21 Jan | 2013

Jess Van Den Launches Create & Thrive

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Create and Thrive

Jess has just launched her new site dedicated to helping people turn their ”handmade hobby into a full-time business.’

It is the latest in many of her creative pursuits. I have a lot of faith in her work because she only launches projects that she is 100% committed to. I’m really excited to see where Jen takes this project.

Notes:

  • Look at how she encourages convos via #createthrive hashtag on twitter. She makes this very prominent in the sidebar
  • She also encourages people to send in questions via facebook. She is great at using social media to get feedback and ideas
Filed Under: Uncategorized
14 Jan | 2013

Nail Romance Interview Graphic: How Cool Is This?

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I love this graphic that Christina Butcher created to compliment an interview on Nail Romance. It conveys a lot of information quickly and is total Pinterest bait.

Have you seen a similar technique used? I may collect them for a round-up post.

Filed Under: Ideas
29 Apr | 2012

Nicole Avery talks about publishing, app development and growing her blog

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Nicole Avery is well known in the Australian blogging community. She has amassed quite the following at her blog Planning With Kids, where she shares tips and tricks to organising the chaos of family life.

I love how she has evolved as a blogger and business owner. In the past few months, she has implemented a lot of changes. I think that you can learn a lot about her blog evolution and the strategic approach she applies to her business.

She is a finalist for the Sydney Writers’ Center best blogs for 2012 in the parenting category, and was featured in Australian Good Taste Magazine this month. She is awesome and a great role model.

You recently redesigned your blog. What was the motivation for the change?

I attended Blog World Expo in LA last year and it was the best thing I could have done for determining what I wanted to do with my blog.  I came away with new and very clear goals for the blog.

When I came back home and was looking at my blog, I realized that the design and structure of my blog were not aimed at helping me achieve my goals.  There was much I needed to change to make the blog itself work with me in the direction I wanted to head.

A major part of the new design is focused on meal planning.  Will that always be the focus?

The major change in the blog design was about show casing the resources I have on the site and getting people to sign up to my newsletter.  At this stage the only online tool I have is the menu planner, but that will change over time. It is early days yet but since the design change newsletter sign ups have increased by 48% and feedburner subscribers by over 50%.  It will be fantastic if this trend continues!

I am also building a resources page, which will be a tab in the navigation menu.  My aim is to grow the resources, both paid and free so Planning With Kids becomes much more than a blog but an easy to navigate resource portal for parents.

You recently created a menu planning app. How hard was this to do? What would you recommend to people creating their own apps?

The App is a joint venture with a local Melbourne start up called Ventiv.  They take care of the technological side of things and I am responsible for content and marketing.  This works really well for both us as we are each sticking to what we know!

There was so much I wanted to put into the app, but in the end I had to be realistic about the time, costs of development and how much people would be prepared to pay for a menu planning app.  We had to make some concessions to ensure we could get the app out in a timely fashion.

The great thing about Apps are they are so easy to update – we are already working on some enhancements for the next version.

In terms of what I would recommend to others I would say don’t be put off if you come up with an app idea and you find that there are already apps on that theme in the iTunes store.  Just make sure yours has a unique take on the idea.

Also know who you are creating the app for – your app can’t meet everyone’s needs so you need to stick to serving your target demographic well.  The App market are pretty fickle so be prepared to take on lots of feedback!

Last year, you published a book with Wright Books. This month, you launched your blog boost ebook. What have you learned from your publishing experiences?

I have enjoyed both experiences and have learnt considerably from them.  There are some key themes across both like:

  • create a plan anad detailed outline before you write
  • build an audience while you are writing
  • create unique content for your books
  • share other great content freely before hand so you have built up relationships with readers and started creating a reputation online
  • you always need an editor

When you write a traditional book and go through a publishing house, you make very little on a book! As well as my Blog Boost E-book I have two other e-products I sell, all of which make significant more profit on, than my paperback book.

