Twitter & Stupid Internet Marketing Gurus

November 10, 2008


Twitter & Stupid Internet Marketing Gurus is a guest article by Tim Brownson. Tim is a professional life coach and you can find him at: A Daring Adventure Life Coaching.

Twitter is a great tool for growing your business. All you have to do is build up a large enough network of people following you, spread your word and sit back and wait for the cash to roll in. It’s a simple tactic and one that just can’t fail, or can it?

I don’t have as many people following me as some of the more hardcore Twitter users and there are several reasons.

I don’t automatically follow people that follow me. If you have a coffee shop in Belarus and like to chat about knitting and wrestling, it’s doubtful I’ll reciprocate. It’s not a judgment call on you as a person, I’m sure you’re lovely; it’s simply that my knit one purl one and half nelson days are long gone.

I tend to unfollow people if every post is a link and they seem incapable or unwilling to get involved in any discourse. I have enough links to follow thanks very much and any more is likely to further fry my frazzled brain.

I’m not famous and people love to follow famous people, even if they are only famous within the relative narrow confines of the blogosphere. Having said that, I do have an insatiable appetite for fame. I read about fame, yearn to be famous and realize that without fame my life is a meaningless travesty. I have one goal in life and that is to be more famous and better known than the Pope. It’s a tall order admittedly, but one I am quietly confident in achieving it by the end of next month.

To help me with my lofty goal I decided that enlisting the help of somebody that actually knows what they’re talking about when it comes to marketing would be a wise idea.

I trawled the web looking for small niche companies that specialized in online marketing and specifically social networking. Alas, it was all to no avail; I was simply overwhelmed as there were over 196 million such companies in Florida alone.

Then I thought ’Why not bring the mountain to Mohammed rather than the other way round.”

At the time I had about 330 people following me on Twitter and I knew for a fact that at least 20 of those were in the marketing industry and some were undoubtedly gurus. If you’re going to aim high get yourself a guru that’s what I say. I knew I couldn’t fail with Twitter because Twitter is simply dripping with gurus. Admittedly they tend to be self-proclaimed gurus, but beggars can’t be choosers.

I Twittered my desire and requested people respond to me via DM. I was a little concerned that I was going to have to turn down some people, but hey if world domination (in a life coaching sense of course, I have no plans to invade small countries) is my desire, I’ll have to break a few hearts along the way.

I blocked out an hour to research my respondents and make a decision to get things rolling. It was an interesting hour spent checking my e-mail, checking my e-mail connection, checking my eyesight and watching my message slide ever further backwards.

On the upside I didn’t have any tough decisions to make because nobody replied to me, even when I posted a second time

Could it be that everybody on Twitter is so busy with work that they just can’t deal with any more? That certainly would explain it, but it does tend to fly in the face of the troubled economic times we currently live in. Recession, what recession?

You could be mistaken for thinking that this was an isolated instance and everybody was just busy that day. Not so. Previously I had asked for help with YouTube marketing three times and Facebook once and got the same response

I’m a strange fish in so much as when I go on Twitter I read the posts. I know, I know, call me old fashioned, but I like that kind of stuff. I love to chat to people and build up relationships, but I’m starting to wonder if I’m in the minority.

It seems to me that many Twitterers are so busy shouting at each other and posting links, they haven’t got time to take a look around and see what’s going on. They’re missing opportunities in their haste to tell people not to miss the opportunity they have to offer.

I’m not at all sure what the logical conclusion to this is, or even if there is a logical conclusion. My hunch is that Twitter may be a victim of it’s own success in the not too distant future. As more and more people dive in seeing it as a chance to sell their product or service, rather than an opportunity to connect. The net result will be that more noise will created and less can be heard.

