If you don’t yet have a blog, you should really think about setting one up. There is a famous saying ‘The eyes are the windows to the soul’ and I like to think of a blog in this way. It’s the eyes to the soul of your business – it’s the welcome mat, the comfy waiting area where people wander about reading the notice board before they decide if they want to enter your ‘office’.

If your blog is your ‘office’ then – happy days!

But again, I can’t stress enough the importance of doing this right.

If you are a business and you are on Twitter, then you really should be directing folks to your blog rather than you place of business. You’ve got to build the relationship first.

There is another excellent saying that is so true of human nature;

“People like to buy stuff but they don’t like to be sold at”

“Think of Twitter in Terms of a Party”

Whereby you have been graciously invited. If your opening line on introductions is ‘This is my company, buy my stuff’ how successful do you think you are going to be?

Answer: Not very!

You will have links to your main money site from your blog, but rather than send someone directly to a sales page, it’s far better to take a softer approach and work on building a good customer/client relationship.

The thing is – even if they don’t buy today, they will remember you for the great information that you provide via your blog, which means they will also be happy to recommend you to others too.

By creating great information on your blog, you will get a natural flow of traffic from people on Twitter who’d like to check out your latest post. They will click through again and again and start to build a relationship. Give them a link to a sales page and they’ll click once and unlikely buy.

Pop an opt-in box on your blog so that people can sign up to your news letter; make sure you give away something of value in return in addition to the newsletter. This could be a report, a discount voucher or something else tailored to your particular niche.

You’ll start to build up a nice list of potential and current customers that will always want to open your emails because they know that you give value first – and of course, your products or service will be excellent too!

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I have created a free PDF for you to download and keep. It shows you how to set up your Twitter account easily in a step by step format.

I’ve also used plenty of screenshots for you, so that you can easily see which stage you are at.

Although it might not be rocket science, there are right and wrong ways to do this and within this PDF I also give you some top tips on how to create a great profile and what links you should be including.

If you already have a Twitter a/c – you may still find the information helpful and you may also know someone who may benefit from the information included.

Just right click on the link below and save a copy to your computer, or go directly to the link to have a look and then save your copy from there.

Best Wishes

Nikki

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Let’s cut through the noise and fluff and look at exactly what you should be doing without spending hours chained to your computer;

STEP 1

I’m sure you have heard of Facebook – more likely you are using it already, but do you have a fan page set up for your business?

A fan page allows you to deliver news, offers and interaction with your potential customers, without any hard sell. There is no limit to the amount of ‘fans’ that can sign up to your page (unlike the facebook groups) and you can keep this separate from your main Facebook account if you so wish. This means that you can send a silly message to your friends wall, without worrying about any of your business contacts seeing it or wondering what you’d poured over your cornflakes that morning.

There are also many additional apps that you can add to your fan page to make it really stand out. Check out Gary Vaynerchuks facebook fanpage for some inspiration. You’ll notice that you land on the ‘Who is Gary’ tab and it looks like a mini site in itself. This is done with the use of an app called Static FBML. Once you have installed this app, make sure you add it as a tab and then you will have a blank page to include your own html code (you might need someone to do this for you if you have no experience with writing code).

If hiring some help is out of the question there are still plenty of apps that you can use to make your Fan Page remain interesting, from Twitter updates to RSS feeds, there are plenty of ways to keep your readers engaged. Check out the apps directory for a full list of what is on offer. And don’t forget to add your Fan Page widget to your blog and website (see mine on the right).

STEP 2

Twitter is the next essential tool to add into your arsenal and contrary to popular belief, the whole world is not on Twitter (yet) which is why it’s important to integrate your Tweets within your Facebook fan page using one of the apps available.

It’s vital to start using Twitter because it allows you to react to both positive and negative feedback quickly and efficiently. It also allows you to make contact with a wide variety of folks in the Twittersphere they may become friends, customers or even joint venture partners.

It’s the perfect place to receive and give advice but above all it allows you to interact with people and show that there is a real person lurking behind the company’s corporate image.

Always use Twitter as a platform to give great value and never a sales pitch. Buy my stuff never goes down well with folks on Twitter so use it to build relationships and with that comes trust which is a platform for long-term business success.

Make it easy for people to follow you on Twitter by adding a ‘Follow me’ button on your website and blog. You can have a more interactive widget on your blog (see right) if you prefer.

Are we friends on Twitter yet?

STEP 3

Writing a blog is essential for any business nowadays. Done correctly it not only serves to bring extra traffic to your site, it enables customers to check out the face behind the name prior to making any sort of commitment.