However having a book published carries prestige and brings opportunities that an e-book generally doesn’t.  I have had considerable media coverage for my book including a segment on national morning television and national magazines.  The TV segment in particular did amazing things to growing traffic on the blog.  As my blog is monetized in a number of ways, on being advertising, the growth in traffic also helped increase my revenue.

But which ever format paperback or e-book you are the one responsible for marketing it, so it is an ongoing process.  After the initial buzz, you need to find ways to get new eyes to your book/e-book.

You’ve been working with Darren Rowse on the upcoming Problogger conference. Do you have any tips on standing out during the speaker application process?

This year we sought submissions for a number of the sessions for the conference.  For these sessions we wanted attendees to be able to walk out straight away and take action on their blog that would help them in their entrepreneurial journey.

To stand out in the limited space you had in the application form, you needed to be able to detail the key learning and/or resources bloggers would take away from you.  While telling your blogging journey to show what can be achieved or how it can be done is great, offering up templates, processes, blogging tools etc – something tangible for attendees worked well.

From a non-submitted perspective we were looking for bloggers who have taken a different path, tried something new or leading the way in their niche.

What do you have planned next in your blogging journey?

More product creation! I have a physical product I would like to create and a couple more e-products.  From what I have sold to my audience so far, they seem to be more prepared to hand over their cash for a product that helps them or their family, as opposed to a straight out e-book – information that they need to take in and then act on.  My blog aims to be a useful resource and the products I sell need to reflect that.

What bloggers are you watching?

Like all bloggers I read lots of blogs across a whole variety of niches.  At the start of the year I actually went through and completely revamped my reader so I had less blogs in total to read, but more diversity.

These are a couple of Aussie blogs who I am really enjoying at the moment:

  • Stone Soup – I love watching what Jules from Stone Soup is doing.  Jules isn’t an every day type post blogger, so you are always looking forward to when she does publish.  Jules is also doing some very creative things with cooking e-books and online classes.
  • YTravelBlog – Caz and Craig are two of the hardest working bloggers I know!  They have some really interesting projects at the moment one of which is partnering with Central Coast Tourism and creating content for their site.   They also have their own podcasts and I know have lots of plans, so will be watching to see what they get up to.
  • Recycled Fashion -  I love following local Melbourne blogs that can give you great tips offs about your local area.  I really like the philosophy of this blog and while Melbourne based it does have a global outlook.  It is also aiming to use collaboration to showcase world wide sustainable fashion initiatives
Filed Under: Lifestyle
16 Apr | 2012

Gavin Aung Than Chats About Launching A Cartoon Blog

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Gavin launched his blog, Zen Pencils, just a few months ago. Since then, he’s been able to attract the attention of many key influencers and mainstream media. I think he is really talented and that his story shows what you can acheive if you combine quality content with social media outreach.

You guys should definitely hit him up for an interview before everyone else discovers him.

In your launch post, you mentioned that you got retweets from “Lea Woodward, Chris Guillebeau, Hugh Macleod, Scott McCloud.” How did they learn about your blog?

Twitter. I routinely send out numerous tweets to established and successful people who might like a particular quote I’ve done in the hope that they retweet it to their followers. Nine out of ten times I don’t get a response, but once in awhile it works and I get to connect with people I admire.

Would you do anything differently if you could ‘re-do’ your launch?

Not much, no. I think it’s gone pretty well overall. I had a bunch of comics done in advance before the launch so I could focus on marketing during the initial few weeks.

Your post went viral after Phil Plait retweeted your Carl Sagan Strip and then wrote a blog post about it. What did this experience teach you about worth of mouth?

Mainly it proved to me the power of Twitter. It’s amazing how easy it is to connect with people – as long as you don’t endlessly spam them and your work is of value, then Twitter (and social media in general) is a blogger’s most powerful marketing tool.

It’s been over a month since your post went viral. Prior to that, you were questioning whether you made the right choice. Are things improving for you?

