Michael Hyatt » Social Media

The Power of Video to Sell Your Products and Services

Michael Hyatt — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:00:08 +0000

Today I was talking with a New York Times bestselling author. He was explaining to me how he had used video to drive his most recent book onto the best sellers list. “Nothing sells like video,” he explained.

If you can’t see this video in your RSS reader or email, then click here.

Many authors have done this in the past few years, including Brendon Burchard, Gary Vaynerchuck and Chris Brogan.

While I haven’t yet done this yet with a book, I have certainly seen the impact of video on building my email newsletter list and booking speaking engagements.

In less than nine months, I have gone from 2,500 email subscribers to almost 40,000. In addition, I have more than quadrupled the number of booking requests coming in for my speaking engagements. Video was a key component in both campaigns.

The good news is that video is cheaper to produce than ever. You can get professional quality video produced for a fraction of what it used to cost. And the results can be well-worth the investment.

When I started considering video, I went to Joel Smith, a friend whom I have known for many years. He operates a high-end, video production company in Nashville called Comprehensive Media.

I really just went to Joel for advice, thinking his price would likely be out of my range. He explained that he was launching a new brand called SimplyVideo for people like me—”when simple is all you need.”

I wasn’t looking for a slick product demo or a book trailer. Instead, I simply wanted to look into the camera and tell people why they needed a life plan (in the case of my email subscriber campaign) or show them some demos of me speaking.

Get this: As of yesterday, the life plan video has had 156,610 plays on Vimeo. My speaking demo (a much more limited audience) has had 17,400 plays. These have worked so well, that I can’t envision doing any product launch without video as a key component.

Here’s why I think video works, and why you should consider it for your products or services.

Video is more engaging than other forms of communication. It appeals to more of the senses.
Video provides an opportunity for you to build trust. You can communicate in a casual, conversational style.
Video gives you an opportunity to demonstrate the product—especially if that product is you!

This is why I have begun working on a video for my new book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. I see it as a key component in the pre-launch campaign.

By the way, if you are interested in creating a video to promote your brand, product, or service, Joel has offered to extend to my readers a special 15% discount on SimplyVideo between now and February 15th. Just enter the coupon code TAYHO112 in the quote page.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth ten thousand. That’s why I intend to use even more of it this coming year.

Question: What has been your experience using video to build your brand or sell your products? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

10 Ways to Generate More Blog Traffic

Michael Hyatt — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:00:50 +0000

Whenever I speak on the topic of platform-building, someone always asks, “How can I generate more traffic for my blog?” Most are hoping I have a silver bullet, something that will instantly get them the recognition they deserve.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/burwellphotography

The bad news is that it’s not quite that simple. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a platform. It takes doing several things right—and doing them over a long period of time.

The good news is that it’s not rocket science. I have used these basic techniques to increase my blog traffic every year since I started tracking it in 2008 using Google Analytics. Some years have been better than others, but all have shown an increase:

Year	Pageviews	Increase
2008	574,778	N/A
2009	1,496,241	160.3%
2010	1,972,497	31.8%
2011	5,060,331	156.5%

Based on my experience, I believe you can dramatically increase your blog traffic by following these ten suggestions. (Forgive me if I cover some of the basics.)

Write content worth sharing. Nothing I suggest in 2–10 below will compensate for weak content. If you are not writing stuff people want to read, smarter marketing will not fix the problem. Begin by creating a killer headline that makes people want to read what you have to say. Read Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich. It’s my secret sauce.
Adhere to a consistent schedule. You can’t expect to increase your traffic if you don’t blog regularly. By this, I mean at least once a week. Three times a week is even better. Five times a week is best—but not if the quality of your content suffers. Frequency equals visibility.
Get your own domain name. Make it easy on your readers to pass along your blog name. What do you think is easier, “yourname.wordpress.com” or “yourname.com”? This is the foundation of branding and making your blog memorable. If you can get your name or a short phrase, it is worth paying (within reason) to do so.
Include your blog address everywhere. In the beginning, you are adding readers, one at a time. You never know when someone with a bigger audience will quote you or link to you. Include your blog address in your email signature, on your business cards, and on your stationery. It should appear virtually everywhere your name appears.
Make it easy to subscribe to your blog. You don’t want to depend on your readers to remember to come back to your blog. Instead, you want them to subscribe, so they get every new post you write. They should be able to do so by either RSS or email. (Use both.) Position these two buttons prominently so that those who want to subscribe don’t have to hunt for them.
Optimize your posts for SEO. You want people to be able to find you when they Google one of your key words or your name. I use two WordPress plugins for this: All-in-One SEO Pack and ScribeSEO. The latter analyzes every blog post you write and suggests how you can optimize it for the search engines. It is not cheap but worth every penny.
Utilize social media. If you want to build visibility for your blog, you must go where the people are. In days gone by, people gathered in the marketplace at the center of the city. Today, they gather online in places like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+. Which service is best? The one you will use regularly. Use social media to network, build relationships, and announce new blog posts.
Engage in the conversation. Start by making it easy for your readers to comment. People today want to participate. I recommend the Disqus commenting system. (It’s what I use.) Don’t make them register. This only adds friction. Engage in the conversation yourself, reading your comments and replying as appropriate.
Comment on other blogs. As you read other people’s blog posts, leave comments. I’m not taking about spamming people with invitations to read your blog. Instead, engage in the conversations that interest you and build credibility. Make sure that you register with their commenting system if possible, so there is always a link back to your blog.
Write guest posts for other bloggers. Frankly, this is not something I have done. But most successful bloggers swear by it. Jeff Goins wrote a guest post for me on this very subject. He claims that it grew his own blog traffic more in six months than in the last six years. (If you are interested in guest posting on my site, here are my guidelines.)

You will also want to use a good, SEO-optimized blog theme. There are hundreds on the market. I use StandardTheme for WordPress and love it.

Finally, be patient. Building traffic takes time. Like anything else, the ones who win are the ones who stay at it after everyone else has quit.

Question: What other suggestions do you have for generating more traffic? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

12 Ways to Get More Twitter Followers

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:00:11 +0000

I rarely meet a Twitter user who doesn’t want more followers. A few argue that the numbers aren’t important. They are only concerned with “quality followers.” I’m not sure it is either/or, but I notice that most of the people making this argument have very few followers.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/matspersson0

Why would you want more followers? Three reasons:

More followers provide social authority. Like any other ranking system, the higher your follower count, the more people assume you are an expert—or at least someone interesting. It may not be valid, but it’s the way it works in a world where there is a ranked list for everything.

More followers extend your influence. Twitter is a great tool for spreading ideas. If you have ideas worth sharing, why wouldn’t you want to spread them to as many people as possible? Twitter makes it ridiculously easy. The larger your follower count, the faster your ideas spread.
More followers lead to more sales. You’re likely on Twitter for one of three reasons: to be entertained, to network with others, or to sell your stuff. Whether it’s a brand, a product, a service, or even a cause, more followers provide the opportunity to generate more leads and more conversions.

Before I share with you what I have learned about how to get more Twitter followers, let me tell you how not to do it.

Don’t try to cheat the system. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Unless you are a celebrity who has built a vast audience in some other media channel, attracting followers will take time and effort.

What about buying followers? (Yes, you can do this. Just Google it!) For starters, this is contrary to The Twitter Rules. Worse, these are followers who have no affinity for you. They are like sending direct mail to an un-targeted, generic list. Worthless.

What about using special software that promises to increase your follower count? In the early days of Twitter, I used one of these programs. It did increase my follower count—dramatically. I thought I’d hit the jackpot. However, it didn’t last.

These programs all rely on “aggressive following” and “follower churn” which means you follow people solely in the hope that they will follow you back. If they don’t, you dump them and follow additional people.

My joy was short-lived. Twitter caught on and implemented a policy against this. In fact, I know several people who had their Twitter account shut down for engaging in this behavior. It annoys other Twitter users and degrades the Twitter experience for everyone.

Instead of using these illegitimate ways to build your follower count, I want to share with you nine proven ways you can get more twitter followers.

With the exception of my brief experiment with aggressive following, this is how I have built my own follower count to more than 107,000 followers in the last three-and-a-half years.

