Clare’s book isn’t good, it’s great!

Now, before I offer my review of her book, let’s get one thing straight: I’m not benefitting from this review at all. I don’t earn any commission, nor any kick-back of any other sort. I just loved the book, so I thought I’d recommend it to my readers.

So here’s my review…

Synopsis of ‘Using Twitter for Business’

The book’s title says it all. It’s simply a guide to “Using Twitter for Business”. Nothing more, nothing less. I can’t put it any better than Clare when she says the book is “is a straightforward and concise guide designed for beginners, who don’t have time to search the Internet looking for ways to use Twitter effectively or to read lengthy e-books.”

The Good

• Easy to read – Clare’s writing is conversational, so it’s very easy to read. The book’s design is very nice too, so you don’t feel like you’re labouring through ‘War And Peace’.
• Clare ‘gets it’ – Clare understands that Twitter’s real power is that it gives you the ability to develop personal relationships and use them for business ends. And she shows you how. She’s 100% on the money when she says that if you get it right, “you will receive back in ways you can’t imagine”.
• It’s detailed – Clare offers a bulleted list of tips for using Twitter for marketing. And another list for using it for customers service. And another list for using it for business development. All with practical points you can start using immediately.
• It’s practical – This ebook’s doesn’t isn’t just vague fluff. Clare actually steps you through the signup process and the Twitter interface and conventions (it’s something of a Twitter manual!), then goes on to discuss how to build a quality network that delivers a return on your time investment (not just motherhood statements here – she even gives a few examples!).

The Bad

Not much bad to point out, really. It’s a great intro to Twitter for business. There were a couple of things though:

• No mention of Twitter desktop applications – I would have liked to see some discussion of the desktop applications you can use instead of using twitter.com (much as you use Outlook for email instead of logging onto your webmail). Desktop Twitter apps are a great time-saver, and should be considered by anyone who’s using Twitter for business. TweetDeck’s my personal favourite at the moment, but I’m keeping a close eye on Twunami. It looks very promising.
• Not enough on WHAT to tweet – I’d also have liked a little more discussion on how to choose WHAT to tweet (what to talk about when you post updates on Twitter). You don’t want to bore your followers or overwhelm them, and you have to make sure everything you tweet is directly relevant to the type of followers you want to attract. There’s a bit of an art to this. Perhaps Clare will include it in her second version…?

Conclusion

All-in-all, a very nice introduction to Twitter for business. It doesn’t really contain much that’s not freely available elsewhere on the Web, BUT in Clare’s book, you have it all in one place (which is a huge time-saver) and you know it’s all spot-on advice (because Clare’s a very engaging Twitterer herself!).

I heartily recommend Using Twitter for Business to any small business owner or marketer who’s new to Twitter. At just $14.95, you can’t go wrong!

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I love my Twitter followers (although I hate the term ‘followers’). They’re so helpful and friendly and giving. And I have some brilliant conversations with them.

I’d like more of my followers to do the same

But I keep seeing the same names and faces popping up in my @ replies column in TweetDeck. Don’t get me wrong; I love seeing their smiling faces! It’s not that I want them to stop. I just want more of my followers to engage with me in the same way.

Perhaps I’m just not tweeting good stuff?

Now I know everyone’s busy, and that’s partly why I’m not seeing more faces. And I know a good percentage of my followers probably followed me ages ago, then promptly forgot about me (or stopped using Twitter altogether). And, doubtless, some followed me just to get me to follow them – they’re just playing the numbers game.

But I have a feeling there’s more to it than that. I suspect I’m simply not tweeting enough about the right stuff. I suspect I’d get a lot more response if I knew exactly the sorts of things my followers want to hear more of. So here’s what I’m proposing…

To WIN, tell me what to tweet about…

Please tell me what you’d like me to tweet and blog about. Just add a comment below. Even if you only heard about me for the first time through this post, feel free to follow me now, then jump in and tell me the sorts of tweets and posts you value most.

