BusinessBlogAngel

Typepad, Guest Authors & Keywords

An email from a client asks, "One of my guest authors is saying that there is no box on her post for keywords. She was asking if she needed to pay as she's on some sort of trial with Typepad. Have you any idea what's happened as my other guest author doesn't seem to have had this problem."

As I explain in this video, it's nothing to do with paying and trials - it's all to do with the Compose Post view which that guest author sees and she can make the necessary changes herself really easily as shown here:
 

Sending Automated Direct Messages to New Followers in Twitter

I've just been reading a fascinating conversation over at TwiTip started by Brad Shorr of Word Sell, Inc about the practice of sending automated direct messages to new Twitter followers.

I DO send auto-DMs (using TweetLater), but if you read the comments there and view the results of the poll, you'll see that I'm very much in the minority; it seems most people really dislike it. I left a (rather long) comment to balance things out a bit. Here's an extract:

"Ricky Buchanan asks, “Have you EVER received an auto-DM which provided value to you as a consumer?” Well, no… but I’m not in Twitter to consume. I’m there to make new friends/partners, be helpful where I can and to learn and discover stuff.

Have I ever received an auto-DM which provided value to me? Absolutely! ... The best example being when I followed a guy in Australia. He’d caught my attention, I followed, and his subsequent auto-DM resulted in a couple of ‘learnings’, a potential JV partner and a blog post.

I guess with all things in life, you can’t please all the people all the time. And nor do I want to. I want to build relationships with people I like and respect. The feeling isn’t always going to be mutual and hooray for that - keeps the world interesting. :o)"

So - that's my view. But you should be aware that it will really upset some people, so if you are going to use TweetLater to send automated direct messages in Twitter, then spend a little time thinking about what your objective is and word it/them accordingly. I'd better go off and reword mine... [shuffles off]

Email delivery issues - hey ho!

UPDATE: OK - looks like the issues mentioned below are now sorted. BUT, please do re-send if you've emailed me at my business blog angel address in the last month or so. 

Quick post to let you know that despite everything looking fine at my end, people are reporting that emails sent to claire@ "businessblogangel.com" are being rejected. I knew this was an issue a few weeks back, but thought it was now fully resolved. I thought wrong!

I am on the case, but in the meantime, if you have emailed me within the last month or so, and not had a response, please can I ask you to resend it to hello@claireraikes.com. A bit of a pain I know, but the only way forward right now.

Thanks for your patience. :o)

Personally speaking... getting back in the blogging saddle (again!)

Regular readers will know that I can be erratic with my 'posting frequency'. It's usually because I'm so busy with other peoples' blogs, but sometimes its because I'm in a fug of some kind. It always passes - eventually - and I've learnt over my 3 4+ years providing business blogging help and advice that the best way to get back in the blogging saddle is to 'just do it'.

Having said that, I often feel the need to explain myself. This isn't an entirely self-indulgent or cathartic need, it's also because when I blog, I aim to address each and every reader as an individual or a friend - rather than a group - and so there's a sense of 'owing' you an explanation out of respect. So, here goes...

Since my last post I have been through some major upheavals. I've moved house, ended my relationship of 2 years and given up 'custody' of my gorgeous canine 'son' Tallis. Oh - and launched a new venture Universal Growth - a kind of alternative to Alternatives in Cardiff!

As Denis Campbell of @UKProgressive commented,

"Other than that Mrs. Kennedy how was your trip to Dallas?"

Small Biz Marketing Idea from Tim the Ideas Guy

One of the things that continually delights me about 'doing business online' is the rather more 'abundant' mindset which tends to go with it - compared with the 'scarcity' attitude so typical of 'old school', 'bricks and mortar' business where typically your competitors are 'The Enemy'. I used to watch what they were up to with derision or 'professional envy'. The thought behind that was something to do with there not being enough business to go round - hence 'scarcity'.  Doing business online however, is a totally different ball game. Your competitors can be very useful to you in all sorts of ways, the most basic being 'watching and learning'.