The blog is steadily growing and lots of readers are getting in touch with to say how much they enjoy the comics and that I’m making a real difference. That in itself confirms that I’m on the right path. Business-wise, I’ll be making my first move into monetization when prints go on sale soon, and we’ll see how it goes from there.

You’ve been freelancing for a couple of months. Do you miss the security of your previous career? Do you recommend that other people take a similar leap?

I’m not actually doing any freelance work besides working on Zen Pencils, so it’s still too early to say whether I’ve made a successful leap from my old office job. Sure, I miss the regular pay check, but I don’t regret quitting my job at all. I’m currently doing the most creative and fulfilling work of my life and I totally recommend others try to make their passion into a career.

You’ve amassed a decent amount of Facebook fans in a short period of time. How do you keep them engaged?

Check out his Facebook page.

There’s no secret, just take the time to respond to readers. I also think it’s a convenient way for readers to get my regular updates and I also post extra ‘behind-the-scenes’ content (sketches, concept ideas etc) that people wouldn’t find on the regular blog.

Zen Pencils features cartoon quotes. Do you plan to expand and create other webcomics

Not right now, no. I worked on 2 of my own webcomics previously for over 5 years so there’s no desire to do another one. Besides, I’m having way too much fun with Zen Pencils.

You are using ComicPress as your WordPress theme. Does it have any limitations?

It has a few limitations, but overall it’s a great tool for any budding cartoonists who want to publish their own webcomics. And WordPress is just brilliant – I love it. If my site continues to grow then I will eventually hire professionals to do a complete redesign.

What bloggers are you watching?

The Oatmeal is probably the most successful webcomic in the world so I’m always interested in what he (Matthew Inman) is up to. Hugh Macleod (Gaping Void) also seems to be having great success with a similar blog as mine.

Filed Under: Comic
11 Apr | 2012

Jen Bishop Chats About Leveraging PR, Changing platforms and Getting Advertisers

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I love Jen Bishop. Locally, she is best known as the editor of Dynamic Business magazine. Last year, she created The Interiors Addict.

I feel that she is doing everything right. Her emphasis on PR has resulted in a lot of attention, especially within the traditional press. This has allowed her to establish her authority in a short period of time.

She doesn’t participate in many of the same circles as most bloggers and is a bit of a hidden secret. I really think you guys can learn a lot from her. She’d also make for an awesome interview or case study subject.

You are better known as the editor as Dynamic Business magazine. Has your journalism background helped you with your blog?

Absolutely. Most obviously, having the skills to be able to interview people and write about them has been really important. But I also know a lot of people, know how to approach and deal with PRs and am not shy in approaching people to be featured, knowing how keen everyone is for free publicity! I really didn’t know anyone in the interiors industry a year ago but I learned my networking skills (on and offline) as a magazine editor so that has been a real help too.

The blog posts are curatorial rather than instructive. How has your readership responded to this style?

I like to encourage a community feel that brings together people who are working in the space, or just enjoying interiors and wanting some inspiration. I don’t feel it’s my place to tell people what they should do as I’m no expert. I enjoy interiors and I think I have a bit of an eye for it but I certainly would call myself more of an enthusiast than a guru! So it’s not about saying “this is on trend, you should copy it” it’s about offering various people’s views on what makes a stylish home, showcasing products I like and letting people make up their own minds.

You sent out press releases after being featured on the 20 bloggers to watch post on problogger. Did this result in extra attention?

It resulted in a couple of pieces of coverage; one in a magazine (still yet to publish!) and one online. However, since then I’ve had a few approaches from magazines and I think I may have been on their radar because of that original press release, it’s hard to say. The Problogger mention is certainly a great talking point and it’s now on my email signature, on the blog and wherever I can mention it!

You recently changed your blogging platform from Tumblr to WordPress. What led you to make this decision?

