I’m very lucky to have a fabulous mom. Thanks, Mom.

• The Peacock Guide to Landing Pages: Amy mentions the Twitter bio. My advice is to add keywords important to you and your business plus a couple of fun facts about yourself.
• The Myth of the Sales Page: Right on, Sean! I’m not going to buy something after clicking a link that takes me to the landing page. This is exactly why businesses need to use different social networking tools.
• Effective Networking for Book Publishing: No longer can authors depend on publishers to do the promotion — unless your name is John Grisham or some other hot shot.
• An Open Letter to “New” Writers

• Free Music Archive: Yes, free and legal.
• Paintalicious – Thomas Allen’s Book Art Photography: “Blogzine of exciting contemporary art, showcasing an eclectic mix of underground artists, pop surrealists, emerging and rediscovered counter cultures.”
• My First Dictionary: Dick and Jane style wholesome pictures meet cruel world. For word lovers.
• &, the carrying case; &, the book and &, the tee: Who doesn’t love that gorgeous symbol? [Links: Havi]
• What NOT to get for the baby or toddler

Well, my dear, they come from many places. If you go to the library known as Freelance Folder, you’ll see people sharing how they find their clients.

When a freelancer and a client meet, they check out each other to ensure they are a fit. It may take some bio and web site reading to get familiar with each other. After making it pass the test phase, they come together and a product or service is born. No storks involved.

But how do freelancers and clients meet in the first place? Believe it or not, Mommy never relies on cold calling. Isn’t she lucky? Imagine how many bad phone calls I’ve had trying to contact strangers through the relay service. Blind dates just don’t work well here.

All of the following ways work because Mommy met at least one client each way.

• Referrals: Mom has clients from everywhere. Only one client has an office in Dallas. Yet, Mom found him through a colleague based out of Seattle. I helped teach a thesis related course for a few years plus created the bibliography guidelines for the school. Professors refer students to me for editing help. I love thesis editing because I learn new things like the impact of gentrification on cities.
• Social network profile: Just last week, someone who found me on LinkedIn sent me a query to do web content for his business.
• Existing clients: It’s important to keep current clients happy. It’s easier and cheaper to keep clients than to find new ones. A current client emailed me a project for another client.
• Plain ol’ reply to ads: A lot of people think this doesn’t work anymore, sweetie. With many people out of jobs, we all think every opening receives hundreds of applications. I replied to a call for writers and landed the gig.
• Twitter: I don’t think Mom has gotten any gigs directly from twitter. But it keeps her name out there as she tries to help others solve problems and link them to valuable and fun resources.
• Networking: Another client got to know me through his site’s forums and a couple of email exchanges. Networking involves many places including twitter, blogs, Facebook.
• Web site: A web site with all of its contents add to a person’s credibility. Well, if it’s done right. Too many business sites have no About page, photos, bios or anything to put a friendly face behind the company. Add a newsletter along with an email subscription box and you start building relationships.
• Existing work: A client liked several articles your mom wrote and contacted her. Another client and I worked for the same web site.
• Interviewees, editors and resources: I can think of at least three people I interviewed for an article or book chapter who eventually hired me.
• Volunteer work: I encourage new freelancers to build their portfolio through volunteer work. Besides that, you do something good. People will notice your work and refer you or hire you.
• Former students: I suppose this could count as existing work. I assisted many professors in NYU’s online graduate program. The students got to know me through online classes.

I’ve bought ads for directories with local non-profit organizations. I knew it was more for helping out the organization than advertising. As you know, I have only one local client and he find me through an ad.

So there you have it, darling. That’s where Mommy’s clients come from. And in not one instance did I rely on protection in the form of advertising or blind dates from cold calling.

Still can’t write, but discovering great stuff in whiling away the time reading and learning… and social networking…

• Scottish Vernacular Dictionary [Link: Joanna]
• How Alltop Powers Bloggers
• How to Use Twitter as a Twool
• Top 10 Tweeters to follow by subject… be warned… long list.
• Convert your blog into a podcast [Link: Deborah] I’ve added it here. What do you think?
• Real life LinkedIn stories leading to opportunities, 100 Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn, and Success Stories [Link: Scott].
• Pitch Engine: Run your PRs through it. My first PR in PE.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Sequart Research and Literary Organization: “a non-profit organization devoted solely to the study and promotion of the artistic and literary medium alternately known as comics, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, manga, sequential art, and sequart.”
• Help a friend & her mother. Maybe you can hire her as she’s a QuickBooks pro. Even folks like me who love software don’t like QuickBooks. Took a class and a lot of courage to finally get the hang of it.
• Wonderglen Productions: Satire site a la Christopher Guest, Best in Show, and Spinal Tap. Half the fun consists of trying to figure out who the site’s actual authors and owners are.
• 15-Second Film Festival: To heck with two hour bum numbing movies. Hello, 15-second movies.
• Models made out of books [Link: Guy]. Amazing and detailed work.
• Eyeballing game [Link: Steve]
• Regiftable: Regifting stories.

