I’ve got Twitter clutter. Do you?

It’s my own fault. I started an account (@trishlawrence) a few years ago and let it grow. And it grew and grew and is now completely unmanageable and out of control. But it does what I want.

A few weeks ago I was in despair at my Twitter. I started a new Twitter account a few months ago (@realbrilliant) and two accounts were killing me. Plus I felt like a failure. I wrote a very well-read blog post on Twitip about how one should NOT ever use two Twitter accounts.

Perhaps this post can clear all this up once and for all.

One Twitter account is the best option UNLESS:

• You’re like me and doing more than one thing online and need to keep those things separate.
• You’re not like me and figured out a long time ago that to sell multiple services or products may require you to get multiple accounts.
• You just enjoy having as many Twitter accounts as possible (that’s fine; I’m not saying one word about it).

And as I shamed myself inwardly and felt like a fool, I realized something. My original Twitter feed is doing exactly what I want it to do. @trishlawrence is for my author self. I don’t want it to sell anything but me as an author. I can post anything I’m working on to that account and I have people coming to my blog to check it out. It works!

Question for you: If your Twitter is cluttered, what are you using it for?

My second Twitter is for a very different purpose. @realbrilliant is for my social media strategy business for small businesses and authors. The folks on that list are only there because they have something remotely related to that topic. Are you following @realbrilliant and an author? Are you looking for tips on social media to build your tribe? That’s what it’s for.

Question for you: Are your Twitter followers/followees your target market or tangentially related to your target market? Why not?

And so my Twitter clutter has cleared, but not really. Twitter is not this static social media tool that just sits there waiting for you to wake up. I now take an hour a week to research Twitter strategies for both my feeds and to implement new ideas I find (both for myself as an author and for my author and small-biz clients).

Question for you: How much time do you spend each week researching your niche on Twitter?

Up next will be “The Big Decision on Facebook: To Fan Page or Profile?” Stay tuned!

Everyone has it lately. It’s a true epidemic, spreading like wildfire. How do you begin with social media?

1. You take a deep breath and ignore everyone. Seems sorta counterproductive, right? Nope. For one thing, if you’re only looking at what OTHERS are doing, you’re not figuring out what YOU should be doing. You’re letting someone else be your guide, not your own inner set of values and goals. So ignore your Twitter feed for today at least and go set down some social media goals of your own. Do you want to be just like that business over there who does this and this and this? Or do you want to do something like that author over that way who does this and that and a bit more of this? Write it down.

2. Really think about your goals for social media. It’s a huge temptation to use someone else’s business plan to formulate your business plan, but before you do that, stop. A fabulous mom-blogger created Simplemom.net and used Apartment Therapy.com as her model. But they don’t look the least bit alike. I’ve been a fan of Apartment Therapy for years, and also want them as my model, but my model won’t look a thing like Simplemom’s execution. (For one thing, I’m not a mom and my focus is not on simple-based how-to blogs.) Sure, I’m planning to do some of the same things as both AT and SM, but my execution will be different, and I have a few ideas and fellow dreamers who with me will take the direction of our site in another direction completely. Even if you’re inspired by someone else, write down how you will make it uniquely YOURS.

3. Pick one or two or three things to start with. Don’t try and do it all. I have a free report I send out to anyone who wants it (you can sign up on my web site) that outlines the top 20 or so social media tools out there to choose from. The idea of this free report wasn’t for everyone to immediately start using all those tools at once. The goal was to show them that there’s an organizational component to using social media. You plan, you begin small, you slowly grow. You pick a few, try them on for size, and move on if they don’t fit.

4. Put together an social media strategy action plan. This is your guide forward. You can plan out a month to a year in advance. Do you want to blog? How many blog posts a day or a month? Do you want to Twitter? What’s your goal with Twitter? How often do you Twitter? Not sure you want to tackle that yourself? I can help with that.

