At this point if you’re running an online business that sells a product or service you have probably already paid for advertising on major search engines or someones site.

If I consider the amount of money that I spend on these ads and instead gave away the equivalent value in a prize, product or service I could effectively convert people who have been sitting on the fence to try my product or service.

For example if I ran an online T-shirt business and have a large inventory of T-shirts that are not selling I could do the following:

1. Offer a free T-shirt with every T-shirt purchased while supplies last. I would link to my most popular selling shirt and the offer would read “Get a second free shirt with your purchase of this or any other T-shirt while supplies last!”
2. Depending on my ad budget I could go by several iPods (laser engraved with my domain!) or other cool giveaway items that related to my target audience and include it in the offer for the first 10 people who complete a purchase.
3. Since I have a technology department instead of giving away an iPod I could try giving a Twitter Re-Tweet link or code after the purchase. To enter to win an iPod customers would have to Twitter about my specials along with their unique link or code. The winners of the iPods would be determined by those who could refer the most qualifying purchases tracked by their specific link or code.

What I am doing here is moving inventory that would otherwise sit around and collect dust or end up in the bargain bin. Secondly I’m giving an incentive for making that first purchase as I believe everybody likes free stuff. Lastly I am inducing a viral marketing campaign by holding a contest to win iPods for individuals who refer the most new qualified sales via link or code.

This is just one example typed up while sipping morning coffee. With a bit a creativity there is no reason similar campaigns could not be created for most business or services online.

With the power of twitter in full swing I’m still seeing a lot of people make simple mistakes and overlooking the obvious. Below I will cover some of the easy and obvious things you can do now to leverage the power of twitter.

Do Automate

Automation is not spam and anyone who tells you different doesn’t know what they’re talking about. The key to automation is scheduling tasks that are repetitive, save you time and provide value to your customer.

For example if I know I am having a product launch I can schedule a twitter message to be sent out a specific time and day. If I have a new blog post I can update twitter with a small description and link to my new blog post.

Automate tasks that provide value to your customers. Leverage automation to grow your empire and help you work smarter not harder.

Do Look Professional

If you’re using the default icon on twitter or one of the default backgrounds in my opinion you’re not looking professional. For many people this will be the first impression they get of who you are and what your business is about.

Treat your twitter page as a micro-site and brand it. Make sure you’re using your logo or your picture if people recognize who you are. Also have a custom background developed as they are inexpensive for the value they provide. A custom background enables you to include a description about your business, phone number and other contact information that is vital to generating a lead.

Custom Twitter background designers:
Tweet Style – http://tweetstyle.com/
Twitter Image – http://www.twitterimage.com/

Here are some examples of great branding using custom background images:
Michael Gray – http://twitter.com/graywolf
Darren Rowse – http://twitter.com/problogger
Tony Adam – http://twitter.com/tonyadam
Jeremy Schoemaker – http://twitter.com/shoemoney

Don’t Spam

There two ways you can spam on twitter actively and passively. Don’t be fooled both are your fault and you will lose valuable credibility and potential leads.

Actively spamming on twitter means sending the same messages every minute, every hour, every day. There may be tremendous value in the message but after a few hours I’m sure the value in the message is lost or ignored. If this is consistent for long enough all messages regarding about you will eventually be ignored. If you care about your account, have some restraint and try not to barrage your followers with the exact same information and links over and over.

Passively spamming is still your fault but can be explained and forgiven. With twitter applications and twitter games being introduced, assuming that the application creators will have high integrity and not use your account to spam is foolish.

Two such applications have already come out and spread virally because twitter account users allowed these applications to post messages on their behalf. Twitter account users became aware of this only after followers were blocking, unfollowing or complaining of excessive irrelevant messages. Don’t be fooled by allowing applications to have write access to your account, most will use it and send automated messages. It’s highly probable that this was the reason they created the applications on the twitter platform to begin with!

A new forum attracts people from all walks of life. Below are listed five of the most common personality types that a new forum is likely to attract.