“Gaily bedight

A gallant knight,

In sunshine and shadow,

Had journeyed long,

Singing a song,

In search of Eldorado.”

– Eldorado by Edgar Allan Poe

Businesses don’t have to journey long to find Eldorado of marketing. Most companies start right by establishing a Web site. However, some don’t make the most of having a Web site or build it without considering the requirements for building successful Web sites.

Some build Web sites more like elaborate brochures touting the company’s many qualities and competencies. A few companies, like Amazon.com, and retail giant L.L. Bean, have turned these online retail brochures into success stories. Many try to replicate this success with uneven results.

Web pages tend to require prospects to find them. Then, if the customers find them, they forget about it when they need something.

A few businesses counter these problems by complementing direct email offers with their Web sites. For example, a reader visits Amazon.com to look at the latest fiction releases. Later, the reader starts receiving emails Amazon announcing new releases of fiction, and some accompanied with a discount. These emails contain links taking the reader to the Web page.

Mining Internet for Prospects

Almost three-quarters of American adults are online with half of those having a high speed internet connection at home according to Pew Internet. They still use the Internet for two primary purposes, email (93 percent) and research to find information or driving directions (over 85 percent).

A JupiterResearch report indicates that over 40 percent of email users say that email compelled them to make at least one online or offline purchase. The report also emphasizes the importance of delivering relevant information in emails. Combine email marketing efforts with social networking to have the greatest impact. JupiterResearch also reports over half of business professionals with decision making power say that advertisers have the best chance of reaching them by internet and email.

A successful online marketing plan takes advantage of all online marketing tools including emails and social network sites. A newsletter should contain links to the company’s blogs, RSS feeds and social network identities and vice versa.

A Return Path study states that 85 percent of business people sign up for emails. Furthermore, marketers can reach them on the go as an Exact Target study in 2007 reports one-third of business professionals read emails on mobile devices on a regular basis. In 2007, Wall Street Journal writes that 81 percent of American executives subscribe to business-related email newsletters for product and business information.

What do all of these numbers say? The scream email and internet are important marketing tools.

Compel Readers to Read the Newsletter

Business professionals get over 50 emails a day with plenty surpassing the 100 emails mark. When opening their email, they have three thoughts in mind:

• Which do I read?
• Which I save to read later?
• Which do I delete without opening?

Rule number one: send your newsletter to people who want it, so encourage readers to opt-in to your newsletter.

Rule number two: provide value in your newsletter so they continue subscribing, opening, reading, and acting on your emails.

Most marketers want to thump the company’s chest by talking about great new products or amazing services, touting recent awards, or announcing new hires or mergers. However, the better strategy focuses on the newsletter’s content.

Pull rather than to push with your content by offering articles that explore issues, open dialogue, and solve problems your readers face. Do you care about Company ABC blowing its horn? Americans receive too much email, so they trash anything smacking of a pitch.

Keep your newsletter in the “read and saved” by making sure your content meets the following criteria:

• Relevant: The content speaks to the customer’s interests and not your company’s.
• Anticipated: Distribute on a regular basis so people expect your newsletter to arrive around a specific time, but don’t publish so often they tire of hearing from you.
• Monitored: One of the best online marketing channels benefits is reporting. Monitor how readers are looking at your newsletter and alter it to conform to their interests.

Email newsletters with timely, interesting articles have a greater likelihood of readers forwarding them to others, which increases the number of readers with time. Everyone who reads the newsletter and decides to opt-in to a company’s turns into a qualified lead. Business to business newsletters remain an Eldorado in a Web 2.0 world.

As the Edgar Allan Poe poem ends with one modification…

Down the Valley of the Shadow,

“‘Ride, boldly ride,’

The marketer replied-

‘If you seek for Eldorado!’”