Tumblr was just far too limiting. It’s funny because I had so many compliments on the look of the of tumblr blog but it was just a free theme! It didn’t display well on iPad at all though, and my analytics showed a lot of my readers were reading that way. It really bothered me they were seeing this ‘broken’ version all the time. I was also getting approached by potential advertisers and it wasn’t possible to have advertising on my Tumblr. Above all, Interiors Addict was outgrowing Tumblr and there was little flexibility to add and change things. WordPress is a whole different ball game! I feel it’s a much better longterm home for my blog.

 

The redesign was launched a week ago yet you’ve already filled up most of the advertising slots. Do you have any tips to attract advertisers?

I was really lucky in that I had a lot of potential advertisers making enquiries and queuing up before I was able to accommodate them so once I switched to WordPress they were already ready to go! I would definitely advise having a media kit though (another thing I’ve learned about in the day job!) and mine is currently a work in progress… Make it known on your blog that you accept advertising with ‘advertise here’ buttons for example. You should have a good idea of who your potential advertisers are. I made it known via Facebook and Twitter that I was accepting advertising but I certainly didn’t want to chase anyone. I think that looks a little desperate.

You’ve had quite a lot of PR. How important is this to you?

I think PR is really important to reputation and that’s not just about sending press releases. It’s being asked to comment on things, being asked to speak at events and you could even think of guest blogging opportunities as PR. I have made a point to never say no to any PR opportunity so long as it’s relevant and likely to bring the blog to the attention of potential new readers. I think appearing in magazines and being asked to speak at events definitely adds a level of credibility to your blog as well as getting your name out there.

According to your interview here at Gift Guide Online 2012 will be a big year for your blog. What else do you have up your sleeve?

This is the year when I’d like to start being a little more strategic rather than just writing about whatever takes my fancy. I’m not going to change what I write about or the genuine passion I have for it, but I would like to be a bit cleverer about building traffic and the name of the blog in general. I’m hoping to have some Interiors Addict events too.

What bloggers are you watching?

I really enjoy following blogs by interior designers themselves. I love Brisbane designer Anna Spiro’s Absolutely Beautiful Things, London interior designer Abigail Ahern’s blog, and My Vibe My Life, the blog of impossibly cool American interior and fashion designer Kelly Wearstler.

Filed Under: Lifestyle
26 Mar | 2012

Joel Runyon talks about The impossible League, Shirt and More!

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What Joel Says:

A few years ago, I got tired of having an average life, working at UPS and waiting for things to happen to me, so I decided to do something about it. I made a list of all the things I used to think were impossible and then I set out to do them. Now I work on my own terms and do my best to live a life of adventure and meaning while doing the impossible.

You can follow my adventures on the Blog of Impossible Things, join the Impossible League (a small community of incredible people doing impossible things), or check out Impossible HQ – The online Headquarters for all things Impossible.

Learn more

The Writing

Something that has really impressed me is the frequency of his writing projects. I’ve noticed that he has a mixture of projects, and minimum commitment required. I’ve been enjoying his experiments and want to adapt them for my own projects.

You released a beautiful designed book of impossible quotes that went viral on Slideshare. Did this have any tangible benefits?

Yup. David Crandall helped me create “DO THE IMPOSSIBLE” – a collection of 50 impossible quotes from leaders, writers and artists over the centuries. It received over 100,000 views in less than a month and helped us get featured on sites like Michael Hyatt’s blog and lots more as well.

You uploaded the Impossible Manifesto onto Amazon, but had to choose the minimum price of 99 cents. Has this worked for you, and has anyone in your community shown resistance?

Not really. I still give the manifesto away for free on my site. Amazon was more of a distribution choice than anything. I mean, I make like 30 cents off a sale of it? Amazon makes you price it at .99 unless you have some sort of special deal with them so people who want to line my pockets with quarters and nickels have no problem paying the .99 for it. The ones that don’t can grab it for free on my site. We’ll be experimenting with a few things on Amazon here in a bit.

