10 ways to get people to open and read your email

1.Make Your Subject Line Short

Ideally, your email subject line should be short—easy enough to be read at a glance. Different email providers will display different lengths of text, so longer subject lines have a higher chance of being cut off. To ensure the greatest number of readers see your subject, aim to keep it under 50 characters or so.

2.Make Your Subject Line Intriguing

Assuming you have an engaged audience that is interested in what you have to say, the next best step to achieving better response rates is good subject lines. The subject line is what appears in a recipient’s inbox, inviting him or her to click. It gets a few seconds of attention before being opened or deleted. So that’s why the best subject lines offer something of value, for minimum risk. They give the recipient a sense that clicking through to the actual email newsletter will deliver something worthwhile. What are some examples of intriguing newsletter titles? To put it simply, readers like subject lines that identify your brand, hint at the content inside, and have something to offer them. For readers who want to stay updated with your company, for example, consider the following examples, written for the (fictional) company Good Deals:

3.Be Honest about Email Content

Just like your Subscribe page should accurately describe your email content, so should your newsletter subject line. If a reader clicks the “Big Company News October 2013” email only to find a story from last month, he or she might not click through the next month’s letter. Or worse, he or she might unsubscribe.

4.Avoid Spam Signals Like ALL CAPS and Exclamation Marks!!!

Everybody’s got spam radar these days. Who hasn’t received an email from an overseas prince asking for money? Because of this, readers are more cynical—and this means they’re looking at your email newsletter with caution, at least the first time they see it. To help build credibility and keep yourself from looking like a spammer, avoid spam giveaways like writing in all capital letters or using multiple exclamation marks.

5.Consider a Negative Subject Line

“People will always work harder to keep something they have rather than try to gain something that they want,” says Sean Platt at Copyblogger. That’s why negative headlines can be so powerful—
they alert your readers to potential problems they could protect themselves against. Here are a few examples:

• Five Reasons You Won’t Want to Miss This Weekend Sale
• Good Deals Update: Are You Making These Shopping Mistakes?
• 4 Things You Might Be Missing on Our New Blog
• 
  

6. Content quality

The best way to improve your e-mail open rates is to send interesting e-mails that are relevant to the reader’s interests. When subscribers trust that there is something valuable on the other side of the subject line, your open rates will continue to increase.

Offer something of value in every e-mail you send. Help your subscribers look better to their bosses and colleagues by including tips and tricks, industry research and discounts. Sending compelling e-mails not only helps you be seen as an expert, it reduces spam complaints.

Consistency in e-mail also encourages recipients to open. We all are drawn toward the familiar. This is also true for e-mail campaigns. Campaigns with a consistent look and feel are more effective in helping your recipients understand your message. Of course you can mix up the creative, but maintain brand standards in colors, design and personality. Also, use the same "from" name and e-mail address for all your campaigns.

7.Don't ask for something every time.

 This goes back to the whole "deliver content people want to read" idea: if your constituents know that your message will just ask them to donate again, they'll likely get tired of it. Mix it up. Send out important news, a free offer, a cool conversation happening on your Facebook page. You want to build a relationship with your subscribers – just not like the relationship you have with your ATM.Tip 6: Don’t be afraid to lose subscribers

8. Don’t be afraid to lose subscribers

Don’t make it too hard for your recipients to unsubscribe from your newsletter. Not only are you required by law to offer an opt-out  possibility, there’s little point in sending people emails they won’t ever bother to read. In the worst case, they might even report your e-mailings as spam.

9.Don’t Always be Selling

Share relevant and useful content, tips, articles advice and industry news alongside or in addition to sales event, coupons and promotions for your business. This positions you as a resource for information as well as a source for your product or service.

10. Experiment with the day and time you send your emails.

A lot of this is common sense, but it still doesn’t hurt to test different days and times.  You actually may find a day and time that generates more opens from your target audience.

If your primary target audience does shift work, time your emails to arrive either early in their shift; close to their lunch hour; or an hour or so before the day ends. These tend to be times when people are checking email more often. If your target audience is in sales or production, Monday is probably NOT a good day.  Manufacturing businesses that are always scrambling to increase production near the end of the month so their numbers look good are probably not reading a lot of emails that aren’t “mission critical” the last few days of the month.