This is A Guest Article By Tim Brownson of A Daring Adventure Life Coaching


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Tweets About Well Known Businesses On Twitter

Virgin Atlantic on Twitter: Virgin Atlantic Lounge, Narky Gate Staff And More.
Microsoft On Twitter: Gates Sells Another $23 Million Microsoft shares etc.
Google On Twitter: Just added some of the Google Labs features to my GMail. Love those peeps at Google, genius.
Carnival Cruise Line On Twitter: Maybe I’m a snob but the concept of Carnival Cruise line’s Great Gig in the Sea, Pink Floyd-themed cruise just irritates the hell out of me.
Apple On Twitter: The sad thing is, we’ll have to take what Apple give us and we’ll probably like it.
American Airlines on Twitter: Thrilled that American Airlines destroyed my luggage.
Starbucks On Twitter: Starbucks is becoming the Costco of coffee shops.
Norwich Union on Twitter: Norwich Union admits £11 million error.
Zales On Twitter: Zales – Extra 30% Off Clearance, Prices Reduced up to 70%.
McDonalds On Twitter: Confused! See Brit chefs on TV touting great food they cook. In the UK the food is terrible! They even make McDonalds taste nasty.

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Comments

44 Responses to “Twitter & Stupid Internet Marketing Gurus”

  1. Betsy Wuebker on November 10th, 2008 4:15 pm

    Hi – This perspective more closely mirrors my own. I’d be interested to see if Chris Brogan, or another social media powerhouse, would elaborate or follow up to this. Noise filters are already necessary on Twitter, and I keep my list of those I follow low. I thought it was just because I’m old and can’t keep up.

    Also, I’d bet that a response might have been received if your contact strategy had been employed outside of Twitter. So…Twitter is sort of like the Multiple Listing Service realtors use. It essentially makes a house that’s for sale available to be found. Then you have to actually go in the house to see if it’s something you’d really want to buy.

    Betsy Wuebker’s last blog post..HOLE-IN-THE-DAY

  2. John Hoff - eVentureBiz on November 10th, 2008 6:39 pm

    Hello Tim, excellent post.

    You know, about two weeks ago I attended a small gathering at the Hard Rock Hotel which Dan Akroyd held for local businesses (Bar owners). Dan has moved on from making movies to selling Vodka. I was there through a contact.

    Dan got on a small stage and talked for a bit. One of the things he said which rings true is, “You have to surround yourself with people smarter than you if you want to truly be successful.”

    About Twitter – I have yet to sign up and I’m not sure I ever will. It just doesn’t seem like a great tool I can use where people will really get to know me business-wise in such a way they would recommend me.

    Let’s not forget, Twitter can take up a lot of your time and there are many other ways to connect with people and become wealthy, however, I do admit that I probably shouldn’t judge to harshly since I haven’t used Twitter yet.

    John Hoff – eVentureBiz’s last blog post..30.1 Web Tools For Online Success And To Make Your Life Easier At The Same Time

  3. Vered - MomGrind on November 10th, 2008 7:06 pm

    “It seems to me that many Twitterers are so busy shouting at each other and posting links, they haven’t got time to take a look around and see what’s going on. They’re missing opportunities in their haste to tell people not to miss the opportunity they have to offer.”

    Guilty as charged.

    Vered – MomGrind’s last blog post..Ugliest Shoes EVER

  4. Amy on November 10th, 2008 7:10 pm

    Hey Catherine,

    I went to your twitter page and tried to find the post and couldn’t. (Admittedly, I only went back as far at Oct 7 and skimmed over everything you said that started with @), so I’m not sure *exactly* what you’re looking for. But if you need a Twitter/social marketing guru, my friend Janet is pretty savvy. I don’t think I can post links in your comments, but she’s mentioned in my second-to-last post, is jfouts on twitter (I’m Tahari), and has a website. Or you can google Janet Fouts.

    Hope that helps. Let me know if you want something more specific.
    -A

    Amy’s last blog post..Listening to Naomi reminds me of a Martha Stewart article

  5. Kim Woodbridge on November 10th, 2008 7:34 pm

    I signed up for Twitter a year ago but have really only used it in the last 6 to 7 months. I have noticed a lot of changes in that short time. When I first started using it there weren’t that many people shouting at you and more people seemed to be having conversations. I’m not saying I preferred it more before but I think the “snake-oil salesmen” have come out in full force.

    The best thing to do is to follow a lot of people and then stop following the ones that are shouting at you and continue to follow the ones that have conversations with you or that you are learning from.

    I also think you may be missing out by not following people who seem to have vastly different interests. Some of my favorite people on Twitter have almost nothing in common with me.

    I’m not sure why your question didn’t get answered. I’ve had that happen but then when I ask again, I do get a response.