• The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist, Period!: Indeed!
• Freelance Writers and Referral Fees: Would You Charge (or Pay) One? I tried to thank someone for referring me to a new client and she wouldn’t accept it. I also don’t expect payment for referrals as like the article, networking goes a long way.
• Signing Client Contracts: When Negotiation is Futile: Excellent points of what to expect.
• What I’ve Learned About Writing From My Friends Online: Proof that participating in the blogosphere can be valuable.
• 30 Poems in 30 Days: I used to write lots of poetry while in school. Boy, I wish I put them on my Apple ][+ computer, then I might still have had them today.
• Wikibooks: “Community for creating a free library of educational textbooks that anyone can edit.”

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Cool Hunting: Hunting down cool things.
• U.S. Paralympic Team: I wish the games were on TV!
• GuysRead: Hilarious author Jon Scieszka (and a popular one in my household) started this site to provide book recommendations to guys of all ages. His list hits all the biggies in my household (two sons).
• TeenReads: Like Guys Read only for teens.
• Book Adventure: Motivates kids to read.

The winner of Seth Godin’s $800 DVD set from How To Add Colour To A Grey Day entry as selected by Random.org …

Yvonne Russell! Congratulations, Yvonne!

And the winner of the addicting First Class Flurry from Assorted Blogging History Lessons entry as Random.org went to work again…

Karen Swim! Congratulations, Karen!

No, no… I’m not asking you to Google me. You’re going to do it anyway, aren’t you? Ted Demopoulos contributes this entry and the title fits. I met Ted, I believe, either from doing a book review or commenting on one of his entries that led to doing the book review. It’s a case of the chicken or the egg — but I forget which.

Since then, he invited me to contribute to his book, What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting and we’ve gotten to know each other over time. Don’t believe what he says about being the most boring blogger. Not at all, but good publicity!

This entry’s prize are Airport Mania: 2 copies (1 Mac and 1 PC) and one copy of Andy King’s upcoming Website Optimization. Here’s its companion site. Just leave a 30-word comment on this post by June 20 to get an entry for a drawing. Be sure to include “Mac” or “Win” in your comment so you’re up for the right version of the software.

Google Me!

You’re being googled all the time — hopefully the results are positive.

People google you before they meet with you, they google you before hiring you, they google you if they may be working with you, they google you if you’re dating their sister.

Potential clients always google me, my mailman has googled me, my kid’s teacher and even my wife have googled me! And if people really care or are Internet savvy, they will do more than simple search engine lookups.

What shows up when you google yourself? It’s good to know what others are seeing about you.

If you have a common name and nothing comes up, try what others will try; google your name plus other identifying information. Do you work for IBM? Then googling “yourname IBM” may turn up interesting results. Are you a viola player? Then googling “yourname viola” may be the ticket. Do you live in Fresno? Then googling “yourname Fresno” may work.

So what is your name anyways? If it’s a common name you might change it slightly, for example also use your middle name. Although ‘Ted Demopoulos’ is fairly uncommon, if it were a common name I could choose to use ‘Ted Demetrius Demopoulos’ for my business card, resume, email, and other locations as appropriate, making myself much easier to google.

What if there really is nothing online about you? From the privacy standpoint, that might be good, but if you’re looking for a job, trying to date, or maybe think you have career, people googling you might wonder why nothing shows up. Are you legit? Do you really exist? Maybe you’re a complete flake or serial murderer?

Fortunately there are several easy and free or cheap ways to establish an effective internet presence. Here are three quick ideas:

• Join LinkedIn.com, a free business networking site, and setup a profile. Google and the other search engines love LinkedIn.
• Leave intelligent comments on blogs in your niche. Make sure the comments are intelligent and add to the conversation, and use your full name so the search engines can find your comment.
• Review books in your professional area on Amazon.com. This is also free, and Amazon will let you create a profile about yourself, and the search engines will index it.

Of course you could also start a Website, even a simple one-pager about yourself, start blogging, or write articles online – Web masters are always looking for content. These techniques are very effective at establishing an effective internet presence, although they take some effort.

Your online presence is only going to become more important. You had best know what shows up when other people google you, and ideally you’ll create positive content using some of the techniques mentioned above to show you in a correct and positive light.