Show your face. Make sure that you have uploaded a photo to your Twitter profile. I will not follow anyone without a photo. Why? Because the absence of a photo tells me they are either a spammer or a newbie. Use a good headshot, like I describe in my post, “9 Suggestions for Taking Better Headshots.”
Create an interesting bio. Don’t leave this blank. It is one of the first things potential followers review. Explain who you are and what you do. If you were a brand or a product (crass, I know), what would be your tagline? Include that in your bio. Also, be sure to include a city name. By the way, Twitter will not include you in search results unless you fill out your username, full name, and bio.
Use a custom About page. Your Twitter bio can only include 160 characters. It’s not much room to tell your story or introduce people to all you offer. Consider creating a custom About page on your blog and linking to it on Twitter. Then, when the prospective follower clicks on that link, they will find a page you have created just for them.
Make your Twitter presence visible. I can’t tell you how often I have read an interesting post and wanted to tweet the link, but couldn’t find the author’s Twitter username. So I gave up and moved on. Make it easy for people to follow you. Display links to your Twitter account in your email signature, your blog or website, business cards—everywhere.
Share valuable content. This is probably my most important piece of advice. Point people to helpful resources. Be generous. Be inspiring. Use lots of links. Create content that other people look forward to getting and want to pass on to their own followers. This is the key to getting retweeted. (I think it’s why, on average, I get mentioned in other people’s tweets 173 times a day.)
Post frequently, but don’t flood your followers. I do most of my blog reading early in the morning. I scan over 220 blogs, and love to share the gems I find. I used to do this as I found them, which often meant a flood of 8–10 posts at a time. Now, I use Buffer to spread these throughout the day, so I don’t overwhelm my followers.
Keep your posts short enough to retweet. Retweets are the only to get noticed by people who don’t follow you. Therefore, you must make it easy for your followers to retweet you. Keep your tweets short enough for people to add the RT symbol and your username (“RT @MichaelHyatt”). For me, that takes up 17 characters, including the space. That means my tweets can be no longer than 123 characters (140–17=123).
Reply to others publicly. I used to reply to people via DM, thinking my message was irrelevant to most of my followers. Because I wasn’t replying in public, this made me look unsociable. So now, I reply almost exclusively in public. The only people who see those messages are those who follow both me and the person I am replying to—a small subset of my followers. So, it’s sociable but not annoying.
Practice strategic following. This is not the same as “aggressive following” (which I condemned earlier). By this I mean, follow people in your industry, people who use certain keywords in their bio, or even people who follow the people you follow. Some of these will follow you back. If they retweet you, it will introduce you to their followers. For example, I could use Twitter’s Advanced Search Feature to find everyone within a 50-mile radius of Nashville who has used the word “leadership” in their bio or a post.
Be generous in linking and retweeting others. Twitter fosters a culture of sharing. The more you link to others, the more people will reciprocate. And that’s precisely what must happen for you to grow your follower count. You need others to introduce you to their followers. However, don’t ask for a retweet; simply post content worth retweeting.
Avoid too much promotion. Yes, you can promote your blog posts, products, etc. on Twitter but be careful. There’s an invisible line you must not cross. If you do, you look like a spammer—or just clueless. Not only will you not get additional followers, you will wear out your existing followers and many of them will unfollow you. This is why I advocate the 20-to-1 rule.
Don’t use an auto-responder. I used to use SocialOomph to thank everyone who followed me and provide a link to my “Beginner’s Guide to Twitter.” I thought I was being courteous and helpful. As it turns out, I was being annoying. This is just more clutter in people’s Twitter inbox. Avoid it.

Finally, don’t worry too much about the numbers. If you follow the advice I have given above, the numbers will take care of themselves. Like most things in life, slow and steady wins the race. Don’t underestimate the power of incremental growth over time. I didn’t build my following overnight and neither will you.

Question: What are the best ways you have found to get more Twitter followers? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Wanted: Community Leaders to Help Manage My Blog

Michael Hyatt — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:00:44 +0000

The volume of my blog comments has increased dramatically in the past year. I am so grateful for the robust community that has developed here. People often tell me that they find the comments as helpful as the posts. I agree.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/Photomorphic

As a result, I read every comment and respond to as many as I can. However, this is currently taking me about ten hours a week.

I have come to the conclusion that I just can’t continue. As they say in the business world, “it doesn’t scale.” At the rate my traffic is growing, I will be spending twenty hours a week on comments nine months from now.

I need to find another solution, so that I can focus on what I do best: write and speak. In 2012, I intend to produce four audio programs and write a new book. I can’t do that with my current workload.

What Should I Do?

As I have thought about this over the last few weeks, I see three alternatives:

Disable commenting. The problem with this is that it reduces my blog to a broadcast medium—a monologue. Instead, I want to encourage conversation. The content in the comments provides a rich source of additional content.
Stop moderating comments. The problem with this is that the conversation can quickly degenerate into ugly rants and personal attacks. It’s like what happens when someone abandons a building. It soon falls prey to vandalism and graffiti.
Recruit additional moderators. This seems like the most viable alternative. However, I have been stuck thinking I needed to hire someone. I felt like I would lose something in the process.

So what to do?

Why Not Get Out of the Way?

Last week, I was having lunch with my manager, Brian Scheer, and a new friend, Andy Traub. We were brainstorming about some of the audio programs we wanted to create next year.

I became really excited but quickly realized that I would have a difficult time pulling it off unless I could find the margin in my schedule to do so. I then explained the dilemma with my blog comments and how much time they were requiring.

Andy said, “You need to get out of your community’s way and let them do it. By thinking that you need to do it yourself, you are keeping other people from jumping in and helping.”

As soon as he said it, I knew he was right.

So here’s what I am going to do. I want to recruit five Community Leaders to oversee my blog comments. These leaders will take responsibility for answering my reader’s questions, making sure that conversations are civil, and flagging the comments that I need to address personally.

Please note: This does not mean that I will be inactive in the comments. I won’t disappear entirely. It just means that I will be much less involved than I was before. This will free me up to focus on creating the best content I can produce—for you. I think it will also result in even more conversation in the comments.

Would you be interested in becoming a Community Leader here at MichaelHyatt.com?

What’s in It for You?

While this is not a paid position, there are four benefits in becoming a Community Leader:

Contribution. You will be helping real people with real problems. You may be doing this here already, but this will make it official.
Recognition. I will create a new Community page with a photo and brief bio on each of the Community Leaders. I will also post a new set of Community Guidelines.
Freebies. I will send you a free copy of every new product I create this next year. In addition, I will give you free admission to my public speaking engagements (subject to availability).
Access. You will have access to my private email address. I will also follow you on Twitter, so that we can DM one another there.

Who Qualifies?

Community Leaders should meet the following four requirements:

You need to have a servant’s heart. I really believe in giving back to the community. I want to serve my readers by providing appropriate resources and adding value to their lives.
You need to be familiar with my content. You don’t have to remember every post. But you need to be familiar with my basic philosophy and approach to life and leadership.
You need to be willing to invest the time. Scanning and responding to comments will take 30–45 minutes of your time daily. Some days it will take more; some less. I expect you to reply personally to 10–12 comments a day.
You need to be able to resolve conflict. You can’t be ruffled by the occasional snarky comment. You have to rise above the heat of the battle and respond in a thoughtful way without over-reacting.

What Do You Need to Do Next?

If you are interested in applying to become a Community Leader, please send an email to my assistant, Tricia. Tell her in 100 words or less why you want to do this and why you qualify. We want to make our selection before the end of the week, so we can have our new system in place by the first of the year.

Question: What do you think about this idea of using Community Leaders? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Social Media Tools That Will Save You Time

Michael Hyatt — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:00:23 +0000

If you are serious about building a platform, you must be actively engaged in social media. Whether it is Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+—or all four—you need to develop a tribe of loyal followers and super fans who want to hear what you have to say.

But who has the time? Social media can become a full-time job if you are not careful! And this leaves little time for doing your real job, whether it is writing, composing, programming, or doing something else.

However, if you take advantage of the latest social media software tools, you can leverage your time. With a small investment, you can produce big results. This is how I have built my platform.