    @Betsy – Darren Rowse is working an interview with Chris Brogan about how Chris handles the noise. The interview will be posted in his new blog about Twitter, twitip.com

    Kim Woodbridge’s last blog post..Using Controversy to Attract More Blog Comments – Does it Work?

  6. Betsy Wuebker on November 10th, 2008 7:40 pm

    @Kim – Thanks for the heads up on the Brogan interview!

    Betsy Wuebker’s last blog post..HOLE-IN-THE-DAY

  7. Victoria on November 10th, 2008 8:15 pm

    Careful now; you do realise you’re pointing out those new clothes the emperor bought have interesting light-reflective properties don’t you?

  8. Maya on November 10th, 2008 9:00 pm

    Hi Tim,
    I have to disagree here. I doubt it is about creating a large enough network, spreading the word and sitting back …
    I really think it is about building authentic relationships.

    There is a lot more noise out there than there was before. But I really doubt there is any short cut – we have to take the time to give a lot before we get anything – just like in the real world. I have met some wonderful people through twitter – very helpful too.

    I think the secret is to find and follow people we like and admire, rather than find people who will fall into some category. Truer connections are formed that way. Sending DMs to folk are great for establishing rapport through direct conversation too :) . This is a great read and I completely agree with the article: Hi Maya – sorry, I had to remove your link as a) Tim was saying exactly what the author did – with a bit of added humour. b) It linked to a mailing list.

    I’m sure you didn’t mean any harm but I get kind of tired of folk trying to spam my blog with other people’s products. Everyone who comments here already gets two links in their signature – it’s not a flea market, or a link farm. Thanks.

    I use monitter.com to make sure I am not missing any direct messages.

    Maya’s last blog post..Slideshow: Dogs Lessons for Life and Work

  9. cathlawson on November 10th, 2008 9:41 pm

    Hi Betsy – That’s a good point. If he’d posted it elsewhere, he’d have had all the scammers of the day trying to screw him.

    Hi John – that sounds cool. I still have not been to a Hard Rock Hotel and I’ve never seen Dan Ackroyd either. A lot of folk say you should surround yourself by people smarter than you.

    It’s worth trying Twitter out. There’s other ways to meet people but you can pop in and out of Twitter when you like – if you’re disciplined.

    Hi Vered – that is true. It just seems so silly that they’re desperately trying to get customers and someone comes along asking for their help and they don’t notice. I must admit – I see too many people I know at once and wind up in about a dozen conversations. It gets confusing.

    Hi Amy – I’m sorry. I feel bad that you’ve taken all that time. I didn’t write the post. It was a guest post by Tim Brownson. But if you know someone who can make him famous in a month I bet he’d be pleased.

    Hi Kim – I hate when someone shouts at you all the time and you try to speak back and they ignore you. I unsubscribe folk that do that. It just doesn’t make sense – we’d be better off having commercials played to us for an hour.

    Hi Victoria – LOL Tim wrote the article but I chose the title, so I probably made it sound worse than it does.

  10. cathlawson on November 10th, 2008 9:46 pm

    Hi Maya – I know what you mean. I think Tim was just expecting someone to offer to fleece him for a few grand.

    Building authentic relationships is important in social networking but some of those Internet Marketing lot would have had him signing up to all kinds if they noticed the message.

    I will check out monniter.com thanks.

  11. Davina on November 10th, 2008 10:04 pm

    Hi Cath and Tim. I can’t offer my opinion on social networking yet. “I have enough links to follow thanks very much and any more is likely to further fry my frazzled brain.”

    Precisely why I haven’t ventured into that arena yet. Right now I’m on SUCH an incredible learning curve. No complaints, but my brain is overflowing with information: It’s like Monday is all of Grade 1 & graduation, Tuesday is Grade 2 & graduation… and so on. As soon as I pop into Twitter, my eyes glaze over :-)

    Davina’s last blog post..Akemi Gaines On Intuition, Dreams And Spiritual Guidance?Interview Part 2

  12. Patricia on November 10th, 2008 11:06 pm

    Cath and Tim, another learning post today, but I think I am closer to Davina on attempting not to fry my brain as I get started…I am working on this week re-looking at everything I have learned, and learning how to use it better.