Last week, I came across a guy on Twitter called TimboReid, who describes himself as "Dad. Marketing Ideas Guy. Podcaster. Blogger. Closet Rock Star." I can't remember now why I started to follow him, but follow him I did and it was what happened next that I want to share with you, because to my mind, it was a thing of business beauty...

Kick-Ass TeleForum: How to Promote Your TeleSeminars Using Joint Ventures

Nothing to do with social media per se... other than how I heard about this (saw Kick-Ass Karen Skidmore's tweet):

There's a new TeleForum which many of you will want to know about...

In How to Promote Your TeleSeminars Using Joint Ventures, Karen will be sharing, "What you need to know about using other business’ databases so you can get more clients registered for your own teleseminars."

Full information and registration can be found here:
http://www.kick-assteleclasses.com/how_to_promote_teleseminars.php

Twitter for Business: Is it a good place to promote a newsletter?

Had a very interesting question come in yesterday in this comment from DesignGuy. He asks,

"In your Twitter-experienced opinion, do you think it would be a good place for a newsletter drive?"

As I said in response to the comment, my answer would be 'yes' and'no'...  it depends... and I promised to elaborate in a post, so here goes..

Social networks are all about building relationships - most people use them to network and make new connections and keep in touch with existing 'real-life' friends. So ordinarily, I'd be saying that using Twitter for purely 'self-promotion' purposes is a bit of a bad idea - unless you are socially adept enough to do it in such a way that you don't abuse the trust people have placed in you and ultimately alienate people.

But this question is about a newsletter drive for an online magazine, so right there we're in a different space...

BusinessBlogAngel says Hello S.Africa, Mexico, Paraguay, Brazil & China!

I just spotted some new green spots on my Feedjit Live Traffic Map in areas where I've been wishing there were green spots, so I clicked through and guess what? BusinessBlogAngel just had its first visitors from South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay and China! Yay!

Welcome! Bienvenidos! Bem-Vindo! Huan Ying!
Thanks for dropping by. You've made me very happy. :o)

WillMeOn.com - will you will on Will Maybanks to London 2012?

Before I go 'short and sweet', I have to tell you about one of the projects that's been keeping me busy over the last month or so - www.WillMeOn.com. 

William Maybanks is a talented, British table tennis player with an Olympian goal; to compete for his country at London 2012. Table tennis has had it's funding for 2012 drastically reduced, so if Will is to realise his dream and compete on the world stage at London 2012, he will have to raise the necessary £300k himself. Given the current economic climate, securing a large sponsorship deal from any one business or individual is no longer a realistic proposition... and so the idea for WillMeOn was born! 

I know nothing about Table Tennis, but my 'entrepreneurial spirit', thirst for all things 'personal development' and professional obsession with social media and personal branding meant that from the minute Chris Ogle told me about Will Maybanks and the WIllMeOn idea he was hatching, I was on board.

"Twitter sucks and so do you. Probably."

So Twitter Gold, my random series of Twitter-related posts... here we go... Was in Twitter yesterday for all of 3 tweets, but just happened to see my dear friend Rory Reid tweet that provocative headline from a post on his blog at CNET UK.  Naturally, I had to respond, but their comment function doesn't recognise page breaks so reading my response over there is a bit of an ordeal - hence I thought I'd reproduce it here as a post. Before you go on, read his "Twitter sucks..." article and then come back here.

"Rory, Rory, Rory!  I can't believe you still don't get Twitter!  Of course, some, nay... many of your points are indeed true, but it's not the whole truth 'cos the thing with Twitter is HOW you use it.

To address your points:

Who cares?  Well, a Nutritionist might have a great suggeston for what to replace cheese with... and may find themselves with a new client as a result. If people's tweets are mundane - don't follow them! Follow those who are interesting - or who have information which could be useful to you."