Here are the three primary social media tasks and the software tools I am using to manage them:

Creating. I use Buffer to create most of my social media content. This is the most used tool in my toolbox. I use it for both Twitter and Facebook.
The basic idea is that you add posts to Buffer and it spreads them throughout the day, posting them at times you have predetermined. This ensures that you are posting on a regular basis without overwhelming your followers.

I do most of my reading in the morning. I scan 200+ blogs, using Google Reader. When I find something I think my followers would find helpful, I share it on Twitter and occasionally Facebook. The only problem is that this pattern can create a flood of posts. It quickly becomes annoying to my followers.

Now, when I find something I want to share, I simply click the Buffer icon in my browser. (Buffer offers browser extensions for Chrome, Safari, and FireFox. It even works with Google Reader.) I then compose my post, select which accounts I want to share it on, and then add it to my queue. Buffer then schedules these posts throughout the day.

The cool thing is that you can set up your own schedules. For example, I have determined that I will tweet thirteen times a day. But I want to update my status on Facebook only twice a day. When I add a post, Buffer put it in the next available slot. I can always rearrange these later, moving posts around in an easy-to-use, intuitive interface.

I still use HootSuite for direct messages, replies, and ad hoc posts, but I compose 80 percent or so of my tweets in Buffer.
Monitoring. I use HootSuite to monitor my social media accounts. This is my social media dashboard. It allows me to manage all my social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. The biggest benefit of this software for me is that I can segregate my followers into “streams” (or columns) and follow different groups of people.
For example, with my Twitter account, I have the following streams:
- Direct messages
- Mentions (or replies)
- Family
- Friends
- Sources
- Publishing
Because I am interested in some streams more than others, I can focus my attention on those columns. For example, I check my Family stream several times a day but my Sources stream only once.

You can also create streams out of search terms. I often do this when I am participating in a conference. I simply search for the “hashtag” and create a stream from the results. The stream is updated in real time as new tweets are added.

You can manage individual Twitter followers as well. You can follow, unfollow, direct message, reply, or add a follower to a Twitter list. You can also report spammers with one click.

You can also use HootSuite to schedule tweets. This comes in handy for posting messages while you are traveling or in a meeting—or just so you won’t forget.

You can also invite your teammates to co-manage accounts with you. You can have several people monitoring one account and responding to comments and feedback. This is particularly helpful for organizations and larger brands.

You can add multiple Twitter accounts, Facebook accounts and pages (I have five). HootSuite is adding more all the time. The only glaring omission is Google+ but that should be coming soon.
Analyzing. I use a variety of tools to analyze my social media performance. Both Buffer and HootSuite offer built-in analytical tools. However, I am only using Buffer at the moment. It tells me exactly how many clicks and retweets each tweet generated.
In addition, I use these two tools:
- TweetCounter. I use this to monitor the growth in my Twitter follower count.
- Tweet Grader. I use this to analyze my Twitter effectiveness.

As social media have become mainstream, the tools have continued to improve. Don’t think that what you are using today will be state-of-the-art a year from now—or even three months from now. Keep an open mind and continue to experiment. If you are using the right tools, you can build your platform and still find the time to create great content.

Question: What software tools are you using to manage your social media accounts? What do you like about your tools? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

How to Get a Ton of New Subscribers to Your Blog

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:00:55 +0000

The goal of marketing is to attract more customers. Businesses make an enormous investment to get people in the doors the first time. But what happens after that?

If the customer walks out the door, never to return, the investment is wasted. “Blood on the ground,” as they say. Instead, marketers want the customer to come back—and, hopefully, bring a few friends.

The same is true in the world of blogging. I have never yet met a blogger who didn’t want more traffic. Writers write to be read!

If that’s true for you, then you need to stop focusing on growing your traffic. Instead, you need to concentrate on growing your subscriber list.

Why? Because this list represents your hard-core followers—the ones who are more likely to recruit other readers. This means you don’t have to do it on your own. It is the difference between addition and multiplication.

At the beginning of this year, I realized that I had been guilty of this myself. I was trying to grow my traffic, but wasn’t paying attention to growing my list. I made the RSS button prominent and thought that was enough.

But after reading the advice of several professional bloggers, I realized that I needed to focus on building an email subscription list. From the bloggers perspective, an email list provides bloggers with several advantages over RSS subscriptions:

It is more personal. With email, you know who your subscribers are. It also moves the conversation from the impersonal world of RSS readers to the more personal environment of your reader’s inbox.
It provides more control. If Google has a glitch and deletes all my RSS subscribers, they are gone. There’s no way to get them back. With my email list management program, I can backup my subscribers on a regular basis.
It enables two-way communication. I use my real address when I send out my email newsletter. This enables people to reply and give me their feedback. That email comes straight to me and allows me to respond if necessary.
It enables you to track your effectiveness. With RSS, I know how many people subscribe, but I don’t know much beyond this. With my email list software, I have access to numerous reports. For example, I know how many actually opened the email, clicked on the links, unsubscribed, etc.
It gives you the opportunity to promote products. I haven’t done this yet, but I will, especially with my new book coming out in May. With RSS, I have to write a blog post to communicate with my subscribers. With email, I can send out a communique any time I want.
It provides an easy way to share your content. I have a lot of readers who share my posts on Facebook and Twitter. For that, I am grateful. But I still have thousands of readers who don’t use social media. With email, they can simply forward it to their friends.

Okay, so how do you actually build your email subscriber list? Let me tell you what I did.

Last March, I had just 2,771 email subscribers. That may sound like a lot—I don’t know. It probably depends on where you are. I didn’t think it was very impressive, given the fact that I was getting about 150,000 unique visitors a month. I didn’t seem to be converting many readers into subscribers.

However, in the last nine months, I have grown my list to 30,855 email subscribers (as of this writing). In the same period of time, I have doubled my blog’s traffic, reaching more than 310,000 unique visitors a month.

Here are the seven strategies I used to grow my email subscriber list:

Generate content worth reading. I know this is basic, but I can’t emphasize it enough. No one will subscribe to something they don’t want to read. You have to write quality content—and leave them wanting more.
Use a dedicated list subscription system. You can use Google’s free Feedburner service. In fact, I do use that for RSS. But it doesn’t provide the same level of control you get with paid services like MailChimp or AWeber, I personally use MailChimp. It’s pricey, but I love the control.
Make your signup form highly visible. At the very least, it should be “above the fold,” preferably in the right-hand sidebar. Take a look at how the signup form is positioned on the CopyBlogger or ProBlogger sites. I choose to make mine a pop-up at the bottom of the page. I had my web developer write the code.
Offer an incentive for subscribing. This was huge for me. I wrote an ebook called Creating Your Personal Life Plan and offered it free to anyone who would signup. If you want to consider doing something similar, I posted about the process previously. You could start with a series of posts you have written. Just format it as an e-Book.
Design a branded email template. I hired a developer to design an email template in MailChimp. I wanted the “branding” to match my blog. I also wanted built-in social media buttons, so people could share my posts with their friends and followers. I wanted my subscribers to feel they were getting a high-quality product.
Follow-up with your subscribers. I use MailChimp’s auto-responder feature to send out a welcome message after they confirm their subscription. I thank them for subscribing and tell them what to expect. After three weeks, I send out another message, again thanking them and inviting them to share my posts with their friends. By this time, I am hoping they have found value in what I write.
Remind your readers to signup. My pop-up disappears after the first three times a reader visits. (I think it gets annoying after this.) As a result, I inserted a sign-up form at the bottom of each post. This serves as a reminder, once they have finished reading the post. It may take some people several posts before they get comfortable subscribing.

Your tactics may vary, depending on where you are as a blogger. Still, I think the principles I employed are applicable at every level. With a little focused effort—and perhaps a modest investment of time and money—you can dramatically increase the number of people who subscribe to your blog.

While you are at it, go ahead and subscribe to my blog and see how the pieces all fit together.

Question: What can you apply from this to your blog? What do you need to do next? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter

Michael Hyatt — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:00:47 +0000

I originally wrote this post in May 2008. I have learned a lot since then. Twitter has also changed since then. I have updated this post to reflect both.