5. Check in once a month, once every three months, once every six months, once a year. You should be tracking results: how much time does it take to accomplish what? Twitter followers? Blog rankings? Subscribers to your blog or eZine (two very different things, mind you)? Prospects who contacted you to do a project? This sort of analysis often paralyzes those who use social media (me included). That’s just because we don’t really want to sit down and think about it. Take time to think. Take time to adjust your action plan to fit what you want to do next.

Next time, thinking about Twitter.

I’m back. I’m not a Moonlighting Entrepreneur anymore. I’m a full-time entrepreneur (woohoo!), but I figured there’s still some principles I am learning that apply to those of you who are just part-time and moonlighting. (Yes, I’m still learning!)

It’s the day in, day out act of marketing. What is marketing anyway? It’s telling people what you do, over and over and over and over.

If you don’t market much, yikes! You are lucky. But even if you’re getting referrals for work, that’s marketing.

And what happens when your referrals dry up? What do you do then? If you engage in day in, day out marketing, you won’t ever have that problem!

What do I mean?

Four stage of marketing are:

1. Filling the pipeline
2. Follow up
3. Presentations of Products and Services
4. Closing the Sale

First of all, you’ve got to pick the stage you’re in. I would start with #1. Once you actually find some names to market to, then you’re into #2. If you’ve got all that covered, you’re in #3. And if you’re one of the lucky ones to have names, follow up opps, and presentations, you’re in #4. Clear as mud?

Hold on.

What I mean by day in, day out marketing is that you find out where you are in marketing and then you do the same things over and over and over. If you’re gathering and contacting prospects, you do that over and over. If you’re following up with people you’ve contacted before, you do that over and over. And so on.

The thing that gets people confused is that at some point in your freelance venture you’ll be doing all four at once. That’s fine. That’s normal business behavior. You spend a day sending out 20 emails to prospects, then you call up or email four others from the previous week that have not yet responded to your email, and then you present a solution to a prospect, and then you will probably close the deal.

The problem is that people (especially moonlighting entrepreneurs) get caught up in these events and forget to return to the daily marketing. And I know the feeling. Sometimes I get so much going on in my biz that I can barely answer all my email, nevermind send out 20 more emails each day. But if I can, I will NEVER run out of prospects. I will never be feeling desperate.

True, it depends on your industry, your response rate, the economy. But seriously, why wouldn’t you do that one thing YOU CAN do each day? Why would you wait until you’re out of work and then sit around and feel terrible because you don’t think you’ll ever make another penny again from your business.

The marketing day in, day out approach is not just for our business! It’s for our sanity! Trust me. You’ll feel so much better about everything when you are doing this small step to ensure your business always has enough prospects and projects.

It works.

Folks have emailed to ask how I can think marketing is boring.

“It’s not boring; it’s terrifying!” they say. “Talking with clients scares me speechless. I sound like an idiot.”

Another says, “I would rather just have the work; forget marketing for me.”

I was right there with them at the beginning of this business. Marketing was boring because I didn’t get any results. As when I talked to clients on the phone, I was freaked out.

What to do?

Study. How much time do you invest learning about how to market? How much time do you spend thinking about how you would leverage your experience into something of value for a client?

1. Start with Pete Bowerman (if you’re a corporate writer), Michael Port (if you’re selling services, including writing). I love Bowerman’s texts for their ease. Plus he’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. Michael Port has simplified authentic marketing down to doable steps.

2. For an even simpler start, try C.J. Hayden and her “Get Clients Now” program or Robert Middleton and his “Infoguru” marketing programs. C.J. is a fabulous resource. I used her program to start and then moved onto Middleton, Port, and Bowerman after I knew what I needed to do next. The key is to not let it get too complicated at first.

3. Decide where you are in the marketing process: most folks are at step 1, which is “filling up the pipeline.” This is web site building, direct mail, blogging, emailing, cold calling. More info can be found from C.J. Hayden in her Get Clients Now book.