    I have failed getting on twitter several times now, am finally on Stumble Upon but not getting many friends…

    I think the community building relationship aspect is crucial – a product you can trust…

    Patricia’s last blog post..Something Smells

  13. Cath Lawson on November 11th, 2008 12:46 am

    Hi Davina – I’m not surprised you’ve not had time to use Twitter. I thought I was the only one mad enough to work through the night to get things done until I met you. It’s worth being mad for a little while though.

    Hi Patricia – I was wondering how you were getting on on StumbleUpon. Did you miss the post where I mentioned the StumbleUpon course? It’s here: http://cathlawson.com/blog/2008/10/27/are-these-4-social-network-sites-a-waste-of-time/
    The first half of the course is free.

    Making friends on StumbleUpon may seem daunting at first. But when you come across a post your really like, just check out who stumbled it and see what else they’ve stumbled.

    If you like their stuff, go to their profile and review it. Also check out their blog address and visit it. And once you get to know that person a little – add them as a friend and they’ll probably do the same.

    Cath Lawson’s last blog post..Twitter & Stupid Internet Marketing Gurus

  14. Evelyn Lim on November 11th, 2008 1:22 am

    I’m not sure if I can really handle Twitter. It may be a great social network but I find that I’ve got not enough time to commit to it. However, I’ve heard how useful it can be in generating buzz for a marketing campaign.

    Still, I have to admit that I am increasingly immune to shouts from social media. There is just too many of them coming in!!

    Evelyn Lim’s last blog post..7 Keys To Law of Attraction Living For Kids

  15. cathlawson on November 11th, 2008 3:09 am

    Hi Evelyn – I think joining more than one or two social networks would be really overwhelming wouldn’t it? And too many shouts coming in can be a headache.

  16. Marelisa on November 11th, 2008 3:17 am

    Tim: This is hilarious (coffee shop in Belarus). I look to twitter as a source of information and I’ve also had some very pleasant exchanges with people there. Most of what I do is try to network, but I do broadcast my blog posts every time I write one (which is three times a week). I find people will visit my blog post and often retweet it. I don’t get a lot of traffic from twitter though, but I’m hoping that will change as I get more followers (I have 505 as of right now).

    Marelisa’s last blog post..100 Essential Life Lessons

  17. Patricia on November 11th, 2008 4:16 am

    Cath,
    Thank you for the next tutorial of SU…I did your twitter intro. I will start that tomorrow. My bank just knocked my bookkeeping program into another world zone and I have been on the phone to India for 3 days re-programing the information so I don’t loose 10 months worth of records…I hate how long these glitches take me to recover from..I am so glad I have a speaker phone…old but good idea that was useful!
    Thanks again.

    Patricia’s last blog post..Something Smells

  18. Stacey / Create a Balance on November 11th, 2008 5:18 am

    I use Twitter but still don’t really understand it.

    Stacey / Create a Balance’s last blog post..And the Winner Is?..

  19. Nicole on November 11th, 2008 1:04 pm

    Noise, yep.
    That’s what most of these “social” networks seem to be these days.
    I, for whatever reason> couldn’t get warm with twitter.
    I tried only briefly.
    I started using plurk though.
    And I actually like it :)
    But the first few weeks of using it all day long are over and the being famous part?
    I don’t know, just doesn’t sit right with me. Too much effort to be put in. And I doubt it’s worth it.

  20. Kelly@SHE-POWER on November 11th, 2008 1:11 pm

    Your finding about internet marketing gurus doesn’t surprise me at all Tim. Twitter is so full of noise it’s hard to find a conversation with anyone you don’t already know i think.

    And besides, what is an ‘expert’ and who gets to decide anyway? After Brian Clarke and other big name bloggers telling us for ages to sell ourselves as experts in a niche, that’s what everyone’s done, but it doesn’t make it true. Most of it is just posturing and hot air, I think.

    I’m going to proclaim myself an expert on Kelly Rigby, and the art of how to eat a packet of chocolate biscuits in one sitting. Anyone want to follow me?

    I’m on twitter, but I’m the one who babbles on about nothing and forgets to even tweet her own posts most of the time. God, I’m a social media guru!