About the author: Ted Demopoulos is the author of the upcoming book Google Me. For a preview, including his free ebook Effective Internet Presence, Now required for success in business and life, visit www.EffectiveInternetPresence.com.
For more on Ted, visit his blog, Blogging for Business, home Web site, or (you guessed it) google him

If your PR and marketing folks aren’t tracking your company, brand, and competition online, they need to get up to speed to better do their jobs. If you play all of the roles, tracking your company and brand isn’t as time consuming as it sounds.

Remember alert services, blogs, and social network sites. Many of these can deliver updates to your inbox or phone.

Alert Services: Sends e-mail, text, etc. whenever your keyword shows up somewhere. Media services such as BBC News and TMCNet have their own alerts — so check out sites that cover your industry and sign up for their alerts. Here are general free keyword alert services.

1. AOL Alerts
2. Clip and Copy — three free searches in Basic account.
3. Google
4. GoogleAlert (not from Google) — gives three free searches).
5. Reuters
6. Twitbeep — Google alerts for twitter.
7. Twilerts — Google alerts for twitter.
8. Twitter Search — Even if you check your own @replies page, someone may have mentioned you and it’s good to check here.
9. Windows Live Alerts
   
10. Yahoo

Blogs: You can most likely find blogs for every industry. Numerous blog directories exist that to make a list here would be futile. MasterNewMedia has a hey-ugggeee list.

Social network sites: Also too many to list, but it should include Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, and conversations like Twitter and forums. Also look for social networks covering your industry. The following sites/tools let you search Twitter with keywords:

• Summize
• TwitterMap search
• Google’s twitter search
• Terraminds
• Tweetscan

Track forums and other conversations with these sites:

• Boardtracker
• Omigili
• Klostu
• Twing
• Boardreader
• Twing

Resources

• Copybrighter
• Online Reputation Management Blog
• Online Reputation Management Guide
• Radically Transparent

Updated: January 16, 2009

In reading Writing Journey’s latest entry, a thought came to me about why many people say they couldn’t make it as a writer. Those of you who are writers — what do people think after you tell them you’re a writer?

• You’re a book author?
• You write for magazines?

I think these two are the most common things people think of when someone announces he or she is a writer. But they’re not the best ways to become a writer. Great writers can query magazines many times without getting accepted.

Consider diving into a writing career by writing for businesses instead. This doesn’t mean giving up hope of becoming a published book author or a magazine columnist. I’ve done both — just not early on in my career. Opportunities to write books and magazine articles came from networking not querying.

Here’s a Cliff’s version of how I became a writer along with resources I recommend for writers.

So, what do you write? Newsletters? Brochures? How did you break into writing?

When people say they don’t get Twitter — it’s because they need to be more proactive. Twitter doesn’t work if you lurk, post updates, and do nothing else.

What I’ve learned after using Twitter for a month:

1. Follow unto others as you would have them do unto you.
2. @comment others to make the most of the experience.
3. Link to your stuff — smartly. Frequently linking to your stuff leads to unfollows. Besides, it defeats tweet purpose.
4. Don’t take non-responses personally. Conversations fly on Twitter, so people might miss it or simply receive too many @replies to respond to every single one.
5. Be patient in getting the hang of Twitter. Twitter’s help is helpless and it has a few quirks for a simple app.
6. Avoid addiction by taking care in using addicting apps like Twhirl and other cool Twittapps or else Twitter will suck you in for more time than you can afford. I curb addiction by checking in twice a day (start and end of day) and no in-between (except weekends).
7. Use your name or else people won’t know who you are. I started with Content Maven and no face photo. Hey, I didn’t know better at the time.

Does Twitter help your business? Well, I haven’t landed clients or talked much shop through Twitter. But Twitter helps freelancers and solo enterpreneurs feel like we have a little office environment, which produces noise that makes you feel like you’ve got co-workers nearby.

Twitter also offers a nice way to connect with friends and colleagues while meeting new folks. I’ve asked and answered personal and professional questions, which can be valuable or simply fun. I asked a question about examples of good online help and one person responded not to use Twitter’s as an example of how to do it. The irony.

• An Introduction to Social Networks
• Improve your writing: Contains the advice you see in most articles like this one, but it never hurts to brush up.
• How bad blogging could hurt your company: Blogging is not for every business just like businesses won’t market in every medium. Past entries on this topic.
• 33 Dos and Dont’s for Your Next Presentation. [Thanks, Freelance Folder]
• The Business Implications for Second Life
• A Quick Guide to Marketing Your Book on the Internet
• Greatest Copy Shot Ever Written: Fascinating insight into the famous slogans, taglines, and headlines.