In return, I’m offering a prize: 3 FREE pages of SEO copy. I’ll select one comment at random, and its owner will get 3 pages of SEO copy written/re-written for FREE. By me, personally. (Obviously spam comments will be discounted.)

I’ll be announcing the winner on Monday, April 6, 2009.

Important notes

1. I’m not suggesting I’ll be changing my overall approach and general subject matter domain. But if there’s something in particular you’d like me to be tweeting – or even blogging – about, more often, I’d really like to know.
2. And while I’m more than happy for people to follow me purely as a result of this post, I ask that you only do so if you’re interested in copywriting, SEO copywriting and general SEO stuff. That’s my area of expertise, and what I usually tweet about. I don’t want a whole swag of disinterested followers. That would kinda defeat the purpose of this post!
3. When I say “3 FREE pages of SEO copy”, I DON’T mean copy like this or this. I’m talking about more succinct corporate SEO copy like this, this and this. We’re talking up to about 300-400 words per page, here.

Please comment…

So tell me… What would YOU like to read about more often in my tweets and blog?

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C’mon! I know blogging is hard work and takes a lot of time, but do you really think the answer is outsourcing to someone cheap? How good do you think the result will be?

Let’s think about the logic for a second: it takes YOU about half a day to write a quality post, right? And you’re the subject matter expert. How long’s it going to take a copywriter? They have to get their head around your offering, your customer, your target reader, the purpose of your blog, the purpose of the post and the fundamental message of the post. Then they have to research and understand the details, plan the post, write numerous headlines and choose the one that’s most engaging, then write the post and optimize it for search. All the while, ensuring their terminology is credible!

At least, that’s what they’ll have to do to write a quality post!

Now I can’t speak for everyone, but it takes me a good day or two to get through all of that. And I’m no slouch. I’ve been writing professionally for 15 years. I’ve run a business for six years. I have a Bachelor of Arts in English Lit and Linguistics. And I have a Master of Arts in International Communication. So I research effectively, I learn fast, I understand business and I write fast. This isn’t a sales pitch, it’s all fundamental to my argument.

So if it takes me a good day or two, let’s be generous and assume it’s going to take most SEO copywriters about the same. Let’s say 1.5 days per post. Now if you’re paying $10 – $25 per post, that equates to around $7 – $16 per day for the writer. That’s only $2,555 – $5,840 per year, assuming they work every day! There’s no way in the world that any decent SEO copywriter will work for that! (Well, there’s a miniscule chance you’ll find a great junior SEO copywriter who’s just starting out and desperately needs the money. But finding an SEO copywriter like that is like finding a needle in a haystack. And they won’t stick around for long. Trust me, I’ve been down that path.)

I know it’s tempting to say, “Send it to India,” but that’s not going to solve the problem, either. A cursory scan of Indian job search site Nakuri reveals that a half-way decent copywriter can earn around 4,00,000 to 8,00,000 Rupees per year. That’s around USD $9,390 to $18,780 per year + benefits. So why would they work for $5,840 (much less $2,555) per year?

No. What you’ll get is a blog post that was written in an hour (two, if you’re lucky). Poorly written, rehashed rubbish with no subject matter expertise, and certainly no relevant opinion or thought leadership.

Be honest. Would you subscribe to, return to, talk about or link to a blog like that? Of course not!

And after all, if you’re blogging for SEO, it’s all about subscriptions, return visitors, buzz and voluntary backlinks. Which means you have to repeatedly offer original, helpful thought provoking blog posts. Blog posts that people consider worth bookmarking and worth sharing with their own visitors and networks. What’s more, if you’re touting that sort of rubbish in places like Twitter and Plurk, you’ll quickly lose all credibility, and stand no chance of developing a following.

That’s why it amazes me when I hear so-called ‘social media experts’ suggesting this tactic. They should know better!

My contention is that if you’re serious about your blog (and not just blog-spamming – which is no better than article spamming), you have only four options:

1. Write your own blog posts;
2. Write your own blog posts and have a good SEO copywriter with social media knowledge edit & optimize them;
3. Have a good SEO copywriter with social media knowledge ghost-write your blog posts (which will cost a lot more than $10 – $25 per post); or
4. Try to attract some good guest-bloggers who’ll do it for free (and who aren’t competitors).