This post is a 20-minute guide to Twitter for non-techies. If you don’t know what Twitter is, start with my first post on the topic, Twitter-dee, Twitter-dum. If you still aren’t convinced it’s worth your time, then read my 12 Reasons to Start Twittering.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/ymgerman

Over the last few years, I have helped several friends and a few family members get setup on Twitter. I found myself explaining the basics over and over again, so I decided to write a simple, step-by-step guide.

If you are new to Twitter, this will get you up and running fast. If you know someone who needs a little help or motivation getting started, send them a link to this post.

Just follow these eight steps.

Set up your account. Go to Twitter to get started. Enter your name, email, and a password. Click Sign up.
You will now be taken to a second screen where can select a username. This is the name by which you will be known on Twitter. What name should you use?

Your real name is best—if it’s available. If not, you can try using a middle initial or prefacing it with something like “the” or “real” (e.g., “TheFrankDavis” or “Real FrankDavis”).

Also, I recommend using initial caps and in-word caps. It will make your username more readable and memorable. For example: I use “MichaelHyatt” rather than simply “michaelhyatt.”

Now click on the Create my account button. That’s it. You are now official a member of the Twitter community. Congratulations!

Next, Twitter will assist you in getting started. It will explain what a tweet is and give you the opportunity to “follow” a few friends, popular people, or brands. You can opt out of these steps for now if you wish. Simply click the Skip this step link.

Twitter will also give you a chance to see if some of your friends are on Twitter by checking your online address book. However, your contacts will have to be in one of the supported services: GMail, Hotmail, Yahoo, or AOL. Also, you’ll only see users who have allowed their accounts to be found by email address.

This wasn’t that helpful to me when I initially started, since my contacts resided in Microsoft Outlook. However, I had a GMail account, so I just exported my contacts from Outlook and then imported them into Gmail. It worked flawlessly. However, if you get stuck, forget this step. You can add your friends later.
Tweak your settings. Make sure you are on your Twitter home page. Click on the Settings link. You should be on the Account tab. Set the time zone.
Do not check “Protect my updates” unless you only want those whom you approve to be able to get your updates. Personally, if you check this, it will seriously limit the fun. Make whatever other changes you want. Click the Save button.

Now click on the Profile tab. Upload your picture. This is important. Many Twitter users (including me) will not follow users without photos, because it is a tell-tale sign of a spammer. Remember that the maximum upload size of your photo is 700k, so you may have to re-size your image to meet this requirement.

Enter the rest of your information, including your location, website or blog (if any), and a brief bio. This, too, is important to keep you from getting flagged as a possible spammer. Your bio can either be serious or fun, but it must be brief—no more than 160 characters.

Note that you can also connect your Twitter account to Facebook on this page. This will post all your Tweets directly to Facebook. Personally, I don’t recommend this, but you may want to do it. You can always change the setting later.

When you are finished, click the Save button.
Setup your phone. Twitter is much more fun if you connect it to your cell phone. By doing so, you can receive updates from those you are following (or just some of them) as well as send your own updates. It’s all done through text messaging (e.g., SMS).
However, be forewarned: While Twitter doesn’t charge anything for this service, your phone carrier might. It’s a good idea to check with them and make sure you are on an “unlimited text messaging plan.” You don’t want to be surprised with a big phone bill.

Again, under the Settings link, click on the Mobile tab. Enter your mobile phone number and click on the Start button. Now take your cell phone and text message the code Twitter gives you to 40404 (the number will be different if you are outside the U.S.). Be patient. Eventually, Twitter will confirm to you that your device is registered.

If you are using an iPhone, Twitter is built into the operating system (at least if you are using iOS 5 and up). You can set it up by opening the Preferences app, scrolling down the screen, and touching the Twitter section. This will give you the ability to post updates to Twitter from within many iPhone applications, including the Photo app.

Now, while still on your cell phone, set up a contact named “Twitter.” For the mobile phone number, use 40404. Now every time you want to send a Twitter update, you will send it to this contact name.
Follow family and friends. If you haven’t done so already, add your family and friends by clicking in the “Search” field at the top of your home page. You can type in a username or first and last name. When you do, you will get a list of users who match your search criteria.
You can also do a more advanced search (e.g., searching by location) by clicking on “Refine results” or by going directly to the Advanced Search page.

You can begin “following” them by simply clicking on the Follow button. If you want to also follow them on your cell phone, then you can turn the “Device Updates” to “on.” Personally, I only follow my family and a few close friends on my cell phone. Regardless, you will be able to see everyone you follow on your Twitter home page.
Learn the basic commands. Think of Twitter as a room full of people, all sitting in a circle. It’s a conversation. When you update your status, you are speaking to the whole group. Everyone can hear what you have to say.
- Replies. If you want to direct your comments to one specific person in the circle, but loud enough that everyone else can hear, use the “Reply” function. You address the person by using their Twitter user name preceded by the “@” symbol. For example:
  
  @spencesmith I get my haircut at Dion’s South in downtown Franklin.
  
  Everyone who is following Spence and me will see the message, but I am specifically directing it to Spence. (Those who are not following both of us will not see the message.)
  
  You can also use the Reply function to refer to someone by name. For example:
  
  I’m headed to dinner at Tin Angel with @gailhyatt and @meghmiller. I am looking forward to trying the new menu.
  
  The thing about replies is that they are “clickable links.” If someone who is following me, clicks on one of the names, they will automatically go to that person’s Twitter page. This will give them the opportunity to follow that person, too.
- Direct Messages. Continuing with the metaphor of a conversation with a room full of people, you can also use the “direct message” function. This is like whispering in one person’s ear. They can hear you, but no one else can. You are directing the message to them and only them. For example:
  d lnobles Can you bring my Business Review notebook down to the cafeteria conference room?
  
  Or:
  
  d gailhyatt It looks like I will not be able to leave the office for another 30 minutes. Bummer.
  
  Twitter direct messages have largely replaced simple text messaging for me and many people I know.
- Hash tags. You are probably familiar with tagging photos with a short piece of text. Twitter has this capability, too.
  The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages. If you click on a hash tag, it will show you all the other tweets associated with a hashtag.
  
  I have attended many conferences where an official hashtag was announced. This enables everyone at the conference to track what everyone is saying about the conference.
  
  For example, someone might say:
  
  Man, I loved @AndyStanley’s opening talk. He never ceases to speak to me. #cat2011
  
  #Cat2011 was the hashtag for the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta in the fall of 2011.
- Other Commands. You can add people you want to follow from your cell phone. Just type in “follow [username].” For example:
  Follow kendavislive
  
  You can check your stats–the number of people you are following plus the number of people following you–from your cell phone by typing “stats” without any additional text.
  
  To stop all Twitter updates to your phone, send:
  
  off
  
  To turn them back on send:
  
  on
  
  You can find answers to almost every other Twitter question in the Twitter Help Center.
Start twittering. So now you are all setup. It’s time to start Twittering. You can do this from your Twitter home page or from your cell phone.
The main thing you need to know is that the message can be no longer than 140 characters long. If you use the Web page, the entry field will automatically count your characters. After a while, you’ll instinctively know how long this is. I rarely go over the limit. But if you do, it’s no big deal. Your message will just be truncated.

How often should you Twitter? That’s the 30-character question. My daughter @meghmiller says, “Don’t Twitter more than six times a day.” Personally, I think 10–12 is the upper limit. Obviously, there’s a balance here. Some of the people I follow, post way more updates than that.

The real issue is whether or not you are adding something of value. There’s an old Jerry Seinfeld comedy routine called “Air Travel.” In it, he talks about airline pilots who insist on telling us all about the route they are taking. (Like anyone cares.)

He says, as passengers, we don’t knock on the cockpit door and say, “Oh, by the way, I’m eating the peanuts now.” (Obviously this was pre-911.) So why do pilots feel the need to update us? All we care about is getting to the destination.

In like manner, no one probably wants to hear the blow-by-blow of your life. However, some color commentary is good. However, this is definitely art not science, so there are no hard, fast rules.

Regardless, you should consider every Twitter update as a branding impression. You are developing a reputation with your online friends, so make sure you are adding something to the conversation.