The T-Shirt

The shirt, and league, shows how he can really grow a community. One of the reasons that it is successful is because it’s about community, rather then lining the creators pockets.

You created a couple of ‘commercials’ on the fly for potential buyers. Have you gotten any feedback about them?

We’ve gotten some good laughs from them. That’s about it. It’s more about having fun and letting the fun aspect of the brand come through than anything else. Whether or not it’s tipped anyone over the edge of buying the shirt – I really don’t know. We sell quite a few of them, and they look pretty cool – so it’s not that tough of a sell in the first place :) .
From Jade: You can check out the videos here

The theme of the shirt empowers the community. Why do so many people get photos of themselves doing impossible things?

Well I think the shirt is incredibly comfortable and looks pretty awesome – so that definitely helps. People want to wear something that looks good and feels good (as simple as that sounds – there’s a lot of shirts out there that don’t do either). The other aspect of it is that it gives you a good excuse to go do something impossible every day. Even if people look at them funny while they’re doing it, they know they have an online community that they can share it with and who will ‘get it.’
From Jade: Check out the gallery. I also recommend checking out the Ogling Everywhere tumblr dedicated, well, to mocking one of Joels friends. I don’t fully understand the backstory, but it’s a great example of growing a community surrounding a cause.

How important was free worldwide shipping?

It’s been cool to be able to hook my international readers up with shirts. International shipping can get pricey, so it’s nice to have it baked into the price of shipping and probably helps us in international markets (although I’ve had lots of international customers simply ask how much extra they’d have to pay in shipping simply out of habit)

The League

How did the league evolve?

I was getting a lot of emails from people who wanted to do their own impossible things, but didn’t have any other like-minded people around them. After I got a bunch of these, I started wondering why none of these people knew about each other. I figured if they didn’t have a good place to meet, then maybe I could make one. It helped evolve things from a 1-on-1 conversation (me to them via the comments section) to a many-to-many conversation in the form of a forum.

You have a very public feedback form. Has this helped you improve the league?

I think so. The community is that – a community. I can be a leader, but if I dictate the details of every little thing, then it’s not a community – it’s a dictatorship. I love seeing people take initiatives, be a part of the league and say how they think things could be better. Because of that form, we’ve instituted a lot of new changes around the place.
From Jade: His feedback form is a great idea of a listening post. Most people wait for emails, or for people to bring up issues in conversations. Always seek feedback directly from the community hub.

The start here page has lots of suggestions for new users. Has this led to increased engagement?

Actually, that’s still under construction :) . I’m still working on it, but when it’s done, I expect it to give new members a better way to get involved from the get-go.
From Jade: This shows that you don’t need to spend a lot of time to create a compelling start here page. You could knock up a decent one in about an hour.

Do people use the badge you created?

Actually, they do. I’m not quite sure on the stats for it, but I know I’ve seen it on quite a few member’s blogs.
From Jade: See the badge

You’ve created separate Facebook pages for the blog and community. Does this confuse people?

The actual pages are for the blog and HQ. It hasn’t led to any confusion as far as I know. It’s actually a longer-term play than most people think. Right now, they sort of overlap, but as things grow, they’ll continue to serve different purposes.

Business:

I’ve admired Joels community management efforts, but have often wondered how it leads to his being self employed. I soon learned that the bulk of the money came from outside of his impossible business, yet he’s continually adding income streams. I believe that this gives him the freedom to find the balance between community and profit.

How will you be evolving your brand over the next year?

I can’t tell you that – it’s a secret :) . Just expect a lot of non-traditional blogging stuff. I’m going to try to launch a few things beyond the traditional scope of just a blog. This is my first full year of being self-employed and I’ll be doing some traveling as well, so I’m going to have a business and adventure focus in the upcoming months.

You’re putting a lot of effort into building this community. Does it directly lead to income?

