Don Levy is a retired mortgage broker whose hobby is article writing, especially on the subject of Craigslist & the many ways it can be used. To learn more click on theCraigslist”>http://healthy-and-wealthy-now.com/craigslist””>Craigslist Blog to see a wealth of information about all aspects of it.
For info on healing or treating many common ailments using natural cures & household products click on Natural”>http://”>Natural Cures
Understanding the Power of Craigslist Advertising
November 21, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
While many people know that Craigslist is some sort of website where you can advertise to buy and sell things, many still don’t know about the powerful and diverse ways Craigslist advertising can be used. According to the Craigslist fact sheet they get more than 9 billion page views per month and more than 30 million people, including more than 25 million in the US alone, use Craigslist each month, so obviously a lot of people do have a good understanding of the services offered by Craigslist advertising. . For those who are still unsure about what Craigslist is, this article will give them an appreciation for the power of Craigslist advertising.
Craigslist advertising is similar to the classified area of a newspaper where people can either put in advertisements or answer existing ones. Just like the newspaper Craigslist has categories for all the different advertisements to make it easy to find them. If you are new to Craigslist advertising or an old hand in the online advertising arena you will find some different ways to use the power of Craigslist. This article will discuss the following ways visitors can use Craigslist advertising:
* Sell products on Craigslist
* Search for a new job or fill a position with Craigslist
* Promote your business with Craigslist
* Find potential dates with Craigslist
While these are four of the more popular options for using Craigslist advertising they don’t begin to cover all the aspects and potential of Craigslist. Hopefully readers of this article will be encouraged to take a further look at Craigslist so they can learn more about what the Craigslist advertising community has to offer.
Sell Products With Craigslist
New or used items can be sold through Craigslist advertising . Just about anything under the sun can be found for sale here and everything thing can be posted into a category. Craigslist is easy to use, as all you have to do is advertise you item in the property category, supply a description of the item as well as a desired price and wait for a buyer. There are also categories for people to advertise for items they are looking for along with things they are offering for free. While you can sell almost anything on Craiglist there are some types of items that cannot be advertised on the website. For example you can’t sell firearms in the section for sporting goods and you cannot offer pornographic items in the section for CDs/DVDs/VHSs.
Find A Job Or Fill A Position With Craigslist
Finding jobs with Craigslist advertising is one of the key uses of the site. There are many job listings a person can browse through by selecting a general category and location. The search feature is handy for refining the search for a job. The search criteria can be used to determine whether the position is a telecommute job, part time, a contract position, an internship or any other type of job or position.
Craigslist advertising will also allow small business owners and human resources departments to ask for resumes for positions they have open. Companies posting job openings in the right Craigslist category will normally receive a large amount of responses.
Promote Your Business with Craigslist
Business promotion with Craigslist is also one the more popular uses. If you are a small business or a big corporation you can take advantage of Craigslist free advertising to both promote business and find new customers. Craigslist advertising has a section that offers services where business owners can place free advertisements. By breaking this section down into a number of categories Craigslist has made it possible for a business to find the best location to reach their potential target customers. Although there is a section for small business ads, it will probably be better to use the appropriate categories to ensure being found by the most interested job seekers.
Joining Craigslist discussion forums and making helpful comments or answering question accurately while placing a link to a business site will also help drive traffic to your ebusiness site. Take care while doing this to avoid posts which could be considered spam as Craigslist takes a dim view of spam.
Find A Date with Craigslist
While Craigslist advertising can be a useful place to find potential dates there are some strict restrictions which are enforced in the personals section. You must be over 18 to use this category and most importantly Craigslist does not allow individuals to impersonate another individual in a personals advertisement. You’ll find a number of categories to choose from when you place an advertisement in the Craigslist personals section. Some of these categories include advertisers looking for platonic relationships as well as romantic ones. You can also look for missed connections and other types of relationship scenarios.
As was mentioned before these are just a few ways Craigslist can help you advertise. Craigslist is likely the biggest and most powerful advertising bargain to be found in the world. All but a few categories are free and if you play by their rules you can sell or buy something, find a job or position, fill a position, promote your business or get a date with Craigslist’s help and the best part is the price is definitely right.