10 GREAT TIPS TO GAIN AND KEEP FOLLOWERS ON TWITTER

Article by Wendy McCance

Over the weekend I decided to clean up my Twitter account.  I was following almost 1,000 people and I wanted to check in on each and every one of them and to see what they were tweeting these days.

So far I have spent about 16 hours going through my followers and see another 8 hours in my future until it is all cleaned up.

As I was going through each account, there were several followers I deleted because they had not posted in months, didn’t interact with others or there was just nothing in their tweets I would want to share.  It might sound harsh, but I am looking to connect with people of similar interests who interact with others and have terrific tweets that I can’t resist but to share.

Each time I kept a follower, I would retweet something they shared or would comment on a tweet they posted.  There were several followers who ended up getting their link shared on my Facebook page or on my Paper.li account as well.  I love to support and share good articles and ideas.

All of this work had me thinking about the top Twitter tips that should be shared.  I hope these tips help you in your pursuit to connect and maintain a positive Twitter account and experience.

1. Show that you are present on Twitter.  A long page of quotes or advertisement of your new book over and over is just a waste of time.  You won’t get new followers and there won’t be any connections made.  Interaction is key.  Without interaction, there is really no reason to spend your time posting on Twitter.  You are just posting to dead space.
2. If someone retweets something you posted, thank them.  Acknowledging a retweet goes a long way in the eyes of the person who took the time to retweet your information.
3. If you haven’t posted anything for more than a few weeks, your account will appear dead to others and you will no longer be followed by many.  Take some time and post something, anything at least a few times a week.
4. Show your support for others.  Retweet something you enjoyed.  Comment on a tweet that really hit home with you.
5. If someone follows you, thank them.  Whatever you do, don’t spam them by requesting they also look at your Facebook page and “like” it.
6. Look for people to follow that genuinely interest you.  Try introducing yourself and let the person you are following know why you are interested in keeping up with their tweets.
7. If you want to use hashtags, learn how to use them first.  Putting hashtags in random places within a sentence won’t make sense and does nothing for you.
8. Make sure you have a picture on your Twitter account.  Looking at a colored egg is impersonal and won’t allow you to stand out.
9. Make sure you have a good profile set up.  State a little bt about yourself.  Don’t worry if it isn’t particularly clever.  People would still like to know you are a writer (for instance).  Make sure you put in a link to your blog, website or Facebook page so people can really connect to you and learn who you are.
10. Above all else, have fun.  Twitter shouldn’t be stressful or feel like an obligation.

10 Tips to use Twitter for better results

Vanessa Doctor 

 

People use Twitter for business and casual reasons and there are several tools and techniques that will provide and send out information with just a click of a button.

Over the years, the world’s largest micro-blogging community has continued to improve its platform and features to make the experience more conducive for users regardless of their objectives.

Whether you have a Twitter account to socialize with friends and newfound friends or trying to promote your entreprise or forward a cause, there are many ways to maximize your presence so you get the full benefits of being a microblogger.

If you’re an avid Twitter user, or are planning to become one, here are ten important things you should know.

1. Create an attractive profile.

Your Twitter profile will say a lot about yourself and immediately bring in followers, whether they are your family and friends or strangers. When starting out, change your profile picture to something you’d like to be associated with publicly and create a background image. You can customize your background to best describe who you are.

Be sure to limit the background image under 800k as well as know how to limit your tweets to 160 characters maximum only. Provide a short description about yourself as well, so like-minded people in the community will want to connect.

2. Use Twitter search.

The search tool on the website is one of the most useful functions that will adequately guide you to the right companies and people. There is also an Advanced Twitter search to help whittle down results according to you specifications. Look for it in Saved Searches or the Searches tab on the timeline.

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3. Use third party tools.

There are several third-party tools on Twitter created by various companies and online experts to help improve your Twitter experience. Some of the most commonly used include TwitPic, which allows you to put photos with your tweets, Tweetbeat, which gives you updates on past and current topics, and Twitter Grader, which shows your current rankings. Another tool,TweetDeck also helps manage your social media accounts in one page so you don’t have to keep switching tabs and wasting time.

4. Learn the language.

There are a number of terms that you should familiarize to be better in Twitter such as @reply, RT or retweet, Tweet, DM or direct message, follower and Trending Topics. Knowing these will improve the way you interact with others online.

Remember that Twitter-speak thrives on being concise, hence the character limit, so you’d better learn the lingo or fall behind.

