demographics to target the right prospects. It is important that you consider the right kind of people to sell your products to, so you don’t waste time and effort.

The best way to do this is to look at the quality of your product and ask yourself, Who will need it best? Who will buy it at this price? Who can sell it more convincingly?

What kind of individuals buy a competing product and why?

MLM lead generation is only successful if you can target and convince the right people.

Keep a list

In MLM, it is imperative that you keep a record of who you deal with. Take notes about your sources and narrow your list then, qualify your leads. Once you have met with these people, you will be able to sense if they are interested and willing to work with you.

Start with your nearest and dearest

Begin coverage in the area nearest you your family, friends, acquaintances and colleagues. These are the best places to start generating leads because with these individuals, you have the highest comfort factor with. You are less likely to be nervous or apprehensive with people you know or are familiar with, compared to complete strangers.

It is only when this resource is completely exhausted that you should begin to look for new candidates to recruit into your network.

Turn to lead batching

Also called distributor gathering, this process involves gathering leads through advertising. You can be sure that those who respond to your advertising campaign are those who are interested in your product. Otherwise, they would not have attended your training in the first place.

Through lead batching, you can then invite your recruits to build their networks. As the owner, you can now strengthen the number and quality of recruits who work under you.

Don’t burn bridges

Not every person who declines your offer is a dead end. Use that person’s contacts to get leads. There’s a huge chance that that person has family members or friends who could be interested in your product. You’ll never know if you try, so don’t be shy about asking.

Plant only where it will grow

Time is money and it is true with MLM, so you need to spend it well. Just because you see a potential in one person doesn’t mean you should try to turn him around even when he himself is not in the least bit interested. He could be the best salesman in the country, but if he doesn’t believe in your product, you’ll only be wasting your time and effort on an individual who will do nothing to help your business.

MLM lead generation is a process. It is not quick, there are no short cuts and it does take time. But if you’re armed with the proper methods of lead generation and if you perform correctly, you can expect good leads that can actually participate to help you grow your business better.

Learn How to get up to 19 Checks Per Month, Earn Upwards of $519.17 Per Day, and Personally Sponsor 107 Reps into YOUR Primary Business in 60 Days or Less Marketing 1 Simple Website! Click Here To Get Access Now!

By Duncan Wierman in Featured

For those in business selling your product or service is vitally important in terms of earning money. However, with the current economic downturn and customers being more conservative about where they spend their hard earned cash, the old ways of marketing simply are not affective anymore. Reverse marketing is a new technique that when used properly can build your client base simply and easily. However, in order to use reverse marketing effectively you have to have a clear understanding of the concepts behind it. This article is designed to help you understand reverse marketing and how it works.

The Old Way of Advertising

The old way of advertising was based on companies actively trying to convince people that they needed their product. To do this companies would use what is known as the hard sale method which simply means they would go out of their way to tell people that their product or service would in some way improve or enrich their lives. Many times in order to sell their product the hidden message in these advertisements were that somehow the consumer was less attractive, less successful, or they were getting less enjoyment out of life than they should be and the only way they could reach their full potential was to purchase a certain product or service.

Companies did not worry that this technique was turning many consumers off since their was plenty of marketing dollars going around and they new that they would convince at least a small group of consumers to try their product by these hard sale tactics. However, when more became scarcer and consumers started shopping more carefully these companies found the hard sales tactics simply no longer worked.

How Reverse Marketing Works

Reverse marketing works by not using hard sale tactics. In some cases reverse marketing means no salesmanship at all. Instead, reverse marketing allows consumers needing your product to come to you by showing them that you are concerned about what they need and that you are savvy enough to help them meet their needs.

Instead of advertising your business and trying to convince people that your product or service is better than the competitors you offer them helpful information in solving their problem or need. This way you are giving the consume practical advice they are looking for at no price. Then at the end of your advice you include a little information about yourself including your website. Since you have talked about their specific issue and using an answer to their query, the consumer does not feel as though you are trying to sell them anything. Those that decide your product or service is for them will then click on your link to see what you have to offer and since you were the one that offered them helpful advise they will be more tempted to buy from you.

Reverse marketing works simply because you are helping the consumer achieve a goal they themselves have without trying to force them to buy anything. The consumer comes to you, not you to them.