Building Your Business on Twitter – 4 Great Ways
November 3, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Twitter is a great place to build your business and promote your products as long as you don’t overdo it and annoy other Twitter users. While you promote your business, you must remember that Twitter is a social networking site, where aggressive marketing is simply not appreciated. Here are 4 tips to help you build your business on Twitter.
1. Tweet About Your Business
Building your business on Twitter is ridiculously easy. For example, if you are working on a new product at present, all you have to do is tweet about it. You could just tweet, “I am busy writing an eBook at present.” Other Tweeps are sure to get interested in your work. Some of them might even purchase it once it is done.
However, be careful when you play this game. Talking about your work or career is quite normal, but don’t carry it to the extreme. You could also include your website address in your bio, and see that the website has ample details about your work. This will give you a better chance of attracting more clients.
2. Tweet about Your Product
Are you launching a new product? Tweet about it once per day or more if required. In your tweet, include information about how people would benefit by this product. For example, if you have created some website templates, you could tweet: “Working on creating website templates to help newbies create professional-looking pages.” You could also tweet about how your product is doing: “I am getting positive feedback from customers who purchased my templates.” Tweeps are sure to get interested in your product.
Tweet about your product at different times because Tweeps check their accounts at different times. However, don’t just tweet about your products. Insert plenty of social tweets in between your business tweets and make sure you respond to the tweets of other Twitter users. If you fail to do this, other Twitter users will consider you to be a spammer.
3. Tweet about Your Blog Posts
Publish posts related to your product or business on your blog and tweet the links to your followers along with a short description of the blog post. The content should really be of some use to your followers.
Here is a tweet for an example: “How to Build a Website in 10 Easy Steps” followed by the link. If people find the information you have offered to be useful, they are sure to get interested in your product too.
4. Tweet Your Affiliate Links
Twitter can help you get fatter affiliate commission checks. First, collect all your affiliate links in one place. You can now tweet these links to Twitter users who are really looking for the information. In this way, you can sell your clickbank products or get referrals to online program.
How do you find Twitter users who might really be interested in your referral links? Type a keyword related to a product you are attempting to sell on Twitter Search. For example, you want to sell an eBook on how to find a job. Simply type the keywords “find a job” on Twitter Search and it will turn up all the tweets of Twitter users who are busy hunting for jobs. You can now respond to these tweets with information about the product you are selling or with referral links to employment companies that you are working for. You are not spamming anyone here. You are simply providing information to people who are looking for precisely that information! You are just trying to be of some help by giving information of value. The links that you have posted might be the very thing the Twitter user is looking for. If they have already registered at the site you have suggested, they will either inform you or ignore you. You can then suggest another company or product. This method will help you become a roaring success at affiliate marketing.
Besides, some of these people might also become your followers just because you have given them some valuable information and been of some use to them. You will gain their trust. And once you have gained their trust and goodwill, you can easily sell more products to them or refer them to some more programs.
2 Golden Rules for Affiliate Marketers
Affiliate marketers should keep the following 2 golden rules in mind while promoting their products.
Recommend Known Products Only
Don’t ever make the mistake of recommending products that you have never used yourself. At least, they should be products created by a company or individual whom you trust. If you recommend sub-standard products that will not be of any use to the customer who has purchased them, you are going to lose your reputation. Your customers will no longer trust you. What’s worse, they will stop buying from you. So, never promote products about which you know nothing.
Promote Products of Value Only
Don’t promote useless products. In other words, promote products that will really be of value to your followers. If you promote useless products, your followers will stop taking your seriously. They will trust you no more.
The best thing that can ever happen to you as an affiliate marketer is getting positive feedback from a Tweep who found your products really useful. In such a case, you have not only earned a few bucks, but also a customer’s trust and goodwill. This customer won’t mind purchasing from you again. So, making a smart selection of products to promote and sell on Twitter is of great importance.
Amit is a full-time Internet Marketer. He is passionate about teaching others how to make a living Online. He is also a Twitter expert, with some great Twitter Tips up his sleeves! Visit his website http://www.SuccessCurrency.com/twitter/ to grab his FREE 50 Page Book – “Twitter Mastery – Unleashing The Power Of Twitter For Maximum Profits!”. But hurry, only limited FREE copies available!