5. Monitor your following to follower ratio.

The following to follower ratio should be kept positive at all times to improve your current status. You can gain more followers by improving your content, as well as offering to follow back people who follow you. Do not follow too many people in the beginning to avoid being called a bot and eventually getting suspended.

6. Follow the right people.

Only select individuals who mean much to your Twitter cause. You have to do some research on the individuals who are garnering a huge following because of their quality tweets and witty conversations. You also increase the likelihood of meeting others with the same interests online by doing so.

7. Be familiar with tweeting rules.

There are two important traits for your tweets to have – regularity and content. You need to post frequently on Twitter to stay visible. However, the tweets should also be content-rich and unique. These should relate well to your main objectives. Retweets should be used sparingly.

8. Make lists.

You can carefully choose the people you need to follow by creating and making use of lists. There is a link that will provide you the option to Create a list. This will filter individuals until you only get access to those that relate well to your specific goals.

9. Create a hashtag.

Hashtags are a great feature that will improve your visibility online, as well as relations with other Twitter users. Think of a unique hashtag that talks about relevant issues pertaining to your own objectives. You can start finding out if the hashtag exists before making one (to avoid duplication). Manage it well by limiting the discussions within the topic.

10. Always reply.

When someone addresses you on Twitter, be sure to send a reply. This makes the approach more personalized and conversational, as how the social media platform intended it to be. There are also third party tools that will show you in graphic detail how well you reply.

This list is, of course, not the be-all, end-all of Twitter usage. There are several other tactics you can implement to maximize your social media presence, such as organizing tweet chats, running contests, or simply sharing information you think your follower network will appreciate.

10 reasons why people don't follow you on twitter

Amy-mae Elliott

Twitter users often make the decision of whether or not to follow someone in seconds, meaning that you have very little time to impress.

We looked into why people chose not to follow profiles on Twitter, and crowdsourced a variety of reasons that users give for not hitting that "Follow" button.

But first, it's a good idea to take a look at how most people will see your Twitter profile. If someone finds you in his or her Home stream, or clicks on a "Who to follow" suggestion, the Profile Summary pop-up below shows what your potential audience sees of your Twitter presence.

This summary gives an brief overview — the top half of the display shows your avatar, header photo, bio and a tally of tweets, followers and users you follow. Below that, there's a "followed by" info box that appears if anyone the viewer follows also follows you. Finally, the summary displays your two latest tweets.

While some people may click "Go to full profile" to find out more before making a decision to follow or not, it's safe to assume that most will make up their minds from your Profile Summary screen.

This means that you need to make the most of the screen real estate available to you, maximize the potential of your images, make sure your bio reads well and ensure that your tweets are attractive to potential followers.

Below, find 10 important things you need to change in order to gain more Twitter followers.

1. You're a 'social media guru.'

The only people who call themselves "social media gurus" almost certainly aren't, so don't use this awful expression. The same goes for "maven," "expert" or "ninja."

You may work in the social media realm, but it's such a fascinating and ever-changing communications landscape that there is always more to learn.

This came up time and time again in our research as a phrase that puts people off, so find a more creative way to describe yourself and you'll find more followers.

2. You look like an egg.

The egg look really isn't in vogue. You only have a few chances to engage people visually on Twitter, so don't waste them.

Users are seriously dissuaded to follow an account if they can't "see" the personality behind it. Don't leave your avatar as the default egg, an image of a celebrity or someone who isn't you, or anything too risqué. We'd also advise steering clear of GIFs as profile images, which don't always display correctly across platforms.

The best Twitter avatar is a genuine pic of you and, considering how small the image is often displayed, preferably a head and shoulders shot. Remember: You can get more creative with your Twitter header photo and background.

3. You're on #TeamFollowBack.

Begging people to follow you in your bio, and promising that you always follow back, is not an attractive premise.

Twitter isn't about following blindly without good reason — it's about curating your own stream of content that's interesting and ultimately tailored to you. It's perfectly acceptable not to follow people that choose to follow you.

If you're making promises to follow everyone for the sole reason that they chose to follow you, you're diluting your Twitter stream with content that may not be of interest, and ultimately cheapening the value of your own attention span.

4. Your following ratio is disproportionate.

A lopsided ratio of users you follow to users who follow you is often a red flag that an account is spam.