The apparel obviously bring in some amount of income, but not massive amounts of  cash. I do a lot of independent marketing consulting with some non-blog related clients which brings in the majority of my income. I’ve also released a beginner’s triathlon guide for those in the community who want to race their first triathlon. As I spend more and more time and focus on Impossible HQ, we’ll be developing more revenue streams for it.

Are there any resources you’d recommend to aspiring entrepreneurs?

Richard Branson’s autobiography is really good. I don’t always think people need more and more resources to get started. I think they just need to get started. It’s really easy to get trapped in entreporn and just read, read, read, and forget to do. The best entrepreneurs do, and they do it often. They make mistakes but they learn to adapt and get better along the way. If you’re contemplating taking the leap. Just do it already.

 ~

I actually regret a lot of people I put on my annual Bloggers To Watch lists. They end up being a suck up, unreliable or just not a good person to emulate.

Joel is just awesome. He blogs for the joy, and for his community. I recommend that you look at his work and figure out ways to learn from, and work with, him. He’s kinda awesome-tastic-sauce.

Filed Under: Uncategorized
18 Mar | 2012

Case Study: Eat Awesome media page

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I see a lot of media pages as part of my work. Most of the content is generic: an overview, basic affiliate details, a few lines of copy and some suggested tweets.

Thanks to Danielle Laporte, I discovered the press page for a new book called Eat Awesome. It is really impressive – the design is beautiful and it’s designed for organic sharing.

I was that impressed that I decided to do a mini case study for you guys. Here’s what he did right:

  • Offered hi res pics without any advertising. He offered 6 beautiful images that people would love to share on sites like Pinterest. The only one that referred to his product was an image of the words ‘Eat Awesome‘ spelled with nuts. This is one of the few media pages that encourage ‘pinning’ without being slimey about it.
  • Had gorgeous copy. Most copy on these types of pages are dull and generic. Trust me, I’ve read a lot of them. I’m now leaning towards hiring copywriters to write the media page as well as the sales page. It’s just a little bit of extra work but it’s definitely noticable.
  • On the prelaunch page, he had a suggested hashtag and a link to his instagram photos.

All of these little touches wouldn’t have required much extra effort. These touches, however, are what turns casual visitors into someone who wants to instantly share the content.

You guys should definitely check out his site. He’s also someone that would make for an interesting interview subject or case study.

 

 

Filed Under: Strategies + Case studies
18 Mar | 2012

Andrea Wren talks about launching her first product

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Andrea Wren just launched her first ebook, The Ultimate Guide to Landing the Big Commission. I really love her approach, which is quite similar to what Alexis Grant and many others are doing. They focus on listening to what the audience wants and allowing their blog to evolve. Her blog, Butterflyist, is definitely one that I’m watching.

You originally wrote a comprehensive post about how you got your big break. Did you plan to turn it into a product before writing that post?

No not at the time, I still hadn’t considered the product I wanted to create when I wrote that post other than vaguely thinking it may be about travel. After publishing it though, seeing people’s positive comments, the idea for the ebook was a natural progression. It just seemed to fit as people were talking about how inspired they were from my story, and there was a lot else I had wanted to put into that post but didn’t have space for.

So I decided rather than write something about travel, that I should expand on that post and give people what they seemed to be asking for – a deeper insight into getting a freelance writing career off the ground, with some very specific pointers.

Did you have any problems when creating your guide?

Not really, although once I’d begun writing it I felt like some of the juice that had powered me to write that ‘big break’ post had been used up! So I struggled to get going on the book, even though I knew it was what I wanted to write. I was procrastinating quite a lot, and it was only when I was getting closer to my deadline that I really got my speed up and my muse came back.

You had an online marketing expert, Glen Allsopp, supporting you while creating your site. Do you think new bloggers can write and sell an ebook without that help?