Why Twitter is an important tool for real estate investing
October 28, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Copyright (c) 2009 Duncan Wierman
We may have heard of twitter marketing, but what do we know about it? What is it, exactly? How do we use it for basic marketing never mind promoting our real estate business? There are so many questions raised by this one little site that it’s hard to come up with just one broad answer, but here are the main ones.
The site itself is best described as a micro-blogging site. Micro in that you can only use 140 characters per post, blog-like in that what you post and write is viewable straight away. Pretty straightforward so far, right?
To view a post, you have to look for relevant keywords for what you are interested in such as in the case of real estate investing, you would probably be looking for private moneylenders. Then if that post by that person is of interest to you, you can become a ‘follower’ of the poster so you will automatically get updated when they post something new on the site such as updates on different lenders you could inquire with – and so it goes on.
Once you have found the niche that you are looking to follow, such as real estate buyers and are linked up with them, usually they will have started following your posts, it’s at this point that you can benefit from twitter marketing and use it to build your list of real estate prospects and promote your business. For example, you post a message about a certain property at a great short sale price, and everyone that is following you will see what you just posted. Within minutes, anyone searching for hot properties in your area will be alerted, and if it is something they want more information on, they will contact you. Remember it is about what’s happening now and this is what gives the system its greatest potential.
Another thing you can use is what is called “twitter adder”. This is a tool that allows Twitter users to build and market to a group of friends quickly and easily. This tool allows you to gather up massive friends on Twitter and send out mass auto emails to your list of friends. Getting your updates out has never been easier. Also, by allowing you to capture a large base of friends on Twitter, you are able to market your real estate investing business substantially.
In a nutshell, this is how twitter marketing works and how it can help build your real estate investing business. However, when using it, make sure you do not spam people (as people can ‘un-follow’ you just as quickly as follow you) and keep it both informative and entertaining, and you will soon build your network to a size that will make an impact on your business. Also, by utilizing the amazing power of A Twitter Adder, you can build your list of friends (BUSINESS PROSPECTS) in record time and be tweeting back and forth while building your business effortlessly.
Duncan Wierman is an Ex Software CEO turned Real Estate Investor and Marketer. Discover how to use creative internet marketing methods so you can do more deals online. For more details on how this type of automated internet marketing system works for real estate investors his free report can be found at http://www.duncanwierman.com . Duncan is also offering readers a FREE Report on how to find hungry real estate buyers at
http://www.duncanwierman.com/creating-a-twitter-avalanche/
Twitter Demystified for Business Users
October 23, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Twitter is the current top “hot property” on the Web, but its popularity and how to use it has mystified many business owners. Many people think that they want to, or should be using Twitter, but simply do not understand the platform, its use, or its place in building web exposure. This article will demystify Twitter and help you to learn how to use it in the workplace and to promote your business.
First, I have to say that I had been confused on how to use Twitter to benefit my own business until I downloaded TweetDeck. TweetDeck is a desktop application that allows you to review and post status updates on Twitter and Facebook simultaneously. I consider it a “must have” application for anyone who wants to make sense of Twitter. TweetDeck allows you to sort the people you follow on Twitter into groups, allows you to limit the number of Tweets (Twitter micro posts) to be shown at any one time, and also allows you to remove all Tweets you have seen with one click. Additionally, using TweetDeck, finally a Twitter search on a topic makes sense.
Since using TweetDeck, I have had a much better Twitter experience. As a Twitter newbie, visiting your own Twitter home page is intimidating; it consists of post after post from people who you are following, who you may not know much about, and it just seems like a huge volume of content. To get started effectively first group the people who actually have something interesting to say on TweetDeck and voila, you have a powerful tool that keeps you at the forefront of what is happening in your industry and on the Web.
So how do you get started with Twitter? Well the first thing is to start on Twitter yourself to understand what you like to read, who you like to follow, and to clearly identify what you like about Twitter. For me, it boils down to this: I like to follow people in my industry who say something of value, who provide a link to a new application or point me to an interesting new article, video, or blog site that I should review but may have never have found myself. Based on what I like, and the people who I find interesting to read, I now write my Twitter posts using this same formula to grow my own Twitter audience.