It's understandable — and expected — that you'll follow more accounts than are following you, but a large disparity in these numbers makes your profile look suspicious.

Try to gather some followers before you go crazy with the "Follow" button, or people won't want to join your strangely small list of followers.

5. You wrote your bio in third person.

There is dubious advice out there that writing a bio in the third person, as if it's been written by someone else, will make it sound more professional and objective.

This is bad advice. A third person bio makes you look pompous. It's obvious you haven't asked anyone else to write it — who would you ask, your mom? "Bob is very good at social media and always sets the table for dinner."

Even if you're using it for professional reasons, Twitter is a personal, social platform and your bio should reflect that. A simple, modest bio — or even a lighthearted, funny version — will attract more followers than a grandiose one.

6. You tweet too much.

Twitter went live mid-2006. If you joined the microblogging site at launch and tweeted three times a day every day since then, you would have penned around 8,000 tweets.

This helps put the number of tweets shown on your account in perspective. If you have tweeted over that 8,000 benchmark, then you're obviously an above-average tweeter. If you've tweetedsignificantly over that number, it may give people pause when considering whether to follow you.

7. You humblebrag.

In addition to your bio basics and account stats, most people will read your last two tweets when they are checking out your Twitter profile.

One of the things that came up in our research was hatred of the "humblebrag," and self-aggrandizement in general.

If one of your two most recent tweets contains even a hint of a humblebrag, that potential follower is going to think twice. If you retweet an entire compliment or flattering @ mention, that's even worse.

8. Robots craft your tweets.

Do you schedule tweets? Or are you signed up to services that auto tweet on your behalf? If your recent tweets look like they were automatically generated, people aren't going to follow you.

What people want on Twitter is to hear your genuine voice, in real time. They don't want lofty quotes that you've scheduled to go live at strategic periods, stats from your latest workout or what your "top stories" are via a third-party curation service.

Twitter is about engagement, not just broadcasting meaningless words. If you don't reply to other Twitter users, or otherwise react to tweets and trending topics you see in your stream, you're doing it wrong.

9. You're selling something.

If you work in a sales or marketing role, then by all means mention it in your bio. Do not, however, turn your bio into a sales pitch.

It's bad enough if you use your bio to push a product or service, but if your recent tweets show that you're all about the hard sell, too, no one is going to be interested in your profile.

Put simply, if you're using Twitter to sell something in a crude manner, people will not follow you. We all see enough unwelcome advertising on a daily basis without it invading our Twitter streams.

10. You send DM spam.

Finally, if someone has made the decision to follow you, and you automatically DM them a self-promotional or sales message, chances are you can kiss that new follower goodbye.

Direct messages that thank the person for following and urge them to check out a link, such as a page on Facebook or a blog for "more amazing content," are crass and impersonal.

Don't be tempted by this ultra-lazy form of marketing, or you'll deservedly lose followers as soon as you manage to gain them.

8 ways to make your blog popular and make sales.

Are you making sales from your blog? You’ll have many reasons for blogging, but those reasons break down to the nitty-gritty: sales.

The following writing tips will help you to improve your blogging and SELL.

1. Think: “What’s in it for them?” (Consider the takeaway first.)

The takeaway is your readers’ reward for reading, so promise the reward in your headline.

Think about your audience. What do they need? What attracts them to your blog post? They must know WIIFM (what’s in it for me). If this isn’t obvious, they won’t read beyond the headline.

Tip: avoid cheating readers with misleading headlines. We discuss this in #5.

Your headline attracts them; your takeaway keeps them reading, and eventually, you’ll make a sale, but rarely directly. Your blog’s a publication, just like a magazine. Magazines have editorial content, and advertising. Sponsored content aims to break down the divide. As the New York Times article points out:

“In native advertising you can get double-digit click-through rates,” compared with the 0.01 percent click-through rate sometimes seen with display ads, Mr. Knapp said.

(“Native advertising” is just another label for sponsored content.)

Action Tip: write your post’s goal, and its takeaway on a sticky note before you start writing. It helps you to focus.

2. Remember your call-to-action.

Your call-to-action can be anything you like. You may ask:

• For a comment;
• Your readers to tweet, or pay with a tweet;
• Your readers to contact you;
• Your readers to check out an offering…

3. Write to be understood. (Confused readers don’t buy.)

As you know, readers skim your content. They skim the sub-heads to see what’s in it for them. Before you start writing, know what you want to say. Then write to be understood.

