1. People are looking for information on the topic
2. That there are buyers (not just freebie seekers)
3. There are actual products you can sell or affiliate with

1. KEYWORD RESEARCH

Initially, you’ll do your keyword research.  That is, identifying a possible niche and running it through Market Samurai to see if it’s got potential.  You want a keyword that has a decent number of people searching for it (so your new site gets traffic) but also doesn’t have too much competition.

I’ve put together a series of videos to show you how to use Market Samurai to dig out profitable keywords quickly, the most recent one is below:

For all the videos in this series (and more free niches you can steal) check out the Steal This Niche page.

2. MONETIZATION

Next, we ensure that the niche can be properly monetized.  Are there products you can create and sell, or simply affiliate with, within the niche?  If not, the niche is dead and we should move on to another.

To check that a niche can be monetized, we can use the “Monetization” Module inside Market Samurai.

We can also do a Google search and see if any of the top results or Adwords ads displayed on the right have affiliate programs.

Checking sources like Clickbank, Datafeedr, Ebay, Amazon, Commission Junction and ShareASale can identify further affiliate opportunities.

You want to have a laundry list of products you can sell on your site, so when it’s time to build, you know you have an offer for site visitors.

Also, make sure the products you’re identifying are a tight match for the keyword you identified with Market Samurai.  If you identify people as searching for “How to make your own soap,” you don’t want  attempt to sell them a candle making kit.  Yes, people interested in making their own soap might well be interested in making their own candles too, but it’s not a perfect message-to-market match.  You need a perfect match from what your users are searching for and what you’re selling to encourage sales.

3. SOCIAL MEDIA BUZZ

Checking the social media buzz for a niche serves two purposes:

1. Ensuring that people are talking about your niche.  If they’re not, it’s dead.  People must be interested enough in it to talk about it, otherwise they’re probably not buying.
2. Give you a point of entry to use social media marketing in your campaign.  Checking the buzz allows you to identify the social media sites, forums, blogs etc. that are most active within your niche.  When it’s time to promote and build links, you’ll already know the hotspots for your niche.

You can go to each social media site individually and use the search function to check if there’ buzz, but that’s tedious.  Plus, it leaves out blogs and forums, which can be a huge source of conversation and potential traffic.

Instead, use the service WhosTalkin.  You simply search for your keyword and you’ll get a look across all kinds of social media platforms where people are sharing images, articles, thoughts, videos and chatter.  Plus, it gives you an RSS feed for your search so you can subscribe to it in Google Reader and catch everything people are saying within the niche and respond to it once your site is up.

Another place to check is SocialMention.  While this service isn’t as comprehensive as WhosTalkin, it gives you a look, in the sidebar, of the reach, passion, positive & negative percentages and top users talking about your topic.

4. TOPIC TRENDING

You don’t want to climb on a niche bandwagon when it’s just about to die.  So check with Google Trends and Google Insights to identify any patterns in your niche.  Does it peak at certain times? Is it generally climbing upwards or downwards?  Where is it right now in relation to where it’s been in the past?

Don’t beat a dead horse (or niche).  If it’s time in the spotlight has ended, take a pass on it and find another niche with a longer lifespan.

5. VERTICALS & RELATED MARKETS

You may have identified other related markets (that may be more profitable, or could provide you with other categories, topics or subtopics for your site).  We’ll investigate those further to ensure we’ve covered all our bases in our keyword research.  Simply follow the tips above for any related markets, keywords, niches or sub-niches you’ve found.

To identify additional related markets, check with the following sites:

• Keyword Spy
• SpyFu
• SEMRush

With each of the above resources, you’ll be able to get an idea of the advertising spend in the market, as well as other, related keywords you can look into further.

CrowdMountain members, check your members area over the next few days – we’ve got some pre-made markets ready for you so you can just jump right in to site building!

Related posts:

1. Steal This Niche – For the Shortys
2. Steal This Niche – Intro
3. The difference between #1 and #2 is HUGE!

Content creation is the BANE of many webmaster’s existence.

You KNOW the search engines (particularly Google) absolutely *LOVE* it when your site has lots of fresh, updated and quality content.

And you might also be one of the many people (like me!) who doesn’t really like writing all those articles.

….I don’t blame you. If you wanted to be writing all day, you would’ve become a writer!

One of the cool things that makes it a lot easier for you is that the search engines really like multimedia content – sometimes even more than they like traditional “article” type stuff.