    Kelly :)

    Kelly@SHE-POWER’s last blog post..SHE-POWER Fiction: Samantha Says

  21. cathlawson on November 11th, 2008 1:42 pm

    Hi Mare – it was an hilarious post wasn’t it? 505 followers is a lot. I’m still only an occassional user, so I have less than 300. And I have noticed that you do very well at networking on there Mare. Anytime I log on you’re always busy talking to folk and I don’t like to interrupt.

    Hi Patricia – I hope you get your accounts sorted. Speaker phones are definitely useful when you’re stuck on the phone to banks.

    Hi Stacey – I think you’ve got to watch for a while to get used to it. It’s worth following folk like Michael Martine and Liz Strauss to get an idea of how to use it properly.

    Hi Nicole – I haven’t tried plurk yet but you’re the second person that’s mentioned it, so I’ll have to take a look sometimes.

    Like you, I couldn’t use any of those tools for hours on end. I know it’s marketing – but I wouldn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket.

    LOL Kelly – I’m just in the middle of writing a post about some of those self-proclaimed experts. The trouble is, some of them sell themselves as experts and innocent folk waste a fortune to learn “how not to do” something.

    I read an article the other day and apparently some “social media” gurus are charging $300 plus an hour to teach folk how to use Twitter. I can’t imagine you compromising your integrity to join them though.

    I could definitely join you in the chocolate biscuit category. In fact, I bet I could do two packets. Would that make me the Oprah of biscuits?

  22. cathlawson on November 11th, 2008 3:51 pm

    Hi Tim – thanks for writing this article. It was hilarious. Some folk seemed to miss the point – I guess they were doing that shouting instead of reading thing you mentioned.

    Do you want me to forward the emails from the “gurus” who have volunteered to make you famous for around ten grand?

  23. Tim Brownson on November 11th, 2008 4:21 pm

    Yeh, gimme, gimme, Cath. Only 10 grand? What a bargain how could I fail.

    I actually like Twitter, but I am getting more and more brutal on on it with who I follow. In fact, I have just unfollowed somebody after they posted hitting 2,000 followers in 5 weeks. Wow, I didn’t know it was a pissing competition for our ego’s?? Amazingly enough the guy is a marketing ‘expert’ BTW, that wasn’t the only reason I was no longer interested in him, it just pushed me over the edge.

    I temporarily unfriended another person when they were at a convention and posting every 10 minutes. She was making it impossible for me to follow conversations. So I unfollowed her with the intention of re-following later. Within hours she had unfollowed me too! LMAO, are we still in school here?

    Thanks for everybody’s feedback and I did get hooked up with a guru, kinda.

    Tim Brownson’s last blog post..Is The Law of Attraction A Con?

  24. Jannie on November 11th, 2008 5:42 pm

    Kath, I’m really curious, what are the chances a compelling personal and not particularly niche-i-fied blog can really grow and succeed without Twitter? And as to “succeed,” let’s say said blogger’s goal is to break 100,000 on Alexa. (Not mentioning the names of any such aspiring blogs, of course.) :)

    Jannie’s last blog post..Endometriosis sucks

  25. cathlawson on November 11th, 2008 6:28 pm

    LMAO Tim – I don’t think you need a guru to help you get famous. You definitely already stand out in your field.

    I think I’m also subscribed to that 2000 subscribers guy. It’s funny how the real marketers always follow more folk than they have following them isn’t it?

    It’s weird but the night before you sent me this article, I had a dream (or maybe it was a nightmare). I had a month to make someone famous, or I’d suffer disasterous consequences.

    Hi Jannie – tough question, because I have a niche, so it was a bit easier for me.

    Vered claims not to have a particular niche & her blog popularity soared quickly. I don’t think she’ll give away all her secrets though :) But it helps to focus on at least half a dozen marketing activities and keep doing them.

    Also, don’t forget that breaking the top 100k won’t necessarily make you a heap of money. With a personal blog, I think you’ve got to be Dooce like and grow a huge army of fans, so you attract advertisers; or write some of your topics round decent paying keywords and use adsense; or develop your own product or service.

    For an idea on decent paying keyphrases just use a free resource like: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

  26. Davina on November 12th, 2008 12:01 am

    Hi Cath. Laughing!!! Yes, I am mad, and slipping farther, faster. All day Sunday I was lost. I had to keep reminding myself what day it was. And I couldn’t take an afternoon nap cause I had a coaching call.