This is really no different than a face-to-face conversation. You want to say something that is interesting, helpful, or just plain entertaining. I don’t think you should over-think it, but I don’t think you should just text the first thing that pops in your mind.
Be careful. You definitely need to be cautious. It’s probably not a good idea to say something like, “I’m headed to the west coast for a week. My poor, beautiful wife is going to be home all alone.” Bad idea. For obvious reasons.
You need to think about the fact that crazy people and criminals have Twitter accounts, too. You especially need to be cautious about sharing too much private information that could compromise your safety or that of your loved ones.

I have also had some experience with stalkers, so you may only want to Twitter after you have gone somewhere, not before. Otherwise, you might find people showing up to watch you. (Don’t laugh. It has happened to me on several occasions.)
Consider third-party apps. An entire eco-system has sprung up around Twitter. Here are some of my favorite applications:
- HootSuite. This is the application I use to manage Twitter on my desktop. It will even manage Facebook profiles and pages, LinkedIn, and several other social media services. It is great because it allows you to segment people by groups (or columns). I have groups for my family, close friends, colleagues, etc. It is available for both desktop systems and mobile devices.
- BufferApp. I use this application to post my tweets, so I don’t flood my followers with a string of posts. Instead, I put them in Buffer, and it spreads my tweets throughout the day. It gives you tremendous control. You can determine how often and at what times you tweet. It comes with extensions for the most popular browsers, so you can buffer a tweet directly from a web page. It also allows you to buffer Facebook status updates.
- SocialOomph. I use this application to bulk-schedule a whole series of tweets. For example, I have identified my 90 most popular blog posts. I have written a tweet promoting each one. Via SocialOomph, I schedule one tweet per day at a specific time. I upload the text file to SocialOomph and forget about it. Everything is on auto-pilot. It will also post to Facebook.
It is easy to get overwhelmed with all the third-party Twitter apps. Don’t. Start with HootSuite and then grow from there as you have the time and interest.

Twitter is one of those apps that is best learned by using it. The most important thing you can do is get started. You really can’t make that many mistakes. Just remember to have fun and enjoy the people you meet online.

Questions: What questions do you have about Twitter? What else would you recommend to Twitter beginners? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

13 Blog Post Ideas for Novelists

Michael Hyatt — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:00:52 +0000

In case you are new here, I am a big advocate of blogging. I don’t know of a better way to build a platform than starting with a blog as your “homebase” and building from there. This is especially true for authors.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/JamesBrey

Occasionally, when I speak on the topic of social media, I get push-back from novelists. “Yes, a blog maybe great for non-fiction authors, but what about novelists? What can we write about?”

Good question. Here are thirteen post ideas to get you started—a baker’s dozen:

Excerpts from Your Novel. This is probably the easiest. It has the added advantage of allowing us, your potential readers, to “sample the brew.” Just write a paragraph to set up the excerpt. Oh, and be sure to link to your book, so we can buy it (duh).
Backstory of Your Novel. Tell us why you wrote your novel. How did you settle on this story? How did you come up with the main characters? Why did you chose the setting you did? What research did you have to do before you could start writing?
A Behind-the-Scenes Look. Give us a sense of what it is like to be a novelist. How did you feel when you finally landed an agent? What does a typical writing day look like for you? What’s it like to see your book in print and hold a copy in your hand for the first time?
“Directors” Notes. This is the kind of thing you occasionally see with extended versions of movies. Explain why you chose to start with a particular scene. Talk about the scenes you had to delete—or those you had to add to improve the story. Don’t underestimate the curiosity of your readers.
Interview with Yourself. Authors often complain that professional reviewers haven’t read their book or don’t “get it.” Fine. Who knows your novel better than you? No one. So interview yourself. Have fun with it. What questions do you wish you would be asked?
Interviews with Your Characters. Imagine your novel was a movie and you could interview the actors who played the main characters. What would you ask them? What would they say? Another idea: if your novel was made into a movie and you could select the cast, what famous actors would you have play the main roles?
Interview with Other Novelists. Find other novelists in your genre and interview them. In fact, build a circle of novelists who are similar to you and grow your tribe together. Interview one another. Perhaps even do book giveaways.
Interview with Your Editor. Publishing still has a mystique about it and people want a peek behind the curtain. I find that my readers love this. Ask your editor what it’s like to work with novelists. (If you’re brave, ask what it was like to work with you.) Get him or her to tell stories about working with the best and the worst!
Interview with Marketers. This is another variation on the last idea. Talk to the marketing people. What’s it like to market fiction? How is it different than non-fiction? How is it like marketing a movie? What makes it fun? What makes it challenging?
Advice for Other Writers. What tips and hacks do you have to offer other aspiring novelists? What advice do you have on coming up with the right story, securing an agent, meeting a deadline, or reviewing a marketing plan? Just answer the question, “What do I wish I had known then that I know now.”
Common Obstacles. What are the challenges you face as a writer? What was it like to be rejected (as you undoubtedly were)? What kept you going when you wanted to quit? How do you deal with “writer’s block” or getting a negative review? Being honest and transparent humanizes you and strengthens the bond with your readers.
Emotional Challenges. These could be an extension of the last idea, but focus on emotions. Certainly the writing experience brings out the best and the worst in us. Do you ever feel inadequate? Stuck? Overwhelmed? Disappointed? How do you deal with these emotions as a writer? How do you keep them from derailing you?
Lessons Learned. If you have written a novel, you have done what millions aspire to but few ever accomplish. What have you learned along the way—about writing, about publishing, about marketing—about yourself. Tell us so we don’t have to learn the hard way.

I’m sure I am just scratching the surface. The key is to make it creative and fun.

If you have other ideas, I’d love to hear from you. In fact, I’d love to collect fifty solid ideas, as a way of helping out novelists who are working hard to build their platform.

Question: What blog post ideas do you have for novelists? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

How to Monetize Your Blog without Selling Your Soul

Michael Hyatt — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:00:56 +0000

I didn’t start blogging to make money from it. The thought never occurred to me. When someone suggested I start accepting advertising, I resisted. I thought some how it would compromise my integrity.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/JoKMedia

Then I realized that all professional creatives charge for their work. In fact, this is what separates the professionals from the amateurs. For example:

Authors receive royalties.
Musicians sell tickets.
Artists sell paintings.
Speakers are paid fees.

If you want to blog as a hobby, fine. But art and money aren’t enemies. In fact, in most cases the former isn’t possible without the latter.

You really can monetize your art without selling your soul. I make several thousand dollars a month using a combination of these three methods:

Sell advertising. You can start small with any number of WordPress plugins (one major reason to use self-hosted WordPress). I started with WP125 and started selling small 125 x 125 pixel ads. It generated enough income to cover my hosting costs and a little “fun money.”
As I developed momentum, I created a full-blown Advertising Kit for potential advertisers. I used Google Analytics to gather the key metrics and then conducted a Reader Survey to collect demographic and psychographic information.

When my traffic got to about 40,000 pageviews a month, I applied to the Beacon Ad Network. It is an online service that manages your ad sales. You can charge whatever you want per ad, but they take a 30% commission. They specialize in the Christian marketplace. Their sister-company, BuySellAds.com, handles the general market.

By the way, I have never used Google AdSense. I just hate the way it looks. However, it may have changed since I last evaluated it. If you are interested, John Saddington at TentBlogger.com has a terrific set of posts about AdSense.
Promote affiliates. Here again, I started small. I signed up as an Amazon Associate and started using my affiliate code in my links to books and other products. (I disclose this at the bottom of each post.) I now consistently make $600–700 a month from these links.
Later, I graduated to other products. For example, I promote Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials: Second Edition whenever I write about Evernote. I do this with complete integrity, believing it is the single best place to start if you want to get up and running quickly.

I am also an affiliate for various other products like: StandardTheme, Nozbe, and ScribeSEO. The key is to find products you actually use and you believe will be beneficial to your readers. My own rule is that if I don’t use it, I don’t promote it.

If there is a product you are crazy about—especially an information product—it is worth checking to see if the publisher or manufacturer has an affiliate program available. You might also check Amazon. They sell way more than books.
Sell products. A few years ago, I wrote an ebook called Writing a Winning Non-Fiction Book Proposal. I decided to turn it into a PDF file and sell it on my blog. (Here’s how you can Create an eBook in Seven Steps.) It has sold consistently, month after month. In fact, I have yet to see a sales decline.
Last year, I decided to write a fiction edition called Writing a Winning Fiction Book Proposal. It only sells about 50% of what the non-fiction one does, but it was still well-worth the effort. I also sell both books as a bundle.