My personal recommendation for a blog platform is WordPress as it is so incredibly versatile. You can add various plugins to integrate your other social media sites (you can see both my Twitter and Facebook widgets on the right of my blog) and this makes it easier for your audience to stay in touch via their preferred method of Social Media.

You need to add content regularly to stay ahead in the search engines and to keep your readers interested. If you are stuck for ideas on what to blog about, check out my post on Ideas for Small Business Blogs.

It’s essential to write regular posts but these don’t have to be mammoth – a short, useful and interesting post for your niche is often far more attention grabbing than a rambling essay. And don’t forget the power of video, a short little video post can take a few minutes to create but can easily be shared with many readers.

STEP 4

LinkedIn is a great place to have a presence when you have an online business. I would consider LinkedIn to be more ‘Professional Networking’ as it is a means to attract potential employees or be hired yourself.

In addition to the fantastic opportunities available regarding jobs, it also allows you to find potential JV partners within its vast network.

As LinkedIn is an authority site, anyone that Googles your company is likely to stumble across your LinkedIn profile. so again, it’s important that you keep the information current and professional.

There is also an ability to get recommended/receive testimonials on LinkedIn which is a great way to let your potential customers/clients/employees/employers know that you are a reliable, trustworthy and recommended source.

Make use of the various apps available on LinkedIn, you can import your blog and Tweets, add Slideshows and much more. Start your own group and join some of the established ones.

It’s a really good resource for businesses, so make the most of it.

STEP 5

Forums can be a really great place to interact with your audience, meet new business contacts and build your online presence. The danger comes when you join too many and you spend too much time spreading yourself thin between a large volume of them.

The best way to use a forum is to join a few, test the water with a few helpful posts and then just follow your gut feeling. Stick with the ones that you feel will be beneficial to you long-term and aim to post within them regularly.

The point of forums is a little like Twitter but without the restriction of 140 characters. It’s about helping people find answers to problems that you can solve. Giving someone a solution and making their life a little easier is a powerful way to build relationships, so give forums a go but don’t get too wrapped up in the amount of time spent there.

Make sure that you choose a forum that allows you to have a signature because you can direct people towards your blog within it. If you have been helpful/friendly then people are curious to know more so they will click on your signature to find out a little bit more – not because you asked them to but because they chose to!

A good place to find forums suitable for your niche is Big Boards which is a directory of forums. It also allows you to see how active the forums are as joining a dead forum is a waste of your time.

IN CONCLUSION

Social Media is here to stay. It takes the control from large corporations and gives it back to the consumer. It forces out the cowboys and allows the businesses with integrity to shine. It allows a more level playing field because small businesses now have the opportunity to compete with large ones as the consumer can base their decisions on their Social Experience with you.

To get the most from Social Media, you don’t need to be online 24/7 – choose a handful of sites (pref the ones I have mentioned above) and stick to them. You will be amazed at the results you get when you start to implement these simple practices and it needn’t be draining on your time.

• 3-4 Blog Posts each week – 1-2 hrs MAX
• 5-10 Tweets each day – 20 mins
• Integrate your tweets into both your Facebook Fan Page and your LinkedIn a/c
• Integrate your blog into Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
• Utilize the signature within your forum profiles to guide people towards your blog/site.
• Visit 3-4 forums and quickly scan for posts you can help with, spend no more than 1hr doing this.

So in total, your Social Media campaign can tally up to roughly 3.5hrs each week MAXIMUM, and when compared to the results, is a small amount of time for a long-lasting and valuable return.

What do you think about social media? Is it worth your time?

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So how do you protect yourself and what is really happening with these bogus URLs?

If you haven’t yet come across one of these phishing attempts, or you have and haven’t realized, let me explain what is happening;

Via a DM, you will receive a message from someone that you are following, so you will be inclined to trust them. The messages will always contain a link and entice you to click. Some of the previous scams have included messages such as;

“LOL – is This You __________ <—– link”

“Someone wrote something about you on this blog _________ <—— link”

If you click on the url, time will not cease – not will your laptop explode but what happens next could expose your personal details to the pondscum of the scam world

You will be redirected to a page which may look similar to the Twitter login page, you will see the user name and password box and without thinking, you may enter your details

DON’T ENTER YOUR DETAILS

Ideally, don’t even follow the link but whatever you do – don’t enter your details.