4. Stick to one thing at first. Fill up your pipeline with C.J. Hayden’s book, write an ebook using Michael Port’s expertise, put up a web site with Robert Middleton’s help, cold call like Pete Bowerman recommends.

5. Then you can expand out later.

As for being afraid of marketing, we all are. It’s human nature to fear rejection, which is what marketing actually is in its roughest sense, but you can’t market without getting a no, even if it’s a lot of no. Marketing is a numbers game, really. Sure, there are marketers out there who can hit a yes on the first try, but usually that is after years and years of being told no (they never talk about that) and studying why they were told no.

Marketing is a business. Just don’t try and do too much at first. It takes time to get the hang of it. And trust me, if you just slow down and really apply yourself to it, you’ll make incredible progress fast!

I hear this all the time. Business owners who just want the clients to automatically show up at their door. Freelancers who just want to do the fun stuff and not the boring stuff.

Learn to LOVE IT!

I did. Back in 1995 when I started my freelance biz, I had no idea how to get clients. I was pleased when they found me by chance, thrilled when someone referred me to another publisher. In 1996, I started figuring out how to get more clients and as the years wore on, the thrill of the chase got to me.

Shhhh. Don’t tell, but I actually really love marketing now.

So much so that sometimes I wish I could just market for a living. Thus why I blog and consult and help other freelancers/businesses get where they need to go.

But ideally, a business owner must learn to do both.

Here’s how:

1. Set aside some marketing time on a daily basis. If you hate it as much as I did back in the beginning of my business, you’ve got to get into a habit. Don’t force yourself to do a lot of it at once and pick out the funner pieces of it to start with (for me, this is writing copy, blogging, Twittering, checking in with folks, sending out emails, direct mail pieces, and writing eZines). The boring stuff (for me, database management, keeping up-to-date with email and addresses and who needs what when) just has to be done (set up a rewards system: cookies, donuts, TiVo).

2. Divide your marketing tasks into doable chunks a la David Allen’s Getting Things Done. For today, I have to dive back into my contact management database and move some things around. I have to format some lists into proper format and check my contacts to make sure everyone is on the right list to get my newest piece of direct mail. Later, I’ll have to print labels and put stamps on. But that’s fun. I can watch stupid movies and do that at the same time. No, I don’t have an assistant. Darn.

3. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. And just keep doing it. Word to the wise: even when you’re full up and scheduled to the wazoo, keep marketing. You never know when it will pay off and you never want to let yourself get out of the groove. This is probably the hardest piece of freelance time management out there. How to market and work and keep up with everything? It takes practice and determination and fortitude, but isn’t that what you set out to prove when you started your business? If you tackle some small marketing piece every day, you won’t be left with a pile of not-so-fun projects that bore you to tears and make you curse the day you had to start this damn business.

Relax! Everyone’s marketing just like you. It’s hard out there, but so full of opportunities! Don’t sit back and let 2010 slip by without claiming your share.

Ready? Set? Go.

Yes, I still miss Hawaii. Can you tell?

My word for 2010 (each year I choose one word to focus on for the next twelve months) is real.

Or as we’ve been talking about on the blog, authentic.

I had such big plans for this blog in 2009. These plans fell to the side because of a too-busy schedule, oh yeah, I went to Europe!

In 2010, I’m making decisions about what I absolutely MUST spend my time on to get to the goals I’ve set for 2010. I waver back and forth whether or not continuing to develop this blog is worth it. I think I’ve decided that it really isn’t a priority for me this year.

Don’t panic!

I’ll still update this blog, but on a less-regular basis. I’ll pop in with interesting tidbits that I find. I will finish an ebook on authenticity (that is on my list for this year) and you’ll be the first to know about it. I will create a blogger-author press kit and you will have first access to it as well. I am not in the mood to charge hundreds of dollars for these products. I like seven dollar ebooks, don’t you? So these will be seven dollars. Yes, 7 dollars.