The best thing about selling products like these—especially digital ones—is that they work while you sleep. The whole system is turn-key. Customers buy the books, the system provides a download link, and then deposits the money in your PayPal account.

Ultimately, I believe most of my revenue will come from product sales. I have several more ebooks in the works, based primarily on blog series I have written.

These methods are just the direct methods you can use to monetize your blog. You can also use your blog to generate leads for speaking, coaching, or consulting services—something I also do.

They key to monetizing your art without selling your soul is to offer ads, products, and services that are congruent with your brand and will add value to your readers.

Question: What do you need to do next to monetize your blog—or take it to the next level? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

4 Reasons It’s Easier Than Ever to Be an Author

Michael Hyatt — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:00:21 +0000

Early in my career, everyone else seemed to be control. I interviewed for a job, then waited for the hiring manager to offer me the position. I worked hard, then waited for my boss to give me a raise. I achieved bottom-line results, then waited for the vice president to approve my promotion.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/[photographer]

When I started writing, it also seemed like everyone else was in control. I prepared a book proposal, then waited for a publisher to offer me a contract. I wrote the manuscript, then waited for booksellers to order the book. I published the book, the waited for the media to book me.

We spent a lot of time waiting. And then waiting some more. And, if we didn’t get picked, it wasn’t our fault (or so we thought).

But something extraordinary has happened in the last decade—even more so in the last three years.

The power has shifted.

As an aspiring author, you no longer have to wait on someone else to pick you. (Re-read that sentence again. Let it settle into your heart.)

You can pick yourself and get started today. The tools are available like never before. You can get published. You can build your own platform.

It’s easier than ever before.

It is easier to get into print. Today you have options. Lots of them. For example, you can take the path of traditional publishing if that suits you. (That’s exactly what I am doing with my new book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.)
But you can also engage in assisted self-publishing or just do the whole thing yourself. It is simply a matter of your goals and resources.
It is easier to build a tribe. You can build a direct relationship with people who share your passion. You no longer have to go through an intermediary, though you can still do that if you wish.
Through the use of a blog, a YouTube channel, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+, you can reach thousands of people—perhaps tens of thousands of people—who want to hear from you and engage with you.
It is easier to succeed. In the old days of publishing, publishers and authors had no real way to do market research—at least not at the level of individual books. Instead, they made the best decisions they could and then published the book. It was always a grand experiment. The outcome was uncertain.
Today, we can solicit input from our tribe in advance of publication. We can test the content via our blogs and even get input on jacket design as I did last week. It doesn’t guarantee success, but it harnesses the wisdom of crowds to increase the odds.
It is easier to build a business. Your book doesn’t have to be your one-shot at success. It can be the front-end of an entire enterprise. In fact, I view non-fiction books as the very top of the sales funnel. They are a way to introduce a large audience to what you offer.
You can then go on to monetize the same content through live presentations, coaching, consulting, paid forums, on-line audio and video packages, and a variety of product line extensions. Even novelists can build a business around their books if they get creative.

Note: I am not saying any of this is easy. It’s not. It will require extraordinary focus and discipline, long hours spent perfecting your craft, and above all else, perseverance in building your platform.

But while it is not easy, it is easier. Building your own platform is, perhaps for the first time in history, possible for anyone willing to make the commitment.

Note: this post was inspired by Seth Godin’s short, inspiring book, Poke the Box. I highly recommend it.

Question: So, what are you waiting for? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Why You Need to Be Building Your Platform Now

Michael Hyatt — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:00:26 +0000

This is a guest post by Carrie Wilkerson. She is the author of the newly published book, The Barefoot Executive: The Ultimate Guide for Being Your Own Boss and Achieving Financial Freedom (Thomas Nelson). You can read her blog and follow her on Twitter. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” This philosophical question doesn’t seem to have an answer. I mean, there is only a sound if someone is there to perceive the sound waves, right?

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/ZargonDesign

Your message, your story, your speech, and your book are much the same way. The sound they make is—dare I say it—irrelevant, if there is no one there to watch you, hear you, or read you.

Too often, as speakers, teachers, and writers, we get wrapped up in “the thing.” We spend so much time reading, editing, practicing, and perfecting for our “someday” audience that we lose sight of the fact that we don’t have an audience … yet.

Call it a platform, a database, or a following on social media, you must have someone listening in order to make an impact of any kind.

Unlike the fictional account in the famous Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams, just because we build it, doesn’t mean they will come. We will not draw crowds of raving fans or hordes of like-minded believers simply because we take the microphone or the pen in hand—no matter how great we believe our message is or our skills are.

The truth is counterintuitive. Must we really gather a crowd in the forest before we begin to chop the tree? Yes!

Now is the time to start surrounding yourself with others who will (or might) be interested in what you have to say. Audience-building now Is just as important as book proposal writing, creating your speaker reel, or even polishing your shoes, your suit, or your presentation.

Perhaps a less philosophical example is teen pop sensation Justin Bieber. Justin didn’t work his way through the ranks of the Disney or Nickelodeon star-makers. He didn’t pitch studio after studio on his music until he found someone to listen. Justin honed his craft while building his audience through YouTube videos and social media channels.

Whether you are a “Belieber” or not, Justin hosted mini-concerts at public venues and invited fans and friends through social media. Eventually, his self-selected audience roared so loud and so big that a major label could not deny his stardom. His platform demanded it.

So how does apply to us today? Establish some credibility by publishing yourself first.

Consistently publish to your blog.
Guest post to other blogs with similar markets.
Collect emails on your blog and keep in touch.
Consider producing a podcast.
Create a Facebook Fan/Like Page.
Start a LinkedIn or Facebook Group.
Be a guest interview for other blogs, podcasts, BlogTalk Radio, teleconference calls, webinars and more.
Make short YouTube videos for your own channel.

In short, publish yourself. If you are waiting for a book deal or a big speaking contract to validate your work, your message or to make you famous, you’re going to be waiting and waiting and waiting.

Wouldn’t you rather be helping others now? Wouldn’t you rather be making ripples and waves right away? I know I would!

The competitive asset you bring to any publisher or producer is not merely your manuscript or your demo reel, but the audience you bring with you.

An old riddle says, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” In this context, the riddle says, “Which came first, the platform or the publishing?” The answer is … “Yes!”

I gave away 100 copies of The Barefoot Executive. To qualify, my readers had to comment below. You can find the list of winners here.

Question: How is your platform development coming? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Build Your Personal Brand with These 5 Simple Tools

Michael Hyatt — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:00:55 +0000

If you are trying to establish a personal brand or build your own platform, you may be overlooking some of the simple tools at your disposal. Literally, every point-of-contact is an opportunity to create a positive brand impression—if you are intentional.

Here are five basic personal branding tools you should take advantage of before you move on to more complex ones.

Email address. The other day, I received an email message from someone who claimed to be a social media expert, specializing in personal branding. Only problem was that his email address was something like rooster763@aol.com. That instantly killed his credibility with me.
If you are using an AOL email address, stop. Nothing screams “I am stuck in the 90s!” like AOL. The same is true for yahoo.com and hotmail.com. The only exception is Gmail. Use this format: firstname.lastname@gmail.com. This looks way more professional than lovecat23@gmail.com.

Better yet, buy your own domain name for $10.00–20.00 per year. You really have no excuse for not doing this. You will then have an email address that looks like yourname@yourdomain.com. This makes a positive, powerful brand impression.
Email signature. Your email signature is an opportunity to create another branding impression. But be careful. If you include too much information, it just becomes a big gnarly ad. If you include too little, you miss a great opportunity.
Ask yourself, What information do people really need? Maybe they need your phone number. Or maybe, they don’t. (I don’t provide mine, because I don’t want anyone calling me who doesn’t already have my number.)

I do think it’s a good idea to include links to your blog or website, links to your social media profiles, and perhaps a mention of your newest project. (Don’t overdo it.) I also include a disclaimer at the bottom.

Here’s my current signature:
Business cards. This is another way to create a powerful branding impression and also pass along important information. I am amazed at how creative people are with this. But don’t go overboard.
Communicate the basics: your logo, your name, contact information, and perhaps a tagline. Make sure to include your social media contact information. I have seen some cards with just a Twitter username or a Website address. That can be effective, too, depending on your purpose.