What Happens When You Do

Stage 1) If you entered your details – act fast. The fake page is noting everyones login details and stage one is that they can access your Twitter account, this means that not only can they ‘tweet’ from it and send the same message by DM to your followers, they can also see your email address and any other details you have on your account details.

Stage 2) They will Direct Message as many of your followers with the same fake link as they can, not only will you lose followers – fast – you will also have many of them falling victim to the same scam. They are also likely to ‘Tweet’ from your a/c with fake tweets persuading people to ‘find out how you made a ton of cash’ and rubbish like that.

Stage 3) Now that they have your details they have potential access to your email account. Do you use the same password on Twitter that you use elsewhere? Maybe your PayPal account?

Stage 4) Once they are in your email a/c, they have access to alsorts of details, probably including financial details.

Has This Happened to You?

• If it has, change your details/passwords immediately. Especially if you do use the same password to access numerous places. Many people believe that the Twitter phishing scam is purely to access your followers – but it runs deeper than that.

• Make sure that you use a different password for different accounts – yes, it can become tedious but use an encrpyted page on your computer to keep track of them all, or a notebook or something like Roboform (I use this) to securely remember all of your passwords.

• Don’t assume that sending DM messages is a safe way to pass information around – it isn’t

• Always think twice before clicking on any URL sent by direct message unless you are expecting it

• Don’t let the scammers ruin your use or enjoyment of Twitter, remember that they don’t get your details unless you log in to their fake page, so if you happen to click on a dodgy link, don’t panic.

I hope this helps you to understand the importance of using unique passwords and the possible consequences if you don’t. Please pass this article on to anyone who you feel would benefit,

Stay safe online,

Nikki

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Welcome to day 1 of the Twitter course. Directly below you will find the Ethos of Twitter which is a little introduction. You have the option of reading the PDF or listening to the audio – or both, depending on what your preferred method is. If you’d like to download it and listen on your mp3 player, you’ll find the link below.

To read the PDF, just hover your mouse over it – right click and choose ‘save as’ or ‘save a copy’. You will then have your own copy to read and keep.

So, now that you have a little background from either the PDF on the left or the MP3 above – lets move on to The Automated Tweet, so that we can really begin to dig into how we can utilise Twitter for our businesses.

You will find the PDF booklet for the Automated Welcome Tweet (pdf below), this will give you an insight on how to set this up, why you should do it and what you can write.

Sending an automated message to your new followers is a great way to connect and build your community, but get it wrong and it can be detrimental to your business.

This pdf report will explain to you exactly what an automated DM is, why you should be using it and the best way to go about using it – once you have absorbed the info, it will then require you to register and account over at SocialOomph.com – this is all explained in the video below.

So – read the pdf and then watch the very short video below to find out how you can set it all up.

If you have enjoyed this taster of the Twitter eCourse – why not tweet complete the rest of the course. It is a completely FREE course that covers everything you need to know about Twitter, including the following;

• The best free tools to make Twitter easier and less time consuming
• How to find the best people to follow in your market
• How to increase your own followers – ethically
• How to track the content you put out on Twitter
• How to manage more than one a/c
• A ton of resources for inspiration on ‘what’ to tweet about
• How to get traffic, sales and conversion from Twitter
• & some more ‘secret’ bonus stuff

Interested? Well, you should be! it’s a completely FREE course designed to help you get the best from twitter.

FIND OUT MORE….

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Karen is a well established speaker at networking events and I have seen her some of her talks, via online video, and they are always full of practical and actionable information.

If you head on over to Karens website you’ll find a wealth of information via the products she has created and also her blog – I’d suggest you sign up for her newsletter too as it’s always interesting and full of tips and advice.

I’ve known Karen ‘online’ via Social Networking for over 2 yrs and I’ve seen her inspire many women and home workers.

So – do yourself a favour and make sure that @CanDoCanBe is on your VIP Twitter list – you’ll be glad you did.

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The awards were launched, with great success, last year and this year the conference is set to be even bigger and better.

This year there are 6 seminars (at the time of writing) covering various aspects of running a business, of these you will be able to choose three. These cover anything from the practicalities of accounting, to the more motivational side of the business.

The tickets are only £20 and include the following:

• Access to the Mumpreneur Conference

• Access to the Mumpreneur Awards

• Access to 3 out of 6 of our Seminars

• Listen to three inspirational Mumpreneurs

• Lunch & Refreshments

• Access to the Exhibition

• Fantastic Networking Opportunities

• Complimentary Invitation to the Mums Mission Launch

There will also be a variety of speakers throughout the day, although they are yet to be announced.