Former Software CEO turned Internet Marketer. Duncan Wierman shows you how to use creative marketing methods to create a full time income online. Duncan is the original creator of the software that finds any business LEADS and converts them to income. Get a trial copy at: http://www.OnlineLeadFinder.com

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By Duncan Wierman in Featured

Reverse marketing has become the newest trend in marketing for people wanting to sell their goods and services to consumers. How well this marketing concept works depends entirely on what methods you use and how skillful you are at using the various reverse marketing tools available. One of the most overlooked tools in reverse marketing is the Unbiased review. When used correctly this tool can bring many clients to you who are interested in what you have to sell.

How the Unbiased Review Works

For example, say you sell digital cameras. What you will want to do is select three or four digital cameras in a price range including some you sell and some you do not carry. Do your research on each camera and then write an unbiased review of each product. Make sure to list the advantages and disadvantages of each camera including the brands you handle. Do not try and give your product a more biased view as the consumer will quickly catch on.

In your review you might even want to include references to other consumer’s reviews and what the customers had to say about each of these products. You can also include professional reviews from sites that test products.

Make the review as helpful as possible and give specific information that people looking to buy a digital camera will need to make an informed decision. Then at the end of your review tell a little about yourself and mention briefly your business and that you sell digital cameras including some and the main thing here is mention some of the cameras reviewed. By reviewing cameras your store does no carry as part of the review your review will be appealing to the consumer as they will feel you are really trying to provide helpful tips rather than sell them your product line. By writing an unbiased review this feeling will increase and the consumer will be impressed with your candor and your helpfulness. Those who feel that one of the cameras you sell is the right choice will come to you for their purchase simply because they will view you as knowledgeable, helpful, and honest.

Won’t readers of these reviews choose products other than mine?

Of course there is a chance that some consumers will find one of the products that you don’t carry more appealing but, this will happen less often than you might think since they will feel that they have a connection with you through the review and your candor has built up trust in their minds.

How to use the unbiased review if you can’t write one

Many companies don’t use the unbiased review simply because they don’t know how to write a product review. This should not stop you from using this reverse marketing tool. There are websites around that will write the review for you at more than reasonable costs and when you consider that using this tool could result in hundreds of dollars worth of sales.

The unbiased review is simply one of the many tools that you should have in your reverse marketing arsenal to help your business to grow in this depressed economy.

Duncan Wierman is an Ex Software company CEO turned Real Estate Investor and Marketer. Discover how to use creative online marketing methods to generate more business. Duncan is also offering readers a complimentary copy of his lead generation software at http://www.onlineleadfinder.com

By Jay Allyson in Featured

There are multiple ways to get traffic to your website for very little cost that can make you money online.

If you just got a small proportion of those visitors to convert to leads or sales, that has cost you nothing but your time.

There are two hard facts of any internet business that you cannot escape.

To make money online, you need to generate traffic to your website and second, you need to convert that traffic into buyers.

You might try to do this directly by sending them to a sales page or you may do it indirectly by sending them to an opt-in page to capture their details or to your information site or blog.

First, you should focus on identifying your killer keywords – the ones that attract the right kind of people into you business.

With a good match between what people are searching for and what you are offering, the actual traffic you generate will be more highly targeted and predisposed to your offer and so more likely to convert into buyers.

If no one goes to your site, it hardly bares a chance of generating an income.

BUT, it doesn’t take thousands to generate website traffic to your site.

While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flows, the holy grail is knowing how to generate low cost website traffic without having to run up a huge daily advertising bill.

Here I present to you my top 7 strategies to generate low cost website traffic that could help make money online for you.

1. Link exchanges

This is a well known and proven strategy. It’s rare these days to see a website without a link to another site.

Many business owners are willing to exchange links with one another so that they could produce more visibility for their sites.

The more you create back links to your website from other pages, the more the traffic you’ll see coming as you’ll start to rank higher.

If you’re exchanging links with other sites, it’s important that the link is relevant. This usually means it is in the same niche or a relate niche as your own site.

This strategy pleases humans as much as it keeps the search engines happy.

Exchanging links with authority sites or sites with high page ranks will also increase your traffic even more significantly, as it will boost your rankings in search engine listings.

This is known as SEO or Search Engine Optimisation.

2. Article Marketing

There are many electronic magazines (called ezines) and online newsletters around on the internet which provide free space for you to submit articles.

If you want to keep your costs low, you can write the articles yourself. But you can save time, by using the many freelance writers who are willing to create articles on your best converting keywords or keyword phrases. The fees are much smaller than you might think.

Write articles that complement your website, product, business or other offer. Write on topics that you have expertise on so you develop your knowledge researching around the subject and can come across as an authority.