Dale Carnegie allegedly said: Tell the audience what you’re going to say, say it; then tell them what you’ve said.

You don’t need to go that far, but YOU need to know what point you want to make. Many blog posts start out well, then leave you with a “huh?” feeling at the end. The writer wandered off-track, and never made his point.

Short words, short sentences, and short paragraphs all help. Fast Company’s article, AN ARTICLE HAS A LIFESPAN OF 37 DAYS, AND OTHER FINDINGS FROM POCKET, makes fascinating reading.

4. Proofread… Keep a dictionary handy.

Proofread your posts, and look up words in a dictionary. Sometimes words mean the opposite of what you think they mean. This speaks to clarity, above.

5. Creative or clever? Be usefully creative.

If you use a discovery app like Prismatic, you soon get the sense that some bloggers are trying too hard: Genghis Khan’s ten rules for blogging etc. (If this is someone’s real blog post, I’m sorry. I didn’t look up the phrase on Google, so I have no idea whether someone’s written this. I apologize in advance, because someone will write this.  It’s inevitable…)

Advertising master David Ogilvy famously said, “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative,” and “I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information.” Aim to be informative: useful.

Remember that your aim in blogging is to sell; creativity for its own sake is pointless, see tip #3.

6. Create a checklist for blogging.

Create a checklist for blogging. Your checklist could include:

• Brainstorm blog post titles;
• Create an outline;
• Research;
• Write the first draft;
• Find or create graphics…

Your checklists and editorial calendar make blogging easier, and more effective, especially if you add items like: “create a goal” and “remember the takeaway.”

7. Arouse your enthusiasm. (Boredom comes across in your words.)

Are you bored? Snap out of it! Never blog when you’re feeling bored, it comes across in your words. Arouse your enthusiasm. When I feel bored, and know I need to write anyway, I read PG Wodehouse, or play a computer game. I love Wodehouse’s word play; he always inspires me.

8. Become a consistent blogger: create an Idea Bank.

Create ten ideas a day. You’ll soon have all the ideas you’ll ever need. Use Trello, it makes organizing your blogging easy.

When you deliberately force yourself to come up with ideas, and organize those ideas, you’ll become a consistent blogger. Store your ideas in Evernote, so that you can access them wherever you are.

So there you have it: eight easy writing tips to improve your blogging, and make sales.

• 
  

Angela Booth

Angela Booth is a copywriter, author and writing teacher. She's the author of many books for publishers like Prentice Hall, and writes and sells ebooks. Blogs are her passion. She blogs daily.

Thousands of writers benefit from Angela's blogs and free ezine of writing tips each week. She's been helping writers for 20 years, because she loves sharing what she knows.

Here are ten tips to generate more traffic using social media

Social media can be an incredible source of traffic. And best of all, it is traffic that you can count on, day after day. However, it also requires lots of constant hard work and usually it can take some time before you can actually see the results.

One of the best things about social media is that you get lots of different results. By following the tips in this article, you will not just increase your traffic, but you will also get more fans and followers, get more social media engagement, build relationships with your audience, you will reach a wider audience and you will be able to establish yourself as an expert in your field.

One of the great things about social media is that you can apply very similar techniques between different social networks. Twitter and Facebook, for example, might not have anything in common except the social aspect, but in the end, posting great, valuable content is one of the best ways of increasing your traffic.

Here are some of the ways that you can increase your social media traffic:

1. Profile

It all starts with the profile – no matter the social network, a complete profile is a must-have. Spend some time to make sure you complete all the relevant categories and fields, and most importantly, that you provide links to all your websites. On Twitter, I would also recommend you write down your website address in your description so that people can easily see it. On LinkedIn, you have the option to personalize your links. It’s very easy to do, and can make a big difference, as seeing “company website” might not entice lots of people to click on it:

When you go to “edit contact info”, you can choose “other” and write down what the website is – for example, instead of just saying “blog”, I wrote “social media blog”, which makes it clear what I write about.

2. Join Different Social Networks

Social media traffic is at its best when you use more than one social network. I personally believe it is best to try out several social networks, in order to figure out which ones bring you the most traffic. Over the years, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the traffic I started getting from some social networks (such as LinkedIn and Google+), even surpassing some of the most popular social platforms (i.e. Facebook in my case).