Each one of the personalities listed below has their set of pros and cons. The job of a new forum owner is to control the cons and find ways to motivate and bring the best of the pros to grow the forum.

The Salesman

The salesman is motivated to be everyone’s friend. They typically will not try to anger anyone and will reply with neutral comments to show contribution and keep peace with everyone.

The key is to curtail and control whatever the salesman is trying to sell and keep to a minimum. They are assets to the forum as they help keep the peace and keep new posts rolling in.

Pros: motivated to post, motivated to make friends and helps keep the peace, motivated to keep the perception of a friendly trusted person.

Cons: will eventually try to sell something in the forum, may stop contributing and never come back if sales are not generated.

The Intellect

The intellect’s are a rare find and they usually find you. They are motivated by correcting and providing in-depth information about a certain subject.

It is useless to argue with an intellect as they usually have years of experience and can point to the exact sentence in a book to prove they are right. Intellects are tremendous asset to a forum in that they can keep topics from straying and provide valuable insight.

Pros: highly knowledgeable, motivated to provide correct information and usually best candidates to promote to forum moderator.

Cons: can be stubborn, trigger debates and are not likely to descend from the heavens to admit they were wrong.

The Clueless

The clueless typically are new to the forum subject and unlike those who ask progressive questions and learn, clueless members just cannot seem to get it. Clueless members will often ask the same question several times or just keep asking for clarification after several examples have been provided. This of course leads to members replying angrily and becoming frustrated.

The best way to deal with the clueless is by providing FAQ sections and sticky post with “how to” instructions.

Pros: asks all the simple questions and posts frequently.

Cons: can prove difficult if indeed they never get it, can convert a friendly forum into an angry lynch mob with pitchforks and torches.

The Angry And Frustrated

Angry and frustrated members usually find the forum as an escape from their daily routines. It’s important to understand that they are already angry and frustrated by the time they show up at the forum.

Just about any little thing can trigger an angry outburst from this type of member. Usually a quick private message can calm this member down and get them to become solid contributors over time.

Pros: usually knowledgeable about the forum topic, can be motivated to be a solid contributor and usually make the best watchdogs against forum poachers or rule breakers.

Cons: will start a fight, can quickly spread fear of posting in your forum.

The Lurker

The lurker usually joined the forum because it is useful and provides good information. They are called lurkers because they never post and always show up as daily visitors in your forum statistics.

Never contributing but always visiting and viewing new forum posts. Not to worry though when the time is right they typically introduce themselves and turn out to be solid contributors.

Pros: do not cause conflict, return visitor, eventually become solid contributors.

Cons: take a long time to make the first post, can be difficult to challenge or motivate them to become contributors.

Mix And Match

The above personality types are but a small example and forum members can have qualities from each of these which makes them unique. The key here is to recognize the personality types of your members to help you keep balance in your forum.

Knowing who is likely to contribute and help versus who is likely to cause a fight or explode in anger will help the long-term health of a forum. The key is to quickly identify and take the correct course of action in order to bring out the best in each forum member.

Do you have a new forum? Are you looking for your first new members to sign up? Here’s a simple method to attract your first visitors and have a high probability that they will join your new forum.

You ever hear the phrase “you have to give in order to receive?” In this strategy it’s in full effect and you need to be ready to contribute a bit in order to receive what you’re looking for… New Members!

To keep things simple let’s say I’m starting a new forum on baseball. My goal is to find people who are interested in sports specifically baseball and get them to join my new forum.

Find Related Forums

The first thing I would do is seek out very large sports forum that talks about all kinds sports including baseball. I look to see what kind of community it is as some are more friendlier than others and you can tell this typically by the type of exchange members have with one another. By paying attention to this detail you can foresee the type of members you will be attracting to your new forum.