Write articles that produce tips and guidance on the subject or your niche. Looking at existing content on your chosen niche will help you find gaps so less competition and your article will rank more highly for those keywords.

At the end of the article submission process, you can insert a “resource box”. It’s here that can say something about yourself or your business and provide your visitors with a link to your site if they want to find out more.

If they do go there, they are already impressed and predisposed to your offer, wouldn’t you say?

Once you have your article accepted in your primary article directory, you can also send variations to other article directories.

There is a lot of free article submission software available to automate the process and if you are doing a lot of article marketing, a great paid service I personally use is SubmitYourArticles.

3. Video marketing

Video marketing can send literally thousands Of visitors to your primary business. It really is the social medium of the moment. Just look at the popularity of YouTube! 5-10 minutes is all you need to get your point across.

You can either use a camcorder to video your own talking head or create a footage around your product or offer and add the audio later.

If you’re not yet confident on camera, you can also create a series of photos and powerpoint slides and record an audio commentary around that.

Don’t forget to add your website URL as a running title along the top.

Once you have a few videos made, you then need to drive traffic to them. The best way is to submit them to video sites. The most popular are youtube.com, metacafe.com and dailymotion.com.

To really maximise exposure and get the most traffic back to you website, you can use video submission tools. There’s a free video submission service, TubeMogul. An even better tool is a paid service I use is Traffic Geyser.

Once you’re registered on the main video sites, this submitter tool will automatically submit your video to a whole host of video sites for you, resulting in tonnes of free traffic to your website.

4. Forum marketing

This is completely free – it only requires an input of your time. Do some initial sculking around to identify the kinds of problems people have in this niche.

Once you feel you understand the community, you can start to feedback a comment, start a post, here and there, using your knowledge and expertise.

You can get free advertising when you go to forums that have the same subject or niche with your site.

With every post, you can add a link to your site. But remember first to give value, not just blatantly advertise your site.

As you build your reputation, you also build the reputation of your site that could be frequented and trusted by many people.

5. Twitter marketing

Twitter and blogging go hand in hand. They help you build your authority and social networks within your niche.

Twitter has totally transformed the way that people communicate online and since it’s free, it really should be an indispensable part of your overall marketing strategy and link to your blog.

Twitter is free to join and you can get set up with an account in a matter of just a few minutes.

Twitter has proven itself to be incredibly addictive and, for business owners, very valuable too.

Technology such as Twitter has the potential to give us more than just an opportunity to tell others what happened in our day. We can use it to reach more people in a meaningful way.

Imagine if you had cost-efficient and fast marketing tools that met existing customers where they are and that also helped you acquire new customers.

Imagine if you had the power to build a network of like-minded peers, a community of shared ideas and creativity.

6. Blog marketing

You blog should therefore be one of the main hubs for your business. It’s all about YOU Inc.

As your name gets passed around, you can widen your public awareness and build an opt-in list and RSS subscribe feed for people who regularly visit your site.

People buy from people they know, like and trust. A blog is like dating – you wouldn’t propose on the first date so why shove your sales pitch down a new visitors throat.

You can point your articles, videos, forum posts and social media activities all through your blog.

This may sound like hard work because of all the articles you may need to use to build a blog but on the contrary, this is not so. There are many many sources of ideas and inspiration for your blog, which come from your day to day activities and your own personal development.

7. Facebook marketing

Social networking has always been a main part of many internet marketers strategy. But most don’t use it effectively at all. They flood the likes of Facebook and Myspace with offers and promotions. This won’t work.

If you want to use social tools like Facebook to generate traffic to your website, you first have to identify the right groups and then invest something of yourself.

You need to be prepared to make a personal connection with other folks in the community. This kind of media thrives on authentic networking.

Posting up useful content on social networks will get you some awesome rankings on Google. The search engines seem to put a premium on sites like Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Squidoo and Hubpages.

In all these free or low cost traffic generation methods, it’s all about giving value to your niche community.

Leads generated in this way will be far more valuable as leads back to you – interested, highly targeted, committed and profitable.

Jay Allyson Get Rich Lifestyle Pro Marketing Consultant http://www.JayAllyson.com

By admin in Featured

Website-TrafficReal Estate internet marketing is like any other kind of marketing, you’re trying to reach a niche market and must plan accordingly. You have to start by identifying your target market in order to develop your message convey exactly the kind of high value business proposition which your niche will respond to.