So you can increase your rankings by:

1. Writing & publishing new, quality content on your site more often
2. Publishing multimedia content to your blog more often

Me? I prefer to publish multimedia content rather than write a big ol’ blog post. It’s less work, right?

So one of the things you can do is go to Flickr and find photos that are licensed for commercial use, and use them (always attribute the author)… There’s a tool to do this very quickly. And you can go to YouTube and embed videos into your blog that are relevant to your niche.

Just add a couple of sentences to describe the picture or video so that there are some words on the page, and you’ve got it made.

Making 7 of these kinds of posts & scheduling them to post in the future (for a whole week of fresh content) should take you 30 minutes to an hour, if you’re really picky. A whole week’s worth of content that quick? Perfect!

With this method, you’re not only posting content more often, which Google ADORES, but you’re also posting multimedia content, which makes them think you’re the cat’s meow…

And as you do so, your site rises in the rankings, you get more traffic, that traffic clicks through to buy and you make more.

We cover these and other content creation strategies inside Crowd Mountain – get your $1 trial RIGHT NOW and peruse the member’s area for the secrets and tricks to make this work for you with even less work.

After you’ve got your CrowdMountain account, turn an eye to your site and put together a weeks worth of posts using the method outlined above.

When you’ll have the week free to dive into the first Bootcamp Module!

In the member’s area you’ll find extra solutions for content creation, here’s just two:

1. A private, not-available-to-the-public plugin that will help you stay on track when creating your content, making sure you’re targeting the most relevant and profitable keywords each and every time, while picking up the long tail without any extra effort.
2. The “Cheap-O-Content Creation Series,” where we talk about how to get actual article content drip fed to your site for as little as $0.25 an article – on any topic.

We just added a new feature too – “Crowd Mountain Connect.” Details are inside the members area, I can’t wait to see you there!

Related posts:

1. Social Media Riches: Review
2. How To Get Traffic From A-List Bloggers
3. Social Spam Avoidance

Rather than start with an affiliate product and see if there are potential keywords to build a site around, in this episode of Steal This Niche my insomnia and late-night infomercial watching gave me a great niche idea I just had to share with you.

We uncover a profitable niche, with high traffic and low competition… But what’s even more exciting (to me at least!) is that this particular topic is being covered on TV, right now – which means that those search numbers may well grow over time as more and more people learn about the topic and go to Google to find more information.

Watch the video to learn what this niche is, and what the profitable keywords are in it!

As always, we use Market Samurai to find these little gem keywords quickly and easily.  To learn how to build and promote a site around this keyword (or any other niche you’re interested in) visit Crowd Mountain.

CLICK HERE to Tweet this blog post.

(You can review it before you send it out).

Related posts:

1. The difference between #1 and #2 is HUGE!
2. Market Research in 5 Simple Steps
3. Steal This Niche – Intro

(Vote to view results).

Need more traffic or sales in your niche? Check out Crowd Mountain.

Related posts:

1. Live Q&A Gone In 24 Hours + Launch Deconstruction
2. Social Wordpress Plugins
3. How-To “Trim the FLUFF”

Google announced they have a “next-generation architecture for Google’s web search” and want you give your feedback.  They’re calling it the Google Caffeine Update and it will impact how sites rank in the search engines.

Basically, they’ve been tweaking and modifying the algorithm that ranks sites; if you’re involved in any kind of marketing that uses search engine optimization to drive traffic to your site, you should be paying attention to the changes Google Caffeine could bring to your rankings.

Watch The Social Media Slap video for more information on how Google algorithm changes can effect your ranking.

WHERE IS GOOGLE CAFFEINE?

To test the Google Caffeine Update, go to http://www2.sandbox.google.com/ and enter your search terms.  You may or not notice a difference in results from the regular Google homepage.  Any results you do notice are indicative of the changes that Caffeine has implements.

WHAT CHANGES DOES GOOGLE CAFFEINE BRING?

• Google Caffeine is faster.  I never really thought the “old” Google was slow!
• The index size – that is, the number of pages that are returned when one does a search, is typically much larger.
• Universal search results – when image or video search are embedded in the regular results listings – are less prevalent.  Some suggest this is due to the Caffeine update still being in beta and Universal Search will be introduced later, but that remains to be seen.
• Real time information (Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook) seem to rank higher than previously.  This could indicate that Google feels searches want to most recent (and relevant) results rather than older information, and could also be a reaction to the ever-growing numbers of people joining and publishing content on social media sites.
• Google Caffeine seems to index more individual pages on sites than “old” Google (when running the “site:” command) in some searches, less in other searches.