What I also like about Twitter is that the people who I follow also know how to show their true personality in their Tweets. Ye,s I do like to know what Danny Sullivan (famous search engine marketing guru) ate for lunch, but better yet is the link to the video he thought was funny. I love following Ashton Kutcher (movie star married to Demi Moore who just hit 1 million Twitter followers in April). Man, that guy is really funny and is having a ball with Twitter. His posts are great and he has just earned the status of the user with the most followers. This is why you can’t hire someone to “Ghost Twitter” for you. It’s about showing the real you – you can’t fake that!
So how can you use Twitter for business? Twitter is an excellent tool for linking and this is the real value for businesses. By using Twitter to point people to content on your website, articles you have written either on or off your website, or by linking to a service you want to highlight, you drive traffic. On top of that, Google actually indexes Twitter and so your Twitter page can appear in the organic search results so make sure your bio is well thought out. Don’t waste time using Twitter to point to blog posts, use TwitterFeed to post your blog posts directly onto Twitter. If you have a blog or website, you’ll get new Twitter followers by posting your TwitterFeed right onto your web pages. People who may not have known your Twitter ID can simply click the bottom “follow me link” and start following you on Twitter.
What’s important to be successful in using Twitter is to identify what you personally like about this new media and then deliver the same type of things that you like back to your own followers – work to provide value not drivel! So you’ve got to play with Twitter and learn how to use it first before you can really become successful with it for your business.
So how do you get followers? Well, I started by following everyone (who I found by doing a Twitter search) who had the last name McCord. Then I searched for web design, search engine optimization, and pay per click. Any site profile that looked good, I clicked to follow the writer. It was that easy. Many times people who you follow yourself will choose to follow you. That’s how you initially build up your Twitter base. Over time you will start to identify your “Twitter voice” and refine the type of Twitter presence you want to have by changing your content style and the things that you Tweet about. As you refine your presence, you will build a following.
Another cool Twitter use is that you can reply to any of your followers by simply putting an @ in front of their Twitter ID. For example to send something to my attention use @mccordweb at the very front of your Twitter posting and click enter. Just remember that this post is seen by all followers on my site and on your Twitter site. If you need a more private exchange, go to the direct message link on the Twitter.com site and select a follower by Twitter ID name and send your message from there. This note will be private. If you are using TweetDeck you can click on a follower’s Twitter ID icon and then select to send a direct message or @reply to them. TweetDeck will automatically insert the correct syntax for you in the Tweet.
For many businesses the ability for users to communicate with top management using Twitter is an invaluable resource. This one-to-one exchange allows a company principal to keep tabs on customer viewpoints, concerns, and interests. As a Twitter reply or direct mail does not use email and does not require a response, this is a great way to tap into social networking to test new ideas and to ask for user feedback. For example, if you have a new software product ask your Twitter followers for feedback on a specific feature, or provide a link to your beta version for their testing.
How you use Twitter is all about your personal business needs. The best advice that I can offer to you is that you need to use Twitter a bit yourself first to understand the medium and to find out what you like to read best using Twitter. Then, create your own Twitter network sharing information that you find interesting and have some fun.
Currently I am following 204 people and 183 people are following me on Twitter. Personally I find Twitter great fun and a very cool way to find out first what’s happening in the world before you see it on TV, read it on the Web, or see it in the newspaper. That’s the real power of Twitter; you share, you find out, and you know, all by a person-to-person exchange of information.
For those of you clicking in from my e-newsletter the rest of the content on Twitter applications and uses follows.
Below are some of the Twitter applications that I like and use regularly for my business.
Twuffer – I love this one, it is a Twitter post scheduler. Some people feel that Twuffer defeats the immediacy of Twitter posts or Tweets, but I like it as I will schedule Tweets on days that I am not blogging to keep my followers advised of things I find important. It is easy to use, allows you to Tweet ahead, and lets you select a posting schedule by day and time. If you are pushing content on a service or product this is an excellent tool to use. Set your Tweets up one week or one month at a time and feed your content to readers in addition to your regular Tweets. Make sure to use www.TinyUrl.com to change any long URLs you point to in the Tweet to a Twitter-friendly short version to save space.