You can do this yourself with software like Photoshop or (my favorite) Acorn. Or, if you want a dedicated software program, try Business Card Composer.

If you want to kickstart your creativity, here are hundreds of creative examples from a website called CardFaves. The great thing is that you will also find links to designers and suppliers.
Website. This is undoubtedly the single most important branding tool you can have. It is the first way in which most people will encounter you. Even if they meet you first or hear you speak, they will inevitably visit your website or blog. It will shape their opinion of you. That’s why you must get it right.
Hire a web designer if you can afford one. Talk to him or her about your brand and what you want to communicate. Write down a few words that you hope visitors will use to describe you. Pay attention to colors and fonts. These all communicate in subtle and subliminal ways.

If you can’t afford a web designer yet, at least start with a professional theme. When I moved to WordPress, I started with WooThemes. I have family members and friends who use ElegantThemes. I am currently using a customized version of Standard Theme, which I love. (Here are five reasons why.) You can purchase a great theme for $50.00–$100.00.
Social media profiles. Once you have blog or web theme, incorporate as many elements as you can into your social media profiles. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and others allow you to customize the background graphics and other elements.
The goal is to have your fans and followers have a consistent brand experience. Use the same logo, color palette, and fonts on every platform. You want them to land on one of your social media profiles and know instantly that it is your profile.

I used TweetPages to design mine. I spent a couple hundred dollars to have them design a custom background for my Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube pages. For a high-quality graphic artist, this was a bargain. As a bonus, it was one of the best customer service experiences I’ve ever had.

These five tools can go a long way toward creating a positive first or second impression. Don’t think of them in isolation, but rather as part of your overall brand management program.

Question: How well are you using these tools for personal branding? What tools have I missed? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

9 Suggestions for Taking Better Headshots

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:00:53 +0000

If you are attempting to build your own platform, you need photos—of yourself. Why? Because people want to connect with people not merely brands, products, or causes.

The right photo can help establish credibility, build trust, and promote engagement. These are at the heart of connecting in the world of social media and essential if you ever hope to sell someone on what you have to offer.

The key is in getting the right headshot. This is not about creating a Photoshopped, glamour photo (gag). It is about capturing the real, authentic you—just as the people who know you best experience you.

So how do you get a headshot for your product, website, or other marketing materials? Here are nine suggestions.

Hire a professional. Don’t simply ask a family member or friend to snap a few quick pictures. And don’t settle for Olan Mills or some portrait factory. Instead, search the web for “photography headshot [your city].” Review online portfolios and ask for recommendations from your local camera shop. Expect to pay a few hundred dollars.
Negotiate for all rights. Make sure you do this on the front-end. You don’t want to pay a licensing fee every time you use the photo in a different context. Some high-end photographers will not agree to this. If so, keep looking. Photographers are plentiful, and you will readily find one who will work with you.
Don’t shoot in a studio. I know some will disagree with this, but few things look more sterile than a studio. Instead, shoot the photos on your turf, in familiar surroundings. This is so much more interesting and adds more of your personality to the final result.
Wear something appropriate. The focus should be on your face, not your clothes. By “appropriate,” I mean something not dated and not too trendy. I always ask myself, “what can I wear that I won’t be embarrassed by ten years from now?” You might even want to make a few wardrobe changes during the shoot.
Take lots of photos. You are not looking for a posed photo. You want something more natural, where your personality is fully expressed. The more photos you take, the more likely you will find ones that work. A good photographer can take a couple of hundred photos (sometimes more) in an hour.
Look into the lens. You want to make a personal connection. This is really no different than meeting someone for the first time—look directly into their eyes. The eyes truly are “the window to the soul.” One exception is photos of you speaking or performing. However, these aren’t technically headshots.
Smile—with your whole face. I’m not talking about one of those big, cheesy, smiles where you force yourself to hold the smile about two seconds longer than you are comfortable. I’m talking about a natural smile with your mouth and your eyes. You want to look likable. This is more important than looking professional—whatever that is.
Crop the photo tightly. We don’t need to see your whole body or even your upper torso. We want to focus on your face. While you’re at it, ask the photographer to blur the background slightly (photographers call this “bokeh”). This will emphasize your face even more.
Pick one main photo. Use this on your products, your website, and as an avatar on all your social media profiles. You want a consistent brand impression. You can also pick a few alternatives, so that your strategic partners have a few options. I do this on a special Promotional Materials page. One someone needs a photo, I direct them there.

These are not absolute rules; they are merely suggestions. You can violate these so long as you are doing it for a specific purpose.

Finally, it is a good idea to get your headshots re-done every few years. Nothing is quite as jarring as meeting someone who looks ten years older than their photograph.

Question: Do you have a good headshot? If not, what do you need to do first? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

7 Characteristics of Landing Pages That Get Results

Michael Hyatt — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:00:45 +0000

A “landing page” is a page on your website that highlights one specific product offering. It is called a landing page, because it is the page you want people to land on when you direct them to it from email newsletters, social media, affiliate links, etc.

The goal of the landing page is to convert interest into leads or–better yet–sales. In a sense, it is a salesperson who works for you non-stop, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

For example:

The Speaking page on my blog is designed to convince meeting planners to book me to speak at their event.
The Creating Your Personal Life Plan page on my blog is designed to convert casual readers into loyal subscribers.
The Writing a Winning Book Proposal page on my blog is designed to sell aspiring authors one or both of my book proposal ebooks.

The problem is that many landing pages are confusing. Visitors don’t know what action to take once they get there. As a result, they don’t produce the intended outcome.

Just for fun, here are three landing pages that are truly the worst I have ever seen. These were sent to me when I made a request for examples to my Twitter followers. Click on these links to get a sense for what NOT to do. Brace yourself:

Example 1: John Hutchins, candidate for U.S. congressman in the state of North Carolina
Example 2: Web King, Internet service provider
Example 3: Alien Ears, a supplier of in-ear monitors

This is a case where no landing page would be better than what these proprietors have developed. This only serves to damage–if not destroy–their brand.

But rather than focus on the negative, let’s focus on the positive.

If you are launching a new product, service, or cause, you need a landing page. It may be your home page. It may be a separate page altogether (as in my personal examples). But it needs to be a destination.

I have learned the hard way how to create pages that get results. I created a landing page in 2002 that generated over $100,000 in the first year. (I can’t share a link, because the page is no longer active.) I created a landing page in 2004 that completely failed, generating less than $5,000 after a $12,000 investment. (Obviously, I took this link down.) I thought this one was a sure-fire winner.

More recently, I created a landing page for my two ebooks, Writing a Winning Non-Fiction Book Proposal and Writing a Winning Fiction Book Proposal. I sell each ebook separately and together as a bundle.

In the 12 months ending August 31, 2011, I sold 1,097 copies of these ebooks for total revenue of $23,730.64. Since the ebooks went on sale in October of 2009 (two years ago), I have sold a total of 2,239 units for total revenue of $44,681.45. My only cost has been the payment processing fees.

This is completely passive income. I set up the page, connected it with e-junkie and PayPal, and have done nothing else. The sales, download links, and credit card processing are all handled automatically. The money is automatically deposited to my PayPal account.

Amazingly, these ebooks generate the same amount every month—about $2,000. Several weeks ago, I decided to analyze the landing page and see if I could improve the conversion. I thought, If this can generate $2,000 a month from a fairly lame landing page, what could it do if I optimized it. As a result, I completely retooled it.

I am happy to say that the results have been dramatic. I have gone from generating an average of 3.8 sales a day to 10.6—a 279% increase. This is after throwing out the launch day result of 43 sales, which I felt was an anomaly. If this average holds, it will result in annual sales of $85,264—not too shabby for two self-published ebooks.

