Today I am starting a series based on some of the many questions I am asked by clients, friends and others who are realizing they can no longer sit idly and watch the social media world pass them by, or they are already involved but aren’t clear about the best steps. My goal with this series is to give you the tools to inexpensively set up your own online presence from start to finish by using the insights and links and my own experiences as best as I can provide them. While this may seem counterproductive to building my own business as a freelance web and graphic designer, I assure you it’s not. The reality is that many individuals and small businesses cannot afford the services of a professional designer, developer and/or social media manager, so this is an attempt to help them out however I can. A lot of the information I can provide is available online anyway, so it’s not like I’m giving away secrets. I just hope to make it a little bit easier and to save you some time and money along the way.

DISCLAIMER: while this series will give you some steps to build and grow your online presence with little expense, it is VERY important to understand that you absolutely DO get what you pay for. In other words, if you are not a designer, your logo and website and Twitter background and so forth will definitely show it! There is a reason designers like me exist and get paid to perform the services we do – because we’re GOOD at it! We bring experience and expertise and education to the project that typically has taken years to accumulate. To think that anyone can easily bypass all of that and produce the same result is foolish.

That said, there are plenty of things you can do for little or no money and an investment of time that can greatly increase your online visibility. If we get to the end of the series and it sounds like too much to undertake or you are not satisfied with the result, then please contact me and I’ll be happy to do the job for you. It will cost you a little more money, but you’ll save your time, possibly some frustration, and you’ll end up with a professional online presence that you can be proud of.

The key elements I will focus on in the series are:

Your Brand – how you will be identified

What makes a good brand?
How to choose a brand name
Your logo

Your website/blog – the hub of your online existence

Build it
Promote it
Feed and Water it

Social Media – spreading your message

Which channels are right for you?
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Flickr
Delicious
Digg

Customer Service – what’s the point of traffic without it?

As always, I don’t profess to be an expert at ANY of this. In fact, I would encourage you to stay away from anyone who claims to be. Most of the online tools and channels and data that are out there are still relatively new and changing quickly, so it is my humble opinion that anyone who tells you they have conquered it all is either a fortune teller, a liar, an egotistic maniac or an idiot. I like to approach life as an endless student, even in areas that I have years of experience and expertise, and I hope I never stop learning and looking for better and new ways to do things!

STEP 1: YOUR BRAND – Start With A Good One!

Personally, I think you should start here. Sure, you can skip ahead and set up your Twitter and Facebook accounts, but all you are going to do is confuse people a bit when you suddenly go schizophrenic with your visual online identity and corresponding avatars and profiles. It is very important to decide how you want to present yourself and your business to the public for so many reasons – every step you take can potentially prove beneficial or fatal. How’s that for some pressure?

I believe it is important to understand that there is more to your brand than the logo. There are many discussions about this, but I am a strong proponent for your brand being your identity, which includes your logo but also involves – perhaps more significantly – your representation and reputation. (I have written a piece sharing some of my thoughts about this here.) Here are some key things to consider in the creation of your brand:

Your decision should not be final. Yes, you need to make some very real decisions about how you are going to present yourself and your business. But allow yourself the freedom to grow as your business does, and dive into the brand creation process knowing that good branding will continually improve and reshape itself as time goes on. The clinical term for something that does not change is “death”. I am willing to bet you don’t want to plan for your brand’s death before you even get started.

Your foundation should be stable. While the brand should grow and change as you do, the foundation it is built on should not. You should have some key elements of your brand that you will not waver on – the “close-fisted” things you are most passionate about. For instance, one of the close-fisted elements of bkmacdaddy designs is integrity. I attempt to represent that foundation in everything I do. But there are other elements that I am “open-handed” about. Identify your foundational, core beliefs at the beginning and they will permeate your brand to the point that they will become an integral part of what you are known for.

Your goal should be defined. Where do you want to go? What do you want to achieve? Why are you even reading this article? You should know the answers to these questions as you create your brand. The answers will be the primary motivators for choices you will make in the brand creation process. The goals you have should be the filter everything else is sifted through. Decisions should be made based on whether or not they serve the purpose of achieving your goals.

Your approach should be consistent. Are you a consummate corporate professional? Then you should make the commitment to representing yourself that way everywhere you go. If you’re goal is to attract like-minded professionals to purchase your products, how will that be achieved if you are acting like a crazy teenager on Facebook? Or maybe you are a fun-loving mom who blogs about your kids’ shenanigans. Then you should do your best to present your thoughts and ideas and identity in a way that attracts other parents. I am not suggesting you become something other than yourself – quite the contrary. I am saying it is most important to understand your own true identity before you create your online version. It is my experience and firm belief that the two should be the same, for the sake of your brand as well as your own integrity (and sanity.)

Once you identify these elements of your identity, I would suggest writing them down, reviewing them and getting the input of people you trust. Don’t rush this. The other elements in the process will suffer if you do not have a quality brand to perpetuate. Once you have reached some decisions, you can move on to the name of your brand (if you don’t have one already). If you already have a name, you will need to consider how to best align that name with your brand and online identity. We will discuss that process in the next installment.