Oh yes definitely. I actually worked on the book fairly independently anyway, I had checked my idea out with Glen, but he didn’t have much input into it other than telling me, once I’d finished, that it was a great resource and worth a lot more than I was giving myself credit for! I converted it myself into the PDF file through OpenOffice, and it doesn’t have any fancy formatting or anything, I just wanted to keep it simple and about the content.

I was nervous of putting it ‘out there’ though – I obviously want to offer people good value and I had to trust Glen when he was telling me the guide was that. For new bloggers creating a product, I know Glen has produced a huge post on creating an ebook on ViperChill, which could certainly put them in the right direction.

What was the difference between launching this and launching your recent competition?

Well, the competition had the intention of building my Twitter followers and also just raising awareness of my site and bringing attention to it, hopefully with some new readers and email subscribers. However, launching this book has been about creating a way to earn from the blog, while providing a product that people will find useful.

Do you have plans for future products?

Yes I think so! I’m not sure yet what that would be though, it depends on how Butterflyist develops. It’s not a writing blog, of course. It’s just that writing happens to be one of the ways in which I pushed myself into a new direction, and out of my own comfort zone, the focus of my niche.

Of course, I know it will be just a small number of my readers who are writers or would-be writers, and who will want to buy something so niche as a guide on how to get on the freelance ladder. So, I do need to come up with a product that encompasses the essence of my site overall slightly more, I think. I don’t know what that will be yet, I’ll have to see how the site evolves.

Filed Under: Launch Interviews
18 Mar | 2012

21 Ways To Get Paid To Do What You Love

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This guide isn’t really suitable for most of you guys. It’s incredibly basic, which is great, but most of my audience is too savvy for the tips and advice.

It covers 21 different methods of making money online. It’s designed to be simple, so you’ll only get a 2-3 page overview on each topic. You’ll get a taster, but it is meant to be an inspiration for a very specific, beginner demographic.

This may frustrate those that want to know exactly how Henri makes his living. He does go into this in depth in his hybrid blogging course. I’d buy that if you are leaning towards trying to monetize your blog.

This guide is best for those that have heard about making money from your passions and have no idea where to go next. There are better products if you are leaning towards specific methods, such as blogging or consulting. If you’ve been in the industry for over 4 months then you are probably aware of most of these methods.

It’s primarily a solution for his audience at a specific stage of their journey rather then for bloggers in general. It may be a useful product for introducing your contacts to the make money online world.
Check it out

Filed Under: Product reviews
18 Mar | 2012

Twitter Up Your Business (eBook)

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Twitter Up Your Business is the best valued introductory product for those wanting to use Twitter for their business. It is the first one I would recommend to business owners who have had little experience on Twitter.

The good:

The information is well presented

Many information products focused on Twitter present the information in a rather disjointed manner. They focus on telling a story, which is fine, but isn’t necessarily the best way for someone to learn.

This book presented it in a step by step manner. It included many tips in the sidebars, and provided chapter overviews and summaries.

It is the best quality product in this price bracket

Many people flesh out the size of their Twitter products by adding images for every step. This makes the book physically longer but doesn’t add anything to the learning experience.

Twitter Up Your Business didn’t do this. It included minimal images and didn’t try to flesh out the mini book. It was just pure information.

The bad:

It is still rather basic

Even though it covered more information than other guides aimed at businesses, it was still basic information. This means that those that are already savvy or have been using it for an extended period of time will get very little out of it.

It covered ALL businesses

Twitter Up Your Business is a general overview of the business potential and, as such, it targets a wide range of businesses. As a sole trader, I felt that some of the information didn’t apply to me. Most people do business with me because of the types of tweets that the author recommended against.

In most cases, Maneesh’ tips are right. However, I encourage you to question any idea that you disagree with. Twitter is just a conversation platform and it’s up to you to figure out the best way to use it.

My recommendation:

Twitter Up Your Business is targeted at beginner to intermediate users. If you are familiar with Twitter for personal, but not business use, you will still get quite a lot out of it. At $8, it is amazing value and will give you enough information to

Filed Under: Uncategorized
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