Based on my experience—both positive and negative—I have identified seven characteristics of landing pages that get results:

Headline. You need a strong, compelling headline. Nothing else on your page is more important than this. If they aren’t drawn in by the headline, they won’t see everything else. I highly recommend David Garfinkle’s book, Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich: Create Winning Ads, Web Pages, Sales Letters and More. Priceless.
Sales Copy. You need to write compelling sales copy that starts with your prospects problems and concerns, explains why your product is the solution, and makes a compelling offer. Again, I strongly recommend David Garfinkle. You can’t do better than his course, Fast, Effective Copy. I refer to it weekly. It is worth every penny.
Product Photos. I mentioned this in my post about “How to Create the Ultimate Online Media Kit.” I use BoxShot 3D. It gives you the tools to make the product the hero. For an example, check out the product photos on my Writing a Winning Book Proposal product page.
Testimonials. Nothing convinces prospect like testimonials. In fact, I have written an entire post on their importance and how to get them. I try to get both celebrity endorsements and user or reader endorsements.
Guarantee. People may be nervous about buying a product online. They may not know you. There are a thousand and one reasons why they can’t pull the trigger. Make it easy. Take the risk out of the transaction. Promise to refund their money promptly if they are not satisfied. I have only had five refund requests after thousands of sales. If your product us good, it is not a risk.
An Offer. This is where the rubber meets the road. You have to establish a price and make an offer. Don’t sell yourself short. I price-tested my ebooks at $9.99, $19.99 and $29.99. I actually sold more at $19.99 than $9.99. I think this is partly due to the fact people impute value based on price. If you charge more (within reason), they assume the product is worth more.
Call-to-Action. You must have a clear call-to-action. It must also be positioned in a prominent place. I suggest the upper-right-hand corner of the page. Ask yourself, What is the single action I want visitors to this page to take as a result of reading my copy? I indicate my call-to-action with a big red button.

If you are launching a new product, service, or cause, you need a landing page that delivers results. This is essential if you are going to convert readers to customers, and hopefully, tribe members.

Question: What action do you need to take as a result of this post? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

How to Create the Ultimate Online Media Kit

Michael Hyatt — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 09:00:40 +0000

Once you have completed your work on a new product—whether it is a book, a record, a new CD series, or even a blog—you will probably have some time before it is available to the market. This is the perfect opportunity to get your ducks in a row and prepare for the launch.

One of the first things you need to create is a great online media kit. This is a page on your website or blog where you will want to send:

Strategic partners
Media producers
Product reviewers
Event planners
Super fans

This is a resource page designed to equip them with all the tools they will need to do their job and help you get the word out.

I suggest that you include the following eight components. You can alternatively split these into separate pages. I’ll provide some examples at the end of this post.

Headline. Make it clear what this page is. It might be as simple as “The name of your product and the words, “Media Kit.”
Navigation. Provide a “table of contents.” This provides an overview of the page and a quick way for your visitor to navigate to the parts of the page that are most relevant to him or her. For example, I did this on my Speaking page. Though it’s not a Media Kit per se, it will give you the idea.
Contact Information. Make it easy on the media, events planners, and your fans. This is often all they are looking for. Put it near the top. Tell people who to contact for:
- Media inquiries
- Event inquiries
- Review copy requests
- Fan Inquiries
- Social media links
- All other inquiries
If you are going to provide an email address, use a link and encode it, so you don’t attract a lot of spam. Also, provide links to your social media profiles, including Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.
Product Information. Provide all the basic product information in one place. Don’t make your readers hunt.
- Sales Copy. Provide both short (1oo words) and long versions (300–500 words) of your sales copy.
- Product Specs. List the simple product or technical specs. For a book, this would include format (hardcover, paperback, etc.), publisher, publication or availability date, ISBN or product number, product dimensions, shipping weight, and suggested retail price.
- Product Formats. List any additional product formats the product might be available in. For a book, this could include digital formats, foreign editions, etc.
- Ancillary Products. List any ancillary products: premium editions, signed editions, DVD study materials, merchandise, workbooks, seminars, conferences, etc. This could be anything organically-related to the primary product.
- Product Photos. Provide more than one photo, preferably from different angles and in 3d. I use a program called Box Shot 3D. It is amazing, allowing me to create product shots like this:
- Product Trailers. First, there were movie trailers. Then there were music videos. Now, there are great trailers for books. In fact, some creatives produce more than one. Make sure they are uploaded to a site like Vimeo (my personal preference) or YouTube, so people reading the page can embed them on their own site or blog.
- Full Bio. I would also provide a short version (100 words) and a longer one (300–500 words). Don’t make this look like a resume. You only need to include what is relevant to this page’s audience.
- Headshots. Provide several headshots of yourself. You should provide several photos in several sizes. I provide formal, casual, and “action” shots.
- Product Endorsements. This is where you include all the celebrity endorsements. Try to get authority figures in your category. If you can’t get that, shoot for people with impressive credentials. If you can’t get that, customer endorsements are better than nothing. I explain how to do this in a previous post.
Promotion Information. Most readers won’t be interested in every aspect of your marketing strategy. However, your live appearances (e.g., speaking events, concerts, etc.) and media appearances (e.g., radio, television, etc.) will be relevant to both professionals and fans.
- Live Appearances. Provide a list of your upcoming speaking or concert dates. Include links so readers can get additional information. Here’s an example from my own Speaking page.
- Media Appearances. Provide a list of your upcoming media appearances, so that producers, event planners, and fans can tune in. You might also include highlights from previous appearances.
Interviewer Resources. You want to make it easy for producers to book you. Provide the following items:
- Bio Talking Points. This is similar to your bio, but in a talk points format instead of a narrative. This makes it easier for the interviewer to make it sound natural. Here’s an example (PDF) of something similar I provide to those who introduce me before I speak.
- How to Sound Like You’ve Read the Book (or used the product). This is a brilliant idea that I got from Robert Smith, Andy Andrews’ manager. He recognized that 95% of interviewers will never read Andy’s book. This is my experience as well. But they want to sound like they have read the book. This is an opportunity for you to summarize your product and make the interviewer look smart.
- List of Interview Topics and Angles. Again, in the spirit of making it easy for producers to book you, provide a list of interview topics and angles. Make them relevant to what people are already talking about. This is one section you will likely need to update as the current news changes.
- Sample Interview Questions. This is the single most important thing you can do to get more, high quality interviews. Develop a list of 7–10 interview questions. This allows both you and the interviewer to look smart.
Fan Resources. It’s great to have fans. It is even better to turn fans into evangelists. But in order to do this, you have to equip them to work on your behalf.
- Sample Chapters. Give your fans something to share with others. One great tool is Scribd. Why? Because your fans can embed the sample chapters in their own blog in order to share it with others.
- Twitter Post Samples. I wrote about this a few days ago, but, again, make it easy. Give your followers 10–30 sample tweets. Suggest a hashtag, so you can track all the tweets in one place.
- Banner Ads. Commission the design of banner ads that your fans can put on their own blogs or websites. These are cheaper than you think. Just search Google for “cheap banner ad design.” You want to create ads for all the standard banner ad sizes.
- Incentives. Give people an opportunity to connect with you based on how many of their products you buy or what they are willing to do to promote them. Gary Vaynerchuck and Phil Cooke are two examples of this. Be creative!
- Wallpaper. Some of your fans want “digital bling.” They identify with your brand or your product more than you may thing. They will proudly display it on their computer. What can be more personal than that? A good designer can crank out wallpaper using your exiting graphics in less than 30 minutes.
- Merchandise. Some of your fans want “physical bling.” Again, they identify with your brand or your product so much that they are willing to wear it, display it, or drink from it. My friend, John Richardson, recently outlined several possibilities, including links to vendors.
Media Reactions. This is basically a “wall of fame.” Include your best:
- Product Reviews
- Customer Reviews
- Twitter Comments
- Facebook Comments
- Google+ Comments
The idea here is to share endorsements and enthusiasm from your fans to fuel even more enthusiasm.

The best example of a media kit I have ever seen is the most recent one for Andy Andrews newest book, The Final Summit. It meets nearly all my criteria. (And it gave me a lot of ideas I had not thought of.) Make sure you download the PDF as well.

Also, check out the online media kits for Dave Ramsey’s new book, EntreLeadership, Dov Seldman’s book, How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything, and Jenny Blake’s book, Life After College.

If you want to equip your potential partners and fans to get the word out, you will take the time to to build a great online media kit.

Question: How could an online media kit like I have described help you mobilize the troops? You can leave a comment by clicking here.