Please let me know if you have ideas and thoughts to add to this discussion by leaving a comment below. As I said, I am always looking to learn more on these things as I pursue becoming the best I can be at the things I do. Please also consider subscribing to this blog so you don’t miss a single installment of this series in the weeks ahead.

NEXT UP: Step 2: Choose Your Name Wisely »

This series started in a previous post, so be sure to read the first installment before diving into this one. There is a certain progression that should happen in correct order for the best results, so be sure to follow the whole series by subscribing to the RSS feed or receiving the updates in your email inbox!

As stated last time, the key elements I am focusing on in the series are:

Your Brand – how you will be identified

What makes a good brand?
How to choose a brand name
Your logo

Your website/blog – the hub of your online existence

Build it
Promote it
Feed and Water it

Social Media – spreading your message

Which channels are right for you?
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Flickr
Delicious
Digg

Customer Service – what’s the point of traffic without it?

As we look at how to choose a name – or how to promote your existing name with your online identity – it is important to rely on your answers to the questions from the previous installment. Be sure to have them in hand – especially your goals. If there is one golden rule I have learned in every occupation and endeavor I have undertaken, it is that you MUST hold everything up against your goals. Before you make a move or a decision, you need to ask the question: will this help me accomplish my goals? If the answer is yes, then go for it! But if the answer is no, don’t bother. I wouldn’t suggest completely trashing an idea or thought just because it doesn’t line up with your goals – save it just in case. You never know – your goals may shape into something that could benefit from the idea later, or the idea may help to birth something that does help your cause.

CHOOSING YOUR NAME

If you haven’t already chosen your name, here are some suggestions to aid in the process:

Of course, your goals: what are you setting out to accomplish? Write down your ideas for names and see what thoughts and reactions they inspire. Show them to friends and family and ask for their opinion. What do they think of when they hear and see each name? Write down their responses next to each one and then come back to your list when you’re done and evaluate.

How does the name look and read? This may sound silly, but we’re talking about the visual aspect. When seen online, your name is going to be read – not heard. So people will identify with it first visually, then how it sounds in their head as they read it to themselves. While this could seem elementary, try taking a look at the names people and organizations are using on social networks. How many of them make little or no sense to you, or are hard to pronounce, or inspire a negative response or, even worse, no response at all? Just because there are millions of usernames that exist and you need to create a unique one doesn’t mean you have to settle for something with way too many consonants and numbers! Get creative! And think about how your name will roll off people’s mental tongue as they read it in their Twitter stream or on their Facebook page.

Is the name you want available? In this day and age you must make absolutely sure that your name of choice is available as a domain name and as a username across multiple social networks. So no matter how original or clever or cute your think the name you have decided upon is, you must include this step in the process or else suffer the deadly doom of being unable to promote it online. There are some simple tools that can assist you in the process:

Domain name: look up your domain name’s availability (I like to use Network Solutions). Just type in your domain name and cross your fingers! If your domain is available, I say buy it right now before someone else gets the same idea! If it’s not, and the suggested similar available domains don’t grab you, then cross it off your list of choices. Your domain name absolutely MUST line up with your brand name. Without this, SEO, advertising and all promotion suffers. You can still survive, but why start off with obstacles you could avoid?

CLICK HERE TO CHECK YOUR DOMAIN NAME’S AVAILABILITY

Social Networks: I’m sure there are countless tools – free and paid – to check your brand name’s availability. But there’s one called KnowEm that I’ve used and it’s free, quick and very simple. You just type in your name, hit the submit button, and then watch as it tells you if your name is available on 120 popular social media websites! I would strongly suggest doing this with your name(s) of choice because if your name has already been taken you will be unable to use anything but a variation of it and this will cause confusion, if not legal action.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK YOUR NAME’S AVAILABILITY ACROSS 120 SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS

ALREADY HAVE YOUR NAME?

If you already have a name and a domain name, and possibly even started promoting yourself online using that name in social networks, I just have one suggestion to help improve the growth of your online presence:

Evaluate: Is your current name well-known already? Does it meet some of the requirements brought up in the previous section? Do you have a consistent name and/or brand that permeates your website and your social networks? Do all of your online channels support each other or do they conflict? Are you using the same name throughout? If the answer is no to any of these questions, I would strongly suggest considering starting over or at least a “redo”. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but if you’re not getting the most out of what you’re doing, it may be time to change. Yeah, I said the ‘c’ word. No apologies. It’s one of my favorite words.

If you are discovering that the latter is your situation, and you need assistance or guidance in the redo, feel free to contact me. I could write a completely separate series on that aspect, so I won’t go into it here right now. But I would be happy to assist you in any way I can. I’m not trying to sell you anything. I promise. If I can give you some suggestions that aid in your process, and through it you and/or your organization are able to grow, then I consider myself lucky to be a part of it. I am here to help, so please don’t hesitate to ask.