    It was worth it to stay up all night though, cause I got something important done. I think those hours were ripe for inspiration. However, I’m “paying for it” today. I don’t appear to have accomplished much of anything.

    Maybe that person you dreamed about having to make famous in a month was you??? ;-)

    Davina’s last blog post..Akemi Gaines On Intuition, Dreams And Spiritual Guidance?Interview Part 2

  27. Jamie Simmerman on November 12th, 2008 12:18 am

    I love your Tweets, Tim. And I like chatting and reading links. :)

    I’m always on the lookout for an entertaining post or a tidbit of useful information. The Internet’s a big place, Twitter makes it a little but cozier for me. :)

    Jamie Simmerman’s last blog post..The Unseen Struggle

  28. Jennifer Louden on November 12th, 2008 12:38 am

    Thank God somebody said what I’ve been thinking. I’m new to Twitter, loving it for learning and connections. DO NOT get it for following thousands. Excuse me, how is that a relationship?

    That said, I’ve made three really great new friends who I’m working with on projects… so that is amazingly cool.

    But when people post, “Help me get to 4 ziillion followers” I think “You are insane” and “Give me a paper bag to breath into” and “Have I somehow stumbled back to high school? HELP!”

    And who are all these social media gurus? I can’t even understand their posts.

    Okay, I’m done whining. Thanks for your great post.

    Jennifer Louden’s last blog post..Comfort During Fearful Times: Acedia and Me

  29. Mark McClure on November 12th, 2008 5:44 am

    Tim’s probably un-friended me by now as I only tweet a few times a week :-)

    What got me interested in T was a free Paul Corrigan webinar (on social media and T in particular IIRC) using T to handle qs/ comments while he was running the call. I thought that was cool.

    Paul made a comment that made me pay attention – said something like he doesn’t reply to tweets that are more than 5 mins old because this is not email lol!

    (And my Japan timezone kind of filters out the live tweets from a lot of the US/Eur folks I might come across.)

    Recently I’ve been enjoying the Q&A on LinkedIn and adding my 10 yen’s worth. I find it less interrupt driven – me being a single tasker kind of guy.

    Mark McClure’s last blog post..What Might You Learn From A Corporate Cynic?

  30. Hump Day Reading for the Restless Soul — Write From Home on November 12th, 2008 7:31 am

    [...] Twitter & Stupid Internet Marketing Gurus (a guest post by Tim Brownson) at Cath Lawson’s blog [...]

  31. cathlawson on November 12th, 2008 9:16 am

    Hi Davina – It might even have been you I dreamed about. I had been thinking of ways you could promote your business before I had the dream.

    That is the trouble with working through the night. It catches up with you eventually and you don’t function so well the next day.

    Hi Jamie – I think Twitter is cozy too. And Tim can even make folk laugh with only 140 characters.

    Hi Jennifer – The thought of following thousands of folk is mind boggling isn’t it?

    Hi Mark – LOL – some folk do seem to unfriend you if you don’t logon every day. Someone added me as a friend and sent me a direct message. I didn’t respond to it for a couple of days and when I did, it wouldn’t work cos they’d already unfriended me.

  32. Erica Douglass on November 12th, 2008 8:58 pm

    Hi! Not trying to hate, but I don’t get this post. This post seems more like an outlet to complain than an actual “Hey, I want to solve this problem”.

    Tim, you don’t put your Twitter name on this post or let us see what you were posting. Did you ask for a retweet? Did you attempt to follow people who you thought might have what you need or know someone who did?

    I have gotten some great recommendations of people (most recently, an audio editor) on Twitter. Without actual links, I can’t see what we’re doing differently.

    Also of note, I went to your blog, but you don’t have your Twitter name posted there.

    -Erica

    Erica Douglass’s last blog post..Are You Ready?

  33. cathlawson on November 13th, 2008 12:09 am

    Hi Erica – It was more a kind of humorous post but I think some folk didn’t get it because Tim is English. I had someone unsubscribe from my newsletter once, because he didn’t like the way I spoke to him and it was probably because I’m English :)

    What he was really saying is that some IM Gurus are too busy shouting to try to attract customers, instead of listening to what folk are saying. So they’re missing out on making sales.