The first steps are to:

By Bonita L Richter in Featured

Writing a special report, or “white paper,” as it’s commonly called, is a fantastic strategy for creating leads for your business.

A simple ten to twenty page document that people can request from your website will create a strong desire for people wanting to do business with you. Writing a special report isn’t complicated. In fact, even if you don’t like writing, you can easily and quickly write a report by following these seven tips.

1. State the “Big Problem.”

You’ll get your reader’s attention if you jump right into what their “point of pain” or problem is they’re experiencing. Demonstrate through writing that you:

  • Understand the core problem they’re facing
  • Care they are having this problem
  • Understand how frustrating having this problem is for them

2. What is the cost of this problem?

People respond faster to alleviating problems and pain, than they do to the potential for gain. So, it is imperative in your special report you specifically communicate what this problem is costing them. Perhaps it is they are losing out on money they could be using to fund a desired lifestyle, to live debt-free, pay for their children’s’ college education, etc. Quantify this cost, if you can!

3. Talk about the general solution.

First, start out by giving a “big picture” solution to solving the problem, such as hiring a coach to accelerate achievement of desired results, or implementing a solid, results-oriented marketing strategy.

Second, talk about how people have tried other solutions, have failed, and why. Examples of reasons why could be “programs are too complicated to understand or are incomplete” or “includes too much technical jargon.” Providing the solution in this format sets you up as THE solution to the problem!

4. State your specific solution.

Lay out your method or system to the reader. This section should be a minimum 50% of your entire special report, and is where you briefly communicate your process for solving the problem. Perhaps you have a seven-step marketing system, or a five-step method for attracting the perfect mate.

It is important in this section to tell your reader what you do—but, not how to do it! The “how” is what you want them to pay you for (solving the problem). However, give the reader some tips and strategies they can use to start solving their problem. This helps build a relationship, and their “like and trust” factor with you.

5. Prove your solution works.

Share the results of your solution by sharing case studies of actual clients you’ve worked with previously. A great formula to use to tell a case study is the P.A.R method – Problem, Action, and Result, and works like this:

  1. State the Problem a client had before they worked with you
  2. Show the Action your client took, and how the problem was solved.
  3. Tell the Results the client experienced; quantify results, if you can.

6. State your credibility.

What are your credentials? What is your success story? How did you discover the system or methodology you use? You can include this information in a one-page biography to establish your authority and expertise on the subject.

7. Tell the reader what to do next.

By now, your reader should be aching to work with you, and excited to take the next step. Point the reader in the right direction, and clearly, specifically spell out a call to action. Give them an irresistible offer they can’t refuse, and a time limit for them to take advantage of the offer.

One final tip…make you special report conversational. As you are writing, think about a specific person you would be writing this to, like a friend or person you know. The purpose of your special report is to build a relationship between you, and your lead. This builds their “know, trust, and like” factor with you. Moving them closer to doing business with you!

Bonita L. Richter, MBA, teaches coaches, consultants, and solo professionals how to market their businesses to increase sales , income, and generate wealth. To download her popular and *FREE* Money and Marketing spreadsheet tools, and BONUS gifts visit ===> http://www.Profit-Strategies.biz/Templates.html

By admin in Featured

eco systemThere is a whole technological Ecosystem developing before our eyes, that we can either ignore; adapt to slowly at our own pace (recommended!); or race to embrace. These new methods of network marketing provide us with everything from enhanced lead generation, to high level CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Knowing that many industries are slow to move in the technological arena, I am confident that this “Snapshot” will be eye-opening to many of you!

By Adrian Dayton in Featured

I stumbled onto Twitter as a marketing tool completely by accident. I was looking for a way to promote a book I’m working on, and a friend suggested that I do two things: Start a blog and get on Twitter.

“What is Twitter? I don’t get how will it help me promote my book to tell people what I am having for breakfast,” I replied. “It would take me too long to explain, just try it out,” he said.

What follows here is a week-by-week review of how I learned that Twitter can be an important business-development tool for lawyers and law firms.

Week 1: Signing up The sign-up at Twitter. com was just like everything else. I needed to add a picture but luckily, I was still holding on to the picture used for my attorney bio, so I uploaded that. A bio. Usually I leave them blank, but this one was limited to 150 characters, so I wrote: “Father, husband, attorney, and aspiring author. Follow me as I work to get published.” I was pretty happy with myself, it was a perfect bio for someone trying to get published. After I finished my profile, Twitter suggested that I start following a bunch of famous people like Ashton Kutcher and Shaquille O’Neal. Was it the real Shaq? Turns out it was. These famous people have almost 80,000 people following them, and the truth is I just didn’t get it.