PUNDIT-SPEAK

What do the experts say?

“Google Caffeine Test Suggests Too Much Emphasis on Real-Time Indexing” -Andy Beal

“…my guess is that it likely does what Google search does, but better. And the foundational elements of having a crawlable infrastructure and compelling content remain.” -Vanessa Fox

“We’ve been shooting to get them [the results] pretty close [to "old" Google], so most people won’t notice a difference.”  -Matt Cutts video interview

GOOGLE CAFFEINE TOOLS

• Google Caffeine Bookmarklet
• Compare Caffeine results with regular Google results side-by-side

HOW DO I PREPARE FOR GOOGLE CAFFEINE?

The Google Caffeine update will be rolled out in the coming weeks and months.  What do you need to do now to prepare for it?

Nothing.

Of course, SEO’s will continue testing, tracking and reporting on changes they see in the algorithm.  But as many have mentioned – the results aren’t all that different (yet).

Your best bet to maintain your rank as the Google Caffeine update rolls out is to simply keep doing what you should be doing anyway – putting out good content with an eye towards low-competition, trafficked keywords.

Since there does seem to be a lot of emphasis in the Search world overall on “real time” and social media results I’d also suggest you maintain accounts at Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, etc. (Yes, I know Facebook bought FriendFeed, but it’s still there and tends to rank well) – just in case those kinds of results become even more prominent than they are now.

And most of all?  Don’t panic!

photo credit: Yodel Anecdotal

CLICK HERE to Tweet this blog post.

(You can review it before you send it out).

Related posts:

1. The Social Media Slap
2. Best in Social Media – June 6, 2009
3. What You Missed in 2008

We marketers use different methods to shorten URL’s, and for different reasons.

While on Twitter, we may shorten a long URL just so it doesn’t take up the 140 character limit Twitter imposes.

But we also use URL shorteners sometimes to mask affiliate links.  http://yourclickbankid.clickbakproduct.hop.clickbank.net is unattractive, long and kinda weird for your site visitors to click on.  Instead, we use one URL shortening method or another to make those long, ugly affiliate links into something a bit more palatable.

And as such, we’re dependent on whatever method we use to shorten those long URL’s to remain *working* – if we choose a method of URL shortening that goes the way of Tr.im, our links may no longer work!

The lifetime of a single Tweet is minutes, perhaps a few days – but for the most part, a tweet and any link associated with it doesn’t necessarily need to “live” forever.  Shortened some tweeted links with a now-defunct URL shortening service 14 months ago?  Probably not going to cut into your bottom line.

But an old friend of mine used to always say, “Safety first!” And as such, I use Bit.ly to shorten any URL’s I tweet.  Why? Bit.ly is Twitter’s default URL shortening service.  While nothing is ever 100%, I’ll assume due to their association with Twitter that Bit.ly will be around for a while and as such, my tweeted links will live on, should they need to.

(Bit.ly also gives you stats on the links you send though the service, if you have a free account with them.   You can see which tweets you send out get the most clicks, which is great to see what your audience responds to most.  Finally, the Twitter client Seesmic will allow you to integrate you Bit.ly account so you can shorten URL’s to your Bit.ly account from within Seesmic.)

So on the Twitter front, we’re ok.  But what if you’re using a URL shortening service to mask affiliate links elsewhere (your money site, blog, or external sites, like Squidoo)?

You’ve got to change those links to be links that you have control of!

You absolutely *must* use a method of shortening/redirection that is dependent on your own domain.  That way you have control of the links and you know they’ll always work.

If you’re using a Wordpress setup, you can use the plugin Redirection to do just that – Crowd Mountain members know alot of the little tips and tricks for using this plugin.  But the basics premise is that it’ll take http://yourclickbankid.clickbakproduct.hop.clickbank.net and change it to http://www.yoursite.com/product/ – and it’ll give you stats on the number of clicks the link has received so you can track reader’s interest and conversions.

What’s more, if you find out that the product you’re directing visitors to just isn’t converting, you can change where your redirection link goes to to test another product, without having to edit the links you’ve placed on your site or over the ‘net.