3. Post Regularly

Once you start posting on social media, it’s very important to keep it up regularly. You won’t keep getting traffic from social media unless you keep posting and engaging constantly (preferably daily, or at least during weekdays). It also important to be human on social media – don’t just post links all the time, but also images, videos, text only posts and even posts that don’t have anything to do with your business. It might not get you traffic, but by only posting links you will put most people off by being too sales-y.

4. Post links to your blog posts

Posting links to valuable resources is one of the top ways of getting traffic from social media.  Whenever you write a new blog post, article or have a new valuable resource on your website, make sure you post it on your social media profiles. However, don’t just post the link and the title of the article/resource – rather, try to write a short introduction that will make people want to click on the link and read more. You could also ask a question within the post, so that you can also attract some more engagement to the post – more engagement often times leads to more traffic!

 5. Engage!

The ‘secret’ to social media success is lots of engagement. By engaging regularly with other people on social networks, you will drive more people to your profile and updates, and therefore ultimately increase your traffic. Engaging means:

-       Commenting

-       Liking (+1’s etc.)

-       Sharing other people’s posts and updates

-       Asking and answering questions

6. Join some of the lesser-known social networks

Facebook, Twitter and the like might be the top social media traffic generators, but sometimes the smaller and niche social networks can also be great sources of traffic. First of all, try to find out if there are any social networks that deal directly with your niche (Like GoodReads for book authors) and join them. This is where you can find lots of people that could genuinely be interested in what you have to offer – which results in more traffic. I would also recommend trying out some of the smaller social networks, like Tumblr – you can simply share your content on these types of social networks, which wouldn’t take too much time and can still bring in some extra traffic.

7. Create and join groups/communities etc.

Groups and communities on social networks can be great sources of traffic. If possible, start by creating your own group and then join other groups that relate to your niche. Make sure you join groups that are active – meaning people are engaging constantly.

You can then post your link updates in these groups, but make sure you also check out the rules and regulations of each group. It’s very important not to focus on sales updates, but rather engage with other group members. This way, you won’t be too sales-y and people will be more inclined to read your updates and eventually click on your links.

8. Use hashtags

Hashtags are now present on most major social networks – Twitter, Google+, Facebook etc. Hashtags can help grow your traffic by making your social updates more easily discoverable. I recommend using no more than two hashtags per update, as too many of them will put off some people.

Try to also look at which hashtags are trending for the day and use them in your updates wherever possible. There will be more people searching for those hashtags, so your updates have better chances of being seen.

9. Post at the right time

The time when you post a new update can have a huge influence on its success. If you post at the right time, more people will see it – and therefore, you will get more traffic and more engagement.

Unfortunately, there is no right time there works for everybody across all social networks. And one of the main characteristics of social networks is that they have no geographical barriers, meaning that you can have fans and followers everywhere in the world.

Although there are different studies that show when people are most active on the different social networks, the best way to find out the best hours to post updates is by trial and error. Try posting at different times during the day and night and see at what times you get the most engagement and clicks. You can then use scheduling tools to schedule your updates so that they go at those exact times, even if you are not available.

10. Add social sharing buttons to each of your blog posts

By adding social sharing buttons to each of your blog posts, you make it much easier for your readers to share your posts to their own friends and followers. This way, you increase your reach within social media with minimal efforts on your part and more people will be able to see your link and therefore, drive more traffic.

Lilach Bullock

Lilach is a business owner, social media consultant, internet mentor and founder of Socialable.co.uk. Listed in Forbes as one of the top 20 women social media power influencers she is one of the most dynamic personalities in the social media market, she actively leverages ethical online marketing for her clients and her own advantage.

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6 foolproof ways to accelerate traffic to your blog

jeff bullas of jeffbullas.com

There are many tactics that you can pursue but some have more value than others. If there were six that should be on your “must do” do list then here they are.

1. Build an email list

Do this from day one by offering a free ebook or premium content that readers can only get by entering their name and email.

2. Grow a targeted Twitter following

Twitter is the best platform to build a focused list of followers. It’s simplicity and unfiltered stream ensures your tweets with your content linked and embedded will provide visible attention.

3. Increase your Facebook likes

Facebook cannot be ignored and ensuring you have a large group that have liked your page can be one of your top two social networks that will drive significant traffic.