If you’re not up for any of those options, then you can forget about blogging. It’s not for you.

In blogging, there’s no quick and easy option. Just as there’s no quick, easy way to write your corporate web copy (Home, About Us, Products, Services, etc.). Would you settle for $10 Home page copy? If you’re serious about your blog, then you have to treat it with respect. You have to value it as highly as you value your other promotional material. It may not be selling your product or service, but it’s selling something, nonetheless. Something much more important, in the long run: your brand and your reputation. And if your purpose is SEO, it’s selling to a very jaded audience: social marketers.

Social media is the key to SEO these days. And it will remain the key for a few years to come. Certainly blogging is going to be massively important for years. WHAT we blog about may change, but the ACT of blogging will be critical for a long time. The key is expertise, usefulness, credibility, frequency and accessibility. And you’ll never get that paying $10 – $25 per post.

Pay peanuts, get monkeys! And that’s all I have to say on the matter ;-)

Happy blogging!

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But, after thinking about it all weekend, I’ve decided I wouldn’t change what I did.

So what did I do? I used four Tweets to convey one message:

Tweet 1: ” ‘Squidoo raises big money for charity… by donating money from the ads and links you see on every page.’ Google told me this is a no-no???”

Tweet 2: “ ‘If you’d like to donate a portion of your earnings to charity, you are welcome to do so, as long as you refrain from advertising this fact’ “

Tweet 3: “That was from the The Google AdSense Team, in an email sent Fri 29/06/2007 8:48 AM.”

Tweet 4: “Has Google changed its policy on advertising sharing of ad revenue?”

Then, about a minute later, Jill Tweeted this:

“I think tweets that span across more than one tweet should be banned…can’t say in 140 characters then don’t say it!”

Now I may be flattering myself; perhaps Jill was referring to someone else’s Tweet. But she does follow me, and the timing was just right. (In any case, if she was referring to someone else, her sentiment applies equally to me.)

In any case, after thinking about it all weekend, and mulling it over on two runs, I decided that I just don’t agree with her. IMHO some things simply can’t be said in 140 words. Especially when you’re quoting someone else’s words. I reckon Twitter’s bigger than its 140 word limit. It’s about community, dialogue, sharing and learning. If my message requires more words, I’ll use more words.

And that got me thinking about the whole question of etiquette. Of other people’s expectations versus my own. Of followers versus communities.

If Jill chooses to unfollow me because I didn’t meet her expectations, so be it. I’d be very disappointed to see her go, because I like to think that she might be interested in what I have to say (and I feel honoured that she’s following me in the first place). But if I reckon Twitter’s a place where you should be true to yourself. People will follow you if they like what you have to say (and how you say it), or they won’t. If I spend my time worrying about how my followers expect me to express myself, I’ll be constraining my expression. And that goes against one of the core rules of social media: be authentic.

I use Twitter to genuinely engage with people. (I work alone, so that’s very important to me.) Yes, I value my followers, but if I change how I express myself to please them, then they won’t be following the real me at all. Eventually I’d only disappoint them – by slipping up and doing something they don’t like, by seeming fake, or just by being boring.

Nope. If you follow me, you get me. Warts ‘n all.

So what’s my point? I suppose I’m saying that if you spend all your time worrying whether your followers are going to like what you say – or how you say it – it’s possible that you’ll develop a big following, but it won’t be a true community. You’ll only ever build a community if you true to yourself. (Exactly as Jill was being by criticizing me!)

In fact, that’s really what people in social media communities really want. People. They’re there to engage with you as a person, not a figure-head, not a PR practitioner, not a spin-doctor. If that weren’t the case, why on earth does Jeremy Schoemaker (aka @shoemoney) have 7000+ followers? (If you follow him, you’ll know what I mean!)

I’d love to hear your comments…

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