The point I was making in “Twitter’s DOS Attack (And Why Social Media Sucks)” and the point I’m making here is that you must be in control of your business, particularly the elements of your business that bring you leads, subscribers, sales and ultimately, your income.

Depending on any one (free) service to host your content or lead visitors to the “Buy Now” page will ultimately award you with a headache, at best!

Related posts:

1. $169.00 Per 100 Visitors
2. Twitter’s DOS Attack (And Why Social Media Sucks)
3. We’re All There, Join Us

August 5, 2009

August 5, 2009

August 5, 2009

All of these items are published as I find them to my Twitter feed. For real time notification of trends and resources, follow me on Twitter!

Related posts:

1. Best in Social Media – August 3, 2009
2. Best in Social Media – April 25, 2009
3. Best in Social Media – May 25, 2009

So as part of this attack, Twitter was down for some time.  If you could get on Twitter, tweets that seemed to go through didn’t actually appear in your follower’s timelines for hours.

No biggie, right? A minor inconvenience, not being able to use the service.

But what if your whole communications platform, your entire social media strategy, was based on Twitter?  You’d have been SOL, to say the least, while Twitter was under attack.

You must never, ever rely on one service to get your message out.

Use Twitter?  Great – it’s a fun platform for engaging readers, and if you’re interesting it’ll bring your site click-through visitors.  But you shouldn’t be using JUST Twitter (or any other service) to communicate with your customers, readers or clients.

Get a Facebook fan page (look at the Fan Page widget I’ve installed here – slick, eh? Click through to join me on Facebook).  By all means, start collecting email subscribers so you can communicate with them directly (my subscription box pops up on your first visit here, and is in the upper right too – subscribe to get an email when there are new blog posts). Encourage RSS subscriptions (click here to subscribe to this blog).

When something borks, you can reach your fans, friends and subscribers through another channel.

Social media sucks when it’s all you’ve got.  400,000 Twitter followers doesn’t mean jack if you can’t reach them when Twitter is down.

(I’m picking on Twitter here, but this applies for any social networking platform. Facebook fan pages with 5k fans suck when Facebook is down.  And so on).

The goal with social media isn’t just to amass large numbers of subscribers. (If they’re untargeted subscribers, perhaps people who are just following you so that you follow them back, they’re pretty much worthless anyway).

No, what you need to do with social media is attract people interested in you, in your niche and then funnel them into other channels, other places, where you can reach them.

Again, you want blog readers, email subscribers from your social media friends.  Get them out of the social network and into your funnel!

(This will happen naturally when you offer superior content and are a news maker (or even “reporter”) in your market).

Keep in mind too that people prefer different methods of communication. Person A might love email and abhor Facebook, have a Twitter account but never use it and be a casual RSS reader.  Person B could never check their email, RSS feeds or Twitter but be a rabid Facebook user.

You job is to be in contact with both Person A and Person B.  Your job is to connect with your potential customers, clients, reader, subscribers in whatever medium or platform they choose.  You need to be where they are.  You need to be right there in front of them whenever they open up their favorite app or web address to see what’s happening.

Finally, there’s the issue with where you’re hosting your content – that “Buy Now” button or affiliate link.

For the sake of God’s green earth, GET YOUR OWN DOMAIN!

Relying on Squidoo, Hubpages, Facebook, WetPaint, whoever to host your “money page” is internet markeitng SUICIDE.

Sites change their terms of service (Squidoo just did recently).  Your page can get banned.  The service might go down. The service might run out of money and die. Some asshat competitor might report you (even when you didn’t do anything wrong) and get your account deleted.  The service might decide to change their design or layout and it might kill your conversions.

When (not if, WHEN) any of these happen, those pages you worked so hard on, that you are earning from, are GONE.  And you’re not earning anything.

(Yes, one should still use external sites to build links to your main domain.  Just don’t make your “money page” anywhere but on your own domain).

So, to recap, social media sucks if:

• If it’s your only method of communication with folks in your niche
• You’re not funneling social media friends to other channels
• It’s where you host your “money page”

Social media is awesome if:

• It’s one of many methods for you to reach your subscribers, customers and fans
• You’re using it to bring in new subscribers, customers and fans into your marketing funnel
• You’re using it to boost the link popularity of domains you own

(We talk more about this stuff inside Crowd Mountain – you can get in for $1 right now).

Reassess your social media strategy to ensure you’re using it as an adjunct to your marketing plan, and not a crutch.