I try to use my best judgment when selecting a forum. Sometimes if I see there is a lot of heated exchange it may be signaled to me that users may want find a new safe forum to talk about baseball. When I see a very happy-go-lucky forum where people are kind and informative to each other this may signal of higher quality I would want to attract to my new forum. Using common sense I try to put myself in the position of the members in that forum and see if there is an angle or reason for them to seek out a new forum to talk about baseball.

Build A Solid Reputation

The strategy when trying to attract visitors from existing forum has to be carefully planned out. The impulse is to quickly post about your new forum and invite everybody to join. However this will quickly get you banned in some forums and your post deleted. I hold off on the impulse and build a solid rapport first and foremost.

I would make a point to answer as many questions about baseball as possible. By doing so I am establishing myself as an authority in a specific sport and building trust by being friendly to existing members of the larger forum.

The key to this strategy for me would be to focus on one maybe two large forums in order to give me enough time to answer questions thoroughly and consistently.

The Migration

So now I have created an account in a large forum under specific sport in this case baseball. I spent time building a reputation, authority and trust among forum members. Now it’s time to help forum members migrate to my new forum. Here are some examples of how I would do this:

Forum Signatures – This is the oldest but easiest way to attract new visitors to my forum. If the large forum allows me to place whatever text and link I want my post signature then at this point I do so. Usually I’m not the only one doing this so take a look around at other signatures and see how aggressive other members are being. Sometimes it requires a little subtlety like “talk baseball with me” or sometimes I can be much more aggressive and write something like “Check out my baseball forum.

Announcements – Sometimes large forums have areas for members to make announcements or post off-topic news. If I see the forum allows for member announcements I then post about my new forum. If I see that forum owners may take exception to this I make the post about something I read and link to a blog post announcing the new forum.

Profile Information – Sometimes once I have established a credible account I update my profile and also include information about my forum. For example I may write “baseball fanatic and owner of baseballforum.com.” In this way as I answer more questions about baseball those who are interested in my profile will be aware of and likely visit my new forum.

Private Message – This is a riskiest one of all and I have to make sure that I’ve made solid friends in the forum before using private messaging. It’s risky because it’s an easy way to get banned from the forum as soliciting other members to join your forum is usually looked down upon. So it’s time to get a bit creative and learn about the people in the other forum. Some of them might run sports blogs or be members of other forums.

What I may do is simply ask a favor. For example I may ask “Have a second? Can you help me out with coming up with new topics for my baseball forum? I’d greatly appreciate it.” In this way I’m involving an existing forum member indirectly. If in the past I have been very helpful to this user they will probably be more than happy to help.

If I see a forum member has a blog I would first read the blog and see what it is about. What I would be looking for are news roundups or announcements. If I see news roundups I ask for a quick one line blurb announcing my new baseball forum to be included in the next round. If I see announcements I would probably type something up ahead of time and ask if it can be included or announced on the blog.

Key To Success

Again the critical key to success is the relationship that I’ve built ahead of time by answering questions and being active in the larger forum.

Do you remember what it felt like when you were in a bind and needed answers right now? When you were frantically digging through search results trying to find help online? Remember the sense of relief you felt when you found somebody who actually posted a step-by-step process of how to resolve your issue?

Sometimes what you consider easy is somebody else’s difficult daily task. Take some time to document some of the processes that you go through, some strategies used to speed those things up are some of the cool tools you use that help you speed up a job.

Next time you’re wondering about what kind of blog post or article to write think about helping somebody out. Write a step by step tutorial with pictures, bullet points and go the whole 9 yards. I find that these kinds of posts and articles are the ones that become popular on social media sites and generate tons of traffic. They tend to quickly attract links and end up floating to the top of search results.

There’s always somebody looking for answers so why not make your site the place to go to? Establish yourself as the authority in your subject not only by offering advice but by providing examples.

Some Tips:

- Write a great title for example: How I fixed my broken iPod screen in 3 steps

- Write a great meta description: Fixing my iPod screen was easy so I documented it step by step with pictures. First thing I did was…

- If your goal is to attract return visitors then solve problems related to your blog or site.