4. Build your blog and content for search engines

Search engines are the biggest traffic source for my blog. This will not happen from day one as it will take time to get Google’s attention. Don’t ignore doing this from day one as it requires persistence and will take time.

Start today.

5. Create and publish awesome content

This may not be obvious to some but if you create contagious content that solves people problems and adds value to their lives you will collect fanatical fans. They will link to your blog and they will share it.

Write, create and publish the best liquid content you can. This will then flow across the web and build brand awareness.

6. Include prominent social media sharing buttons

You have written, produced and published content that rocks. But if you make it hard for people to share on the social web then it will still be great but invisible.

Make it prominent and easy to share with a couple of clicks.

10 Ways to Generate More Leads for your business

Wanna have a successful and profitable business? Then you need leads… and lots of them.

Nothing happens without a lead. No sales, no revenue, no profit, no nothin’.

Below are 10 ways to generate MORE leads without spending a bundle.

But before we get to the list, there are a couple of lead generation ground rules you should be clear about. Without understanding these, you can end up wasting a lot of time and money.

Ground Rule #1: Build a Value Machine for the Long Term

WARNING: This is boring, far from sexy, and nothing even close to resembling a silver bullet lead generating solution. And THAT’S why it’s so effective

Don’t ignore it now or you run the risk of being sorry later.

We’ll start off with the lead generation technique that most people will not have the discipline or patience to pursue. That is creating a REAL value machine for your market. This could be a blog you post to daily, or a video series you create daily… or something else.

Sounds simple, but it’s far from easy. I dare you, try it and you’ll see. Write a 100% value blog post every day for a month. This is work from top to bottom. That’s why it’s so effective, in my opinion. Because the majority of your competition is most likely lazy. Use that to your advantage—I am and I like the results.

Sometimes, however, you need leads yesterday so that you can put food on the table today. In that case, speed is what works, and we’ll get to that in a few moments. However, even if that’s the case, ALWAYS have a long term lead generation system running along side your short term campaigns.

Build your asset before you need it.

Ground Rule #2: Understand That the Money is Not in the List

It appears that one of my lists currently has little to no “money” hiding in it. That’s because I filled it with freebie seekers instead of potential buyers. I built a list before I had something to sell. If I had it to do over, I wouldn’t bother. Learn from my mistake. You build lists NOT to get leads, but to get buyers.

Unless you’re just lonely, you don’t want to be generating just any lead… you want to be generating leads that turn into buyers. It’s easy to build a list of people that just want free stuff. Those are not the kinds of leads you’re looking for.

Consider this: cast your lead generating net as wide as possible. But as quickly as you can, like on the “thank you” page, make it clear that you’re SELLING. You’ll totally scare away the folks who are only looking for a free lunch. As long as you provide value WHILE you sell, the true potential buyers will stick with you.

You are running a business, not a charity. So make that clear (unless of course you ARE running a charity), otherwise when you DO try to sell, it will be jarring because it will be totally inconsistent with what came before.

Ground Rule #3: You Don’t Have Time to Wait Around for a Relationship

People buy because they want things. They buy because they’re yearning for the perceived benefits of what you provide. Yes a relationship helps. But you can’t pay your bills or pay your expenses with relationships. So ask them to buy FAST.

Isn’t that why you’re in business? Don’t make excuses for it. Just sell.

OK, so let’s jump in to 10 ways to get you more leads:

1. Viral Video Works

Create a viral video and post it to Youtube®, or better yet, to both Youtube® and your own site. (if it goes viral, trust me, you’ll be happy you put it on your own site once all the link love starts coming.)

On the video page, make an offer for the NEXT video in exchange for the optin.

Go buy some cheap PPC ads on Facebook®, not promoting your offer, just promoting the video.

People (especially people on Facebook®) like to be entertained, so make sure the content of your video is clearly INFOTAINMENT. Don’t just teach… Teach, sell or pre-sell and entertain.

What you don’t know is if all these leads you’re attracting are going to be buyers. You won’t know that until you try it. (See item #3.) This is business, if you want guarantees, do something else.

2. Leverage Your Real Estate and Don’t Be Lazy

In my opinion, the jury is still out on just how profitable social media is for generating sales, but as for spreading ideas, it can be darn effective.

Give your leads the opportunity to spread your message for you. So on your “thank you page,” put a Facebook® SHARE button (not the Like button which hardly stands out on someone’s Facebook feed). Add in a retweet button and any other social gizmos that your market uses to spread things.