Related posts:

1. Text Messaging Marketing
2. Tr.im Dies, Do You Know Where Your Links Are?
3. Is Web 2.0 Marketing BS? Or Is Calling It BS The Real Hype…

August 3, 2009 – Some handy resources for searching Twitter profiles by keyword. Great for finding people who are professionals or just really into your niche.

All of these items are published as I find them to my Twitter feed. For real time notification of trends and resources, follow me on Twitter!

Related posts:

1. Best in Social Media – August 10, 2009
2. Best in Social Media – April 25, 2009
3. Best in Social Media – March 28, 2009

In exchange, you’ll get a free lifetime membership to Crowd Mountain (Michelle’s step-by-step niche marketing training membership site with exclusive tools)!

Interested?  Please leave a comment with a link to your website/profile/resume/portfolio and we’ll be in touch!

Thanks!
Karen J.

Related posts:

1. How-To “Trim the FLUFF”
2. Here’s How to Market on MySpace Without Spam Complaints
3. Crowd Mountain Lifetime Membership Winners Announced

Download Market Samurai, you’ll be using it extensively throughout the Challenge.  And don’t forget, it’s started TODAY!

This vid is the brainchild of @LisaHartwell, click to follow her on Twitter. She’s got a wicked sense of humor and the voice of an angel.

Related posts:

1. Best in Social Media – May 18, 2009
2. 30 Day Challenge Launch Show: 5:30pm PST
3. Thirty Day Challenge – Plus?

Those are the type of results you get from being in the number 1 spot in the search engines!

Even if you’re in position 2 or 3, the number of folks clicking through to your site drops to a piddly 5-12%?

BIG difference!

If you’ve watched my “Steal This Niche” series, you know that I find profitable niches by using Market Samurai.  It’s the first thing I open when I’m ready to launch a new site.

Take a free peek – http://www.michellemacphearson.com/samurai/

(YES!  SERIOUSLY! The Market Samurai guys will let you test each and every feature of the software at no charge, no cost!)

Knowing your rank for each of your keywords is important.  So is having the most profitable keywords, knowing your competitor’s rankings and knowing what your competitor’s weaknesses are.

If you know your competitor’s weakness, you can make the strategic moves to outrank them and increase your bottom line.

Here’s what you’ll use Market Samurai for:

- Keyword Research
- SEO
- Writing and researching articles
- Building high-value backlinks
- Pay Per Click Advertising
- Checking your Website Rankings

http://www.michellemacphearson.com/samurai/

This is *THE* tool for keyword research.  There’s nothing else out there that will drill down into a niche as quickly and easily as Market Samurai – and that’s just the first module of the software.

It’s got a really pretty, intuitive interface.  That might sound like a silly thing to say, but USEABILITY makes a big difference in whether you actually USE a software product.  It doesn’t do you any good if you don’t (or can’t, cuz it’s too complicated) actually USE a software.

I use it everyday, at this point I couldn’t live without it – and if you’re living without it you are losing TIME and MONEY. Period.  It’s fast and the data it will reveal for you will make you look at your niches in a whole new light.

Download a copy right now:

http://www.michellemacphearson.com/samurai/

P.S.  I had plans to build an app that would do what Market Samurai’s keyword research function does – that is, take a niche,
generate keywords and then automatically narrow down those keywords to only the ones that fit your traffic and competition criteria.

When I found out Market Samurai had done just that, I was (seriously) kinda disappointed that my idea had been “scooped” out from under me.

And then I saw the software… What Market Samurai does was well above and beyond the ideas I’d had.  They really nailed it!

Get it here:

http://www.michellemacphearson.com/samurai/

Related posts:

1. Steal This Niche – Intro
2. Best in Social Media – May 11, 2009
3. Steal This Niche – For the Shortys

It’s the debut of this year’s 30 Day Challenge.

The Thirty Day Challenge is a 30 day, no-cost, no pitch event that my co-host at Internet Marketing This Week, Ed Dale puts on every year (along with the rest of his team).

The goal is simply to help – to educate and give people the skills and training they need to succeed at building an online business.  Last year, I believe it was upwards of 50,000 people participated.  This year, it will be even bigger – and it begins tonight, and you can be a part of it.

Tune in to Thirty Day Challenge TV for the live broadcast at 5:30pm PST to watch.  Head on over to the Thirty Day Challenge website to jump into the training, blog and forums.  And there’s even (this is a first in the internet marketing space, and it’s HUGE) a Facebook application so you can participate in the challenge directly within Facebook!