Twitter Feed – This is another one of my top favorites. TwitterFeed allows me to show my blog posts from “The Web Authority” directly onto Twitter. It also allows me to post my Tweets back on my blog (by installing a widget) in my blog template – very cool cross interaction! I pick up many Twitter followers with this technique. Readers come to visit my blog and then choose to follow me on Twitter.
Twitter Grader – This one is a vanity application that allows you to see where you stack up against other Twitter users. Twitter Grader measures the power of a Twitter user based on followers, number of updates, and posting frequency.
TweetBeep – With this application, you can manage your online Twitter reputation. Alerts will be emailed to you whenever a Twitter user Tweets about your business, name, or domain. You select the alert criteria and what to watch for using TweetBeep. This is great for a business that is concerned about branding and online identity. PR professionals should make sure to use this tool to watch for comments about their clients.
Twitoria – Clean up your Twitter followers by finding out which people never use Twitter or post infrequently so you can delete them right from the Twitoria interface.
Qwitter – If you want to know when someone stops following you, sign up for this service. Actually, this can be an excellent tool to find out what a reader hated that you posted about and caused them to “chop” you, so you can fine tune your message. If you get a flood of drops after a Tweet, it allows you to learn that people don’t like a certain type of Tweet – instant feedback at an anonymous level!
One big thing about Twitter that I have not even mentioned yet but is actually one of Twitter’s best features is the ability to text-in Tweets from your mobile phone. Although you can’t easily link to great content typically on the fly like this, the ability to connect with others without being tethered to a computer is an opportunity to show the “real you”. Maybe your followers do want to know what you are eating for lunch or about a seminar you just attended, just be kind and don’t vomit out Twitter spam using your Blackberry on meaningless drivel.
You can easily set up the ability to receive text messages from your Twitter account to your cell or Blackberry, but be careful as you may be inundated if you have a large following. I would recommend receiving Twitter updates via text message to your cell only from a small group. For example if you have a project team, set up a Twitter account for each member to allow them to post just to this small unique circle of team members. The value to track and interact with each other at anytime and anywhere using Twitter by computer or by cell phone adds real value for work groups and teams – particularly team managers. Twitter even allows you to make this type of group private.
Another feature of Twitter is the ability to add hashtags in front of keywords in your Tweets to help with sorting to allow others to find your important content. For example if you wanted to Tweet about a recent earthquake in LA you would use #laearthquake in the front of your Tweet. By using hashtags you enable Twitter to return your information for topic searches on newsworthy Tweets. You can visit Hashtags.org for more information on the current hot hashtags that are in use for today so you can follow, add to the topic, or create your own. For example in Twitter World, Fridays are the day you post with #followfriday and enter in the Twitter IDs you want to recommend to others. You would be amazed at the cool new people you can follow and interact with from recommendations of the people you follow.
In conclusion, Twitter is one of the hottest new mediums to arrive on the Internet scene since Facebook. Although it is not exactly “new”, Twitter has just recently become very high profile. If you are in business, Twitter definitely warrants your attention. Not only is it a very smart new tool to use in your marketing arsenal, but I think that the more you use it you will grow to love it and find it fun to use. The ways that you can use Twitter are endless: for teams, for family members, for business networking, to stay at the forefront of news, to promote yourself and your services, and to just have fun connecting with others online. Just remember you can’t really make sense of Twitter for business without using TweetDeck or another similar aggregating and sorting application. Thanks for reading, see you on Twitter, you can reach me at @mccordweb or visit me at www.Twitter.com/mccordweb.
About the Author
Nancy McCord is the founder and President of McCord Web Services LLC which provides search engine marketing, web design, blog writing, and webmaster services globally. Since 2001, Nancy McCord has developed a national reputation as an expert on search engines, blogging, and how businesses can harness the power of Web for profit. You can visit Nancy and her firm at www.McCordWeb.com.
Nancy McCord is the Owner of McCord Web Services LLC. She is a prolific and talented web copywriter, active blogger, web designer, and search engine marketing expert. Visit her business website at www.McCordWeb.com.
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