Better yet, if you know what you’re doing with code, make the “Post to Your Wall” pop up immediately. You can pre-fill it with a title, picture, link and message so people on Facebook® can spread it around with a SINGLE click.

You might pay for ONE lead, but that single lead might very well bring you 10 more.

3. Don’t Wait to “Butter ‘em Up” Just SELL Them

Once you’ve leveraged a new lead’s ability to spread your message for you (and hopefully generate more leads), give them a test. Put an offer (hard or soft) in front of them right away.

Again, you don’t want just ANY lead, you want ones that buy. The more of them that buy, the more leads you’ll be able to afford.

4. Don’t Ignore the Simple Stuff

Please make sure you don’t discount simple ways to generate leads that are cheap and or free. For example, do you have an offer in your email signature? If not, get one.

5. Free Junk is Getting Harder to Give Away

I’m sure in the old days, you could offer just about any “freemium” as an enticement for people to join your list. Just saying, “Sign-up for my newsletter” could get some results. But the bar is getting higher, so sending your “Top 5 Tips For XX” just doesn’t carry the same weight it used to.

People have too much junk on their hard drives already. So make the “Free” thing you give away something that actually has inherent value. Some suggestions: software your leads can USE, a definitive resource (101 tips for XX) that they will come back to again and again, something that solves a real point of pain for the people you are trying to attract.

In other words, to get more leads, you should be offering them something that is MORE and BETTER than anything they can get elsewhere.

Raise the bar or you will be left out.

Editor’s note from Derek Halpern: When we launched the Thesis blog, I wrote an in-depth ebook that taught people how to use nonverbal communication online to get leads and subscribers. It converted extremely well for us. The first day we had a 70% opt-in using this page.

6. People Want What They Cannot Have

If there’s one pillar of sales psychology, this is it: people want what they cannot have. So how can you build THAT into your lead generation campaigns? How can you add an element of scarcity?

Perhaps you could create a new “freemium” each and every month. Once the month is gone, that “freemium” disappears and gets turned into a product for sale.

Again, it’s work. But people who are willing to work hard have a built in competitive advantage.

If your funnel is always open to everyone, everywhere, what’s the reason they should contact you TODAY and not 4 years from now? It helps to have a good answer to that question.

7. Detach Yourself from Results and Think Bigger

I’d have to say that most of my lead generation campaigns stink. They don’t produce much. This is a numbers game. So figure out ways to use that fact to your advantage. Instead of doing a single lead generation campaign, why not launch 10? Create one squeeze page with a killer offer on it. Then launch PPC, banner ads, articles, press releases, forum posts, blog comments, SEO, videos, guest blog posts, interviews, etc. Get creative and work hard.

If you’re looking for a quick fix silver bullet way to generate leads, you’re in danger of having your lunch eaten by the entrepreneur who is just willing to do the real work.

If you’re going to win, you need to give yourself enough chances to win. Think bigger.

8. Think 4 Steps Ahead

When opportunities show up at your door, always be asking yourself, “How can I leverage or repurpose this to create 10 times the impact with the same amount of work?” Did you get asked to be interviewed on a blog? Can you secure the non-exclusive rights to turn that interview into a product or a lead generating “freemium” for you? To fully develop the potential of all the opportunities you have, you have to be thinking ahead. It’s a habit that takes time to develop.

Start today.

9. Link Bait Works

I’m not talking about the link bait that comes from attacking someone or publishing something sensational. Link bait doesn’t need to be controversial, it just needs to be valuable.

Could you publish something TRULY valuable and timeless for your prospects? Ask yourself this: “What could I create that my prospects would consider in their best interest to spread around to OTHER prospects?”

Again, think four steps ahead… you don’t just want leads, you want sales. So work backwards from the sale: select your offer, consider any things that have to happen to remove obstacles to the sale, create your linkbait, etc.

I recommend this advice because I’ve ignored it more times than my ego would ever allow me to admit.

10. Don’t Let Shiny Objects Take You Away from the Basics

Success comes from executing the basics WELL. Generating leads is not complicated, it takes 3 things:

1. a great offer
2. putting that offer in front of the right people
3. a reason to act now

Rinse and repeat.

About the Author: Jason Leister is the Editor of "The Client Letter," the daily e-letter from ClientsSuck.net, where he helps independent professionals create success.