This is, literally, a pitch-free event – you won’t be given 1/2 the info you need and told you need to purchase product X to finish your education.  For 30 days, your hand will be held and you will be given everything you need to earn your first income online.  All you have to do is show up for each day’s training and implement the steps given to you.

If you’re a newbie, everything will be explained in detail for you to follow right along.  If your an intermediate to advanced marketer, you will still be able to pick up tips and tricks along the way.  I still participate in the Challenge every year, and I suggest you do as well.

This year Ed will be bringing in guest experts as well, so you’ll have the absolute top notch training in each and every area of the business from experts in their field.

Enjoy tonight’s broadcast; aside from being a brilliant marketer and teacher, Ed’s an all around fun guy to hang out with (and I’ve heard him called “man candy” as well, although I’m not sure what that means…).  You won’t regret being a part of this year’s Challenge.

P.S. You’ll also want to download a copy of Market Samurai, you’ll be using it as part of the Challenge and the Market Samurai team will be giving all 30 Day Challenge participants free access to the software for the duration of the Challenge!

Related posts:

1. Training on Internet Marketing Tools
2. Thirty Day Challenge: 30 Days To Income Online
3. Thirty Day Challenge – Plus?

And he’s a darn good interviewer too!

He and I had a chat on the topic of success and got into some nitty gritty “how to” stuff as well.  It was recorded and you can listen over at Alejandro’s blog, Successfool.

He’s done a number of interviews since mine and they are all great – load up your iPod and have a listen on your morning drive!

Related posts:

1. Alejandro Reyes on Social Networking – Video Replay Available
2. Gary Vaynerchuck With Alejandro Reyes
3. Big Flippin Deal – Thurs 8pm EST

The tools below are indespensible to my business, and you must have a familiarity with them as well:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Firefox
• YouTube
• Skype
• Google Analytics
• Google Docs
• Google Alerts
• iTunes
• Ustream

In a series of 5-15 minute step-by step videos, the Thirty Day Challenge team introduces you to and walks you through each and every one of the tools mentioned above (with more to come).

Rather than say, “You really should be using Google Analytics,” and send you off to muddle through it, you’ve now got one platform from which to get concise, clear explanations on using these business building tools.

And, as always, the Thirty Day Challenge is free.  Log in and visit the link to “Training” for access to everything.  This is “pre-season” where you get the basics, the tools and the fundamentals.  Come August the actual Challenge begins (which is free as well) and you’ll learn how to put these tools to work to make you money!

Related posts:

1. Thirty Day Challenge: 30 Days To Income Online
2. 30 Day Challenge Launch Show: 5:30pm PST
3. Thirty Day Challenge – Plus?

July 6, 2009 – Enjoy the Thirty Day Challenge – free internet marketing training developed and presented by some of the brightest folks in the biz!

All of these items are published as I find them to my Twitter feed. For real time notification of trends and resources, follow me on Twitter!

Related posts:

1. Best in Social Media – March 28, 2009
2. Best in Social Media – April 25, 2009
3. Best in Social Media – August 3, 2009

June 3, 2009

All of these items are published as I find them to my Twitter feed. For real time notification of trends and resources, follow me on Twitter!

Related posts:

1. Best in Social Media – April 25, 2009
2. Best in Social Media – August 3, 2009
3. Best in Social Media – April 18, 2009

May 18, 2009

All of these items are published as I find them to my Twitter feed. For real time notification of trends and resources, follow me on Twitter!

Related posts:

1. Best in Social Media – April 25, 2009
2. Best in Social Media – August 3, 2009
3. Best in Social Media – March 28, 2009

May 14, 2009 – Thank you so much Dan for speaking up – I have a blog post in draft on this very topic!

May 12, 2009 – Yay Market Samurai team! Always innovating, improving and delivering an indespensible product.

May 12, 2009 – If you're new to internet marketing, the Thirty Day Challenge is the place to start. It's free & the content is unparalleled.

All of these items are published as I find them to my Twitter feed. For real time notification of trends and resources, follow me on Twitter!

Related posts:

1. Best in Social Media – July 6, 2009
2. Training on Internet Marketing Tools
3. Best in Social Media – April 4, 2009

That’s the initial thought process when someone considers social media marketing.

And it’s dead wrong.