Week 2: I start following people I needed help finding some publishers to submit my manuscript to, so I used the Twitter search function. I searched using the term “publisher” and turned up about 50 results. So I started following all 50 of them. Some were small publishers, some were big, but the cool part was that they were all posting stories and links all about writing and publishing, one of the articles was “10 Things Every Author Should Do Before Submitting a Manuscript.” This was good stuff, exactly the types of things I needed to learn in my situation. I also realized that, as I started following people, the majority of them followed me back. Now I had more than 30 followers. I was feeling pretty good.

Week 3: A fortuitous connection Some total stranger was asking about my book, this was great. So I explained my book to him, and we chatted back and forth using Twitter’s Direct Messages, which are kind of like an e-mail message or private messages on Facebook. He was an author who has self-published in the past, and he gave me the phone number of one of the gurus of self-publishing. Out of the blue, I call this guy up, and he takes an hour and talks to me. He gives me advice and shares a few contacts with me.

Week 4: Spreading the message When someone shares an interesting link to an article on Twitter or shares a good quote, it gets repeated. This is called a “retweet.” I noticed that whenever I posted articles, they never got retweeted. Why not? Because they weren’t interesting enough. So I started paying attention to the types of articles that were retweeted. Usually they announced breaking news or shared really interesting content on blogs, so I started trying to think of something to post on my blog that might garner some interest. I posted a satirical response to an article one of my buddies from law school posted, and it spread like wildfire, or at least like a small brush fire. I had 170 unique visitors to my blog in just an hour or two in response to that one post. That was fun but, more importantly, it made me realize the power of Twitter. Here I was with fewer than 100 followers, and my message spread well beyond that circle.

Week 5: My first corporate client “Does anybody know an attorney that practices contract law?” “Yeah, that’s actually what I do, what do you need?” I replied suspiciously. “My friend needs some legal advice about a contract, could you talk to her?” “Sure, send me a direct message with her contact into.” After exchanging e-mail addresses and a few phone conversations, my firm had a new client. All our communication was exchanged over the phone and e-mail, and the retainer and payment were paid by credit card. It was so easy, it made me realize that maybe there was more to Twitter than just promoting books. Maybe I could use Twitter to find clients. You see, Twitter functions like a giant cocktail party where thousands of conversations are going on simultaneously. You can listen in on any conversation you please, you just simply need to “follow” the individuals having the conversation. Unlike two other social networking sites, Facebook and Myspace,you don’t need to be accepted as someone’s “friend” to listen in on their conversation. For example, if MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice (both of whom are on Twitter) are having a Twitter conversation, then you may listen in if you have a Twitter account- you can even try to add your own clever enough comment or question to be included in their discussion.

Week 6: Automated searches Using the free program Tweetdeck, I set up searches so that every time someone mentioned “contract law” on Twitter, from anywhere in the world, their post was filtered through a search that arrived instantly on my computer. I soon learned how to create an alert that would send me an e-mail or text message any time the term “contract law” was mentioned in a Twitter post. That allowed me to respond in real time. Return for a second to our cocktail-party analogy. Here you are at this gigantic cocktail party, and you overhear a conversation about contract law. “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but overhear you are looking for a corporate attorney. Could I recommend someone? And like that, a new relationship is created that is specifically targeted. Here are a few of the comments I saw posted on Twitter after setting up my search: “I urgently need an immigration attorney, can anybody recommend one?” “My friend is getting a divorce, can anybody recommend an attorney?” “Does anybody know a NY attorney I can ask a malpractice question to?”

Week 7 and beyond: A world of opportunity I have been on Twitter for 14 weeks. I have a large following now, but more importantly, I have learned some amazing tools that are helping me to expand my zone of influence beyond just Western New York. Every day I see potential leads- some of which I pass on or have to ignore because they are outside of my area of expertise. There are some 12 million users of Twitter now, mostly highly educated people in urban centers, and they are talking about every single legal topic imaginable. My recommendation for any lawyer? You just need to jump in and give it a try.

About the Author: Adrian Dayton is an attorney who was recently admitted to practice law in the state of New York. He is also an author awaiting publication of his first book “The Year of 12 Virtues.” He can be found on Twitter @adriandayton or at his website http://adriandayton.com/blog/

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