This is a great way for you to network with potential JV partners, gain valuable exposure for your business and be inspired by the many other entrepreneurial women that are building businesses each and every day. You can tap into the wealth of knowledge being shared by the speakers and learn some great tips during the seminars. And who knows? Maybe you’ll even win an award?

The Award Categories

The award categories this year are as follows;

Best Start Up

Best Online Business

Best Business Support

Best Green Business

Best Saleswoman

Best Interactive Business

Most Unique Product

The Inspirational Business Mum

For more information on what each category requirement are, head over to the Mumpreneur Conference Category pages. If you feel your business is worthy of winning an award or you know another mumpreneur who will fit into any of these categories then make sure you get your nominations in by 2nd August 2010

If you are a mum running a small business, then you should check out the Mumpreneur Conference website for all of the details. You can nominate yourself or another mum for one of the awards here.

Don’t forget to check out some of the speakers and organisers of the conference on Twitter as they not only have great information to share, they will also be talkiing about the conference on the lead up. I’d highly advise you add the following folks to your  Twitter rolodex…

Judges

@RachaelElnaugh – Rachel Elnaugh – One of the original dragons in Dragons Den

@PaulaWynne – Paula Wynne – Womens ambassador and founder of Remote Employment

@FinkCards – Lisa Warner – Founder of Fink Cards

@PreciousParcels – Natalie Hickey – Founder of Precious parcels and winner of last years Best Start Up Business

@B72Imaging – Andy Baines – Professional photographer and founder of B72 Imaging

@LauraARigney and @EllaAnnounce – Laura Rigney & Amanda Farren – Event Organisers

Seminar Speakers

@RobertaJerram – Founder of Giant Potential the networking site for mumpreneurs

@AmyAccountant – Founder of Taylor Accountancy

@RebekahHarriman – of R&R VA Services

@Lawyers4Mumpreneurs – Suzanne Dibble of Laweys 4 Mumpreneurs

@glassraven - Sandie Knight from Web Design company glassraven.com

Event Details

Where?

Saturday 18th September 2010
Heart of England Conference Centre
Meriden Road, Fillongley, Near Meriden, Warwickshire, CV7 8DX

When?

Saturday 18th September 2010

Go and book your tickets today – I’ve booked mine and I’d love to meet you there!

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I like to get to know people a bit, use their services or see examples of what they have acheived before making a recommendation, so with that in mind – I’ve decided to expand my Follow Friday and bring it over to my blog.

This way, I can let you know a little bit more about the person or people I am recommending rather than just a short recommendation on Twitter.

So, to kick off this new series – I’d like to recommend Antonia Chitty as my first follow Friday.

I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Antonia, although hopefully our paths will cross this year, but I have had a lot of contact with her over the past couple of years.

Antonia epitomises and defines ‘Mumpreneur’; she is the author of numerous educational and informative books, including the recent Mumpreneur Guide, runs her own PR Agency, ACPR, and tirelessly promotes products aimed at the child and baby market.

I first connected with Antonia when she joined the Web Mums community, she’d regulalry blog on there about products, events and general advice for work at home mums. Whenever I stumbled across a new community of mums, I’d normally find that Antonia was on there too – I started to think she’d been cloned…..!!!

Right up to the point of LABOUR, this woman was working! I kept expecting her to disapear off for a while to rest…but no, another blog post would appear, a tweet or some information would flow down the Mumpreneur information highway. I imagine that the midwife physically wrestled her laptop away from her so that she could take some time out!

Eventually, after the arrival of baby number 3, she did take some well needed rest (she said it was rest, I think she was still mentally planning the next book) but was back with us and working harder than ever within a matter of weeks.

Amazingly she does all of this and still makes sure that she spends precious time with her family, attending all of the school events and being ‘mum’.

It’s a trait like this, a work ethic of sheer proportions, that really make the difference between someone who is successful and someone who isn’t. Some of us may be mums struggling to build businesses around our families, and no doubt our whining of how tired we are can be heard from afar at times – but ultimately it’s all about how much you want it.

If you want success, a business to be proud of, time with your family, a better future and prospects for your children – you have to work and you have to work damn hard! If it means you work between 9pm and 2am some nights, then that’s how it is – no sugar-coating – just facts!

So – because of her work ethics, her commitment and contribution to the Mumpreneur community and because she is a shining example to us all – antonia is my first choice for Follow Friday.

You can connect with Antonia at the following places:

Twitter

ACPR – PR and Training

The Mumpreneur Guide

Family Friendy Working

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