People aren’t on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube to BUY YOUR STUFF.  They might, as a byproduct of seeing you there – Twitter referrals consistently convert well for my products, for example.  But heading out to a social media site to “get” people to BUY YOUR STUFF won’t work.  Here’s why:

THREE PILLARS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

There are three “pillars” or methods one can use in their social media marketing attempts.  The best strategy uses all three.  The weakest and least affective uses the first only (and it’s, unfortunately, where most people get their feet wet, decide it doesn’t work and give up).

Pillar One: Broadcasting

When you’re broadcasting, you’re talking about yourself, your product, your service, your website.  You’re using the social media sites as a way to transmit your (marketing) message to others.

Yes, it’s necessary.  Customers, web site visitors, prospects have friended you on the various social networks and it’s another way in which you can (and should) update them when there’s something worth updating.

But it’s still just you yammering on about yourself.

And social media isn’t about the “me” (me talking about myself) it’s about the “you” (your customer, prospect, reader.)

And that’s where the next two pillars of social media marketing enter:

Pillar Two: Customer Support

No, not just helpdesk kind of stuff (although that can be a part of this pillar).  But supporting the people who have friended you by providing tips, info or news related to your niche. If doesn’t always (and shouldn’t always) have to link back to your site, and it doesn’t always have to have a link at all. You’re a dog trainer? You’ll help folks out with training their dogs. A real estate agent? Tell folks the myths about buying foreclosures.

What’s relevant to the people who’ve friended you? Talk about it.

Having opened yourself up to your niche in this way, those who are following you will often ask questions which you should, of course, respond to (support them!).

Now you’re having a conversation. You’ve built a seedling of a relationship. When people say “social media is about relationships” that’s what they mean. Not you yelling from the rooftops about “ME ME ME!” (Pillar 1) but you SUPPORTING the people in your niche.

Do you think someone is more likely to visit your website, buy your product, etc. if they’ve had a little conversation with you before? Of course.

That’s why social media click-throughs convert well for me.  I talk to people. I try to support my friends on the social media platforms, they know me a bit, many of us have had conversations.

But there’s another pillar that will bring the effectiveness of your social media marketing way up:

Pillar Three: Round Robin

You’re broadcasting.  You’re supporting your followers  by providing them interesting and relevant information and responding to their posts (and maybe even initiating conversations when you see people talking about your niche).

Now you take the “Me” out of the equation all together. You don’t exist.  It’s your customers / web site visitors talking about you, your product or service to their friends and followers.

This is when social media marketing gets REALLY powerful, but it’s unlikely to happen if you don’t initiate the process with the first two pillars.

If you create a positive experience for your social media friends in Pillar 2, they naturally want to “give back” to you (this is the “Law of Reciprocity”).  In Twitter, this can be in the form of a retweet or unsolicited mention of how great your product it. Or in blogging, it’s a link back from their site to yours to a great blog post you wrote.

And when it’s OTHER people talking to THEIR friends about how great you are, rather then you broadcasting to people who are already following you, the effect is MUCH bigger.

Someone posts that they really like my product, Crowd Mountain, to their friends.  Their friends check it out. They’ve gotten a personal recommendation from someone they trust (not me, the seller) for the product.  Are they now even more likely to buy? Of course! And that’s the REAL reason why social media converts so well for me – because it’s not about ME it’s about YOU.

It’s not because I’m so awesome and so is my product and I tell people that everyday, it’s because other people are telling that to their friends everyday for me, without my intervention or my solicitation.

You need to educate the people you’ve friended to make this happen. How? By doing yourself exactly what you want them to do.  Retweet an interesting blog post one of your friends has posted. They’ll see that you did, your other followers will see that you did, and will follow your example. Like a product? For no reason at all, without an affiliate link, tell people about it in a blog post – they will follow your example and perhaps choose to recommend your product.

Model the behavior you would like to see, and if you’re being a leader in your marketplace by being informative, helpful, supportive and opinionated (Pillar Two) people will do as you do. Evangelize for folks you support, and people will evangelize for you.

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These are stages – it’s near impossible to get to pillar three without having mastered one and two. (Unless you’re Apple and already have had evangelists drooling over you).  It’s an evolution from the least effective to the most effective, and you can learn as your grow.

Stop being a broadcast-only social media marketer (what’s social about that anyway?)! Move towards SUPPORTING your friends and followers, and then lead by example in teaching them how to evangelize for you.

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