    And it’s kind of funny because they’re usually the ones promising to make folk rich by teaching them about internet marketing.

  34. Jannie on November 13th, 2008 4:21 am

    Cath! That was a very useful response, thanks. Very.

    Jannie’s last blog post..To flounce or not to flounce

  35. Natural on November 13th, 2008 11:25 am

    will check out the links for sure. i’m relatively new to twitter. it’s my down time to shout out nonsense. don’t feel like doing business all day and then coming home doing more business. not really a marketing tool for me…i just found out people are twittering their twitter ranking? i don’t even want to know what that is. :)

    Natural’s last blog post..Oh, Sense Less One

  36. Tim Brownson on November 13th, 2008 9:38 pm

    @ Erica – When people promote themselves as experts on social marketing and I post several times on a social marketing tool for help, should I really need to go looking? Do I really want to work with people like that? I’m not convinced. The YouTube request was retweeted several times, the other I honestly don’t know.

    It’s interesting to me that I see people that have Alexa rankings way lower than mine that position themselves as experts. What does that make me? Well not a lot really, because I’m not an expert. However, I would expect anybody I hire to have more subscribers than me and a higher Alexa ranking. That kind of proves to me they know what they’re doing. If they can’t do it for their business, what makes them think they can do it for mine?

    There is a large Twitter logo that says Follow Me on Twitter iin the sidebar on my blog front page and I’m easy enough to find as my Twitter name is timbrownson. Not sure what else I can do or even what the relevance of that is.

    @ Janine – My blog is in the Alexa top 100k and I earn zero from it. In fact I spend more on it than I get back in actual sales. OTOH it helps my organic rankings and helps gain clients.

    Tim Brownson’s last blog post..What’s Your Sense Of Purpose?

  37. cathlawson on November 14th, 2008 12:34 am

    Hi Jannie – you’re welcome.

    Hi Valerie – I’ve noticed that too. I don’t even know how to find out your Twitter ranking.

    Hi Tim – I know what you mean. I think Erica misunderstood the context of what you were saying. I feel the same way – if one of those guys can do so much for you, how come he couldn’t do it for himself.

    Definitely – all the social stuff helps our search ranking and that’s where many of the paying customers come from.

    I love how many of the so called Guru’s don’t like Alexa anymore because it’s no longer only measuring visits from bloggers. Many of them have lost one major advantage they used to deceive visitors who came to their sites.

  38. wilhb81 on November 25th, 2008 9:47 am

    Well, Cath. I’m also think that the Twitter is totally out of control, where there are many spammers all over the place and it makes me sick to stay in for a long period…

    wilhb81’s last blog post..Starting Your Own Business is Not a Dream Anymore!

  39. Vu Tong on March 30th, 2009 10:52 am

    For once a very honest article on the hype around Twitter.

    Thank you!

    Vu Tong’s last blog post..Why Some Internet Marketing Guru Is Too Busy Selling

  40. Does Social Networking Improve Your Business & Your Brain? | Catherine Lawson on December 7th, 2009 11:51 am

    [...] Site Should You Talk Dirty To Your Customers? How Not To Promote Your Business On The Internet Twitter & Stupid Internet Marketing Gurus Are These 4 Social Network Sites A Waste Of [...]

  41. tempe on January 3rd, 2010 12:36 pm

    “It seems to me that many Twitterers are so busy shouting at each other and posting links, they haven’t got time to take a look around and see what’s going on. They’re missing opportunities in their haste to tell people not to miss the opportunity they have to offer.”

    tempe’s last blog post..daftar lagu-lagu indo plagiat

  42. tempe on January 3rd, 2010 12:37 pm

    hmm… i prefer facebook..!!!

    tempe’s last blog post..daftar lagu-lagu indo plagiat

  43. TAP Profit Funnel on January 4th, 2010 12:30 pm

    Twitter can be monetized, dont’ give up to quick. I’ve seen it happening. ;)

    TAP Profit Funnel’s last blog post..A Helping Hand in Times of Crisis – TAP Profit Funnel

  44. Thomas on January 18th, 2010 3:14 pm

    I agree that there is alot of garbage on Twitter and you have to weed through it to find good content……especially if your searching for internet marketing or SEO related material. I do find Twitter very helpful in staying on-top of the latest trands.

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