I’ll be developing a book on blog content this year and you’ll get the benefit of my latest, zaniest thoughts on that. Plus you’ll watch as I attempt to sell a book based on a blog. And I may change my mind and come back here and really just churn out the content. Who knows?

For now, I’m focusing on doing the two things each day that will bring me the closest to my goals this year: writing 2500 non-blog-related words a day and marketing constantly to find top-notch clients for my editing, writing, blogging business. I really believe in marketing, even if you’re maxed out with work. We must market MORE. That is the name of the game in business for 2010.

I have some deeper thoughts about that and I’ll share them as my marketing gets underway this year. In the meantime, what two activities should you be doing instead of reading this blog? I’m serious.

The two greatest things to bring you the closet to your goals this year. What brings you the most results in the least amount of time? Expand your time. What brings you the least amount of results but takes the greatest amount of time? Downgrade the time you spend on those worthless tasks.

Read this article and tell me you will follow Ramit’s and my advice in 2010.

Yesterday we talked about putting together a quality eZine that would help your clients/customers to see you as a partner to their success, not just a hack selling more stuff or services that no one really needs. Do people need what you sell? Then why not go pro? Why not market it that way?

Today I want to talk about management of your email mailing list. This management is different than handling your direct mail or telephone contact list. This is a list of folks who ask you to add their email address to your list, who ask for your eZine and special reports, who want to receive information from you via their email address. (And trust me, you want them ask you and to confirm–called opt-in–that they want to receive emails from you. It’s quite different than spam, which is illegal anyway, and very different from cc’d emails to everyone on your mailing list with pictures of your dog dressed up as a hot dog.)

There are multiple services out there. You may have heard of the two I’m going to speak about today: Constant Contact and Aweber. I’ve used Aweber in the past. I know people who use Constant Contact and have for years. I’m currently using both services for two different web sites and want to post a pre-comparative review. After six months, I’ll be back to post another review of both services. Plus, I thought it would be better to give you a choice. (Isn’t having a choice better? I thought so.)

Aweber and Constant Contact do the same thing, but Constant Contact offers surveys and event marketing as well. Aweber is strictly email list broadcast and followup email management.

1. You set up your autoresponder email by posting an html form on your website (or by simply loading your email list into the management database). Aweber or Constant Contact takes it from there. They send to those email addresses messages that you set up at the interval you decide.

2. Great way to offer a free report on your website and gather signups. You want people to keep coming back to your site for great content and updated information. You want to be able to direct them to surveys or events (where you are speaking or promoting), and you want someone else to handle the email aspect.

3. Great way to manage blog RSS newsletters. Most people read blog content in readers, but if you want special newsletters to go out to your list (with extra content or information that isn’t in the RSS feed), this is the way to do it.

4. Your list has easy subscribe or unsubscribe options included in every email. This is for your clients’ sense of well-being. You want your clients/customers to feel 100 percent comfortable giving you their email address, and the way to do that is to offer them the chance to have a choice (choice is a big theme in this post).

5. An email newsletter is so much fun! It’s a great way to showcase your authenticity and really shine forth your expertise.

Anyone have an initial thoughts on which service they prefer and why?

your current clients now for free. As an extra? Can you offer an extra service call? Can you offer an extra blog post for free? Can you provide more photos than they paid for?

This is a special promo item, not giving things away for free. But think about it, what can you do to let your clients know you appreciate them right now, not if they buy from you again?

Is it obviously homemade, full of spelling errors, or does it go on and on and on about your square dancing hobby (nothing wrong with square dancing, but obviously your clients don’t care to know, unless you sell square dancing clothing or something)?

Does it have a sign-up page so that folks can sign up for your eZine? Does it link to your blog? To your Twitter? Does it explain what you offer in customer-friendly terms so that they are intrigued and want to know more about you?

Time to tweak the web site!

and post it online in an articles directory, like eZineArticles.com.

This way your content can go out farther than you can get it. Plus, the more articles you post in a directory, the more your content can get repurposed on other blogs and in other eZines.

Check out ezinarticles.com for more information.