A FINAL THOUGHT

as I say so often, I am not an authority on these things, but I have learned a thing or two over the years and especially in the past few months as I have been building my own online presence as well as several of my clients’. With that in mind, take a look at my own brand name: bkmacdaddy. It’s not necessarily something that lines up with a lot of the things I suggested above. That’s because I started using it over a decade ago before I understood any of these things. It happened to be unique enough that the domain name and social network names were all available, even after I had already been using it for years, so in that area I lucked out. But what does it make you think of? How do you pronounce it in your head? What did you think when you first read or saw it? I’m actually really curious to know! I pronounce it “Bee Kay Mack Daddy” because it’s actually a mix of my initials and my last name (Brian K. McDaniel). I think it’s a name that people question and maybe laugh at (Mack Daddy is slang for “ultra pimp”). I honestly don’t know what you guys think about my name.

But here’s the kicker: I’ve found a way to brand it that supports my goals. My avatar, logo, website and social networks presence are all united to present the bkmacdaddy brand as one that is personal, professional, caring, humorous, confident, approachable and has integrity. But you don’t get that from the name! You get it from the personality behind the name and the visual elements I have created to promote it.

So if you already have a name but are thinking you may need to start over, I share with you my own experience as hope. Who you are and what you do is more important than the name you do it with. You can have a great name and destroy it with lousy branding, terrible customer service, a bad attitude or any number of other things. But the reverse is true also. You can have a mediocre name but brand it and promote it and live it in a way that strengthens and grows and supports it to the point of becoming a household word. In the end, it’s optimal to have both: a great, catchy name and a quality product and personality. But take heart knowing that if you can’t or don’t want to invest the time, energy and possible money into a redo, you can still survive and even thrive online if you do it right. We’ll look at how in future installments.

If you have any questions about anything I didn’t cover here for you, please leave a comment. For me, the joy of this whole blogging thing is the interaction and discussion. So let’s get it going! And don’t forget to subscribe via RSS or email to make sure you don’t miss the next installment of the series.

PREVIOUS: « Step 1: Start With A Good Brand
NEXT UP: Step 3: Your Logo »

So I thought it would be a good idea to share these examples with you. I have to admit, I am a little proud of these recent developments and humbled by the fact that people took the necessary time and effort to actually include me in their blogs, websites, and recommendations. Most of all I am excited to see some tangible results of the last several months’ work I have been putting in to build my own online presence. I hope you can take a moment and visit each of these articles to see for yourself. My sincerest thanks to the authors for their kindness and efforts.

PRSarahEvans.com

I just found out about this one last night. It’s an article collecting votes for the 2009 Top 50 Tweeples to Follow (“Tweeples” means “people on Twitter”) and someone nominated me! @maheshcha tweeted last night that he was voting for me on this site, so I clicked on his link to find that I had been nominated amongst a list of pretty amazing people on Twitter. What a pleasant and flattering surprise!

clutterlovers

My new friend @countzeero wrote a post recommending some of his favorites to follow on Twitter and cited my recommendation posts as the inspiration for his own as well as included me in his list!

Printed Proof

Another new friend, Christian (@printedproof) of printedproof.com, started a weekly series on his blog that includes recommendations of people to follow on Twitter. Like Count Zeero above, he mentions me as the inspiration for his new series and also recommends me to his readers.

tweetfeat.com

This is a cool site that does an interview each week of a Twitter person they choose to feature. @DesignerFoo asked me to participate in week 9!

Here In HP – leoraw.com

I am always floored when someone calls me their ‘mentor’ in anything. It seems to be happening more often lately but I am still surprised that people look up to me in that way! I’m still figuring this stuff out myself! But I’ve heard it said that you only have to be one step ahead of someone else in order to be a leader. So I guess I have to be resolved to the fact that there are those that I can help by sharing the things I am learning. Leora (@leoraw) is one such person, and she wrote about me on her blog as she referenced my article about using Mr. Tweet instead of #FollowFridays on Twitter.

z3bb.net

This is the blog of a Twitter friend from the Netherlands who goes by the handle of @z3bbster. He wrote a recommendation list and also later references my Mr. Tweet article.

monoexpression.com

This is a VERY cool site put together by Graham Smith (@imjustcreative), an amazingly talented designer who I highly respect. To be honest, this one was self-submitted. But I loved the idea of the project and wanted to be a part. Check it out – it’s a great idea!

Although I am very proud of these mentions, my real hope is that this article will help you see how working to build your online presence can become viral and raise awareness of your name and brand. These inbound links also increase the search engine optimization of your website, another element of growing your internet footprint. So hopefully you need no further convincing and are already working on your own process. Let’s go!

So far in this series we have covered some basic steps in building your online presence. We have discussed what goes into your brand and things to think about when deciding upon the name you will operate under. In this installment we look at your logo, a touchy subject when talking about doing it as cheaply as possible. This is one of the areas that I strongly suggest you invest some real money – not just because I’m a designer, but because it is SO easy to create a do-it-yourself logo that literally looks like…well…you did it yourself.

With that in mind, I am going to share some examples of inexpensive and even free ways you can create a logo, keeping the constant disclaimer in plain sight: a cheap logo could send the worst possible message. It can communicate that you don’t take your business seriously enough to invest in it. It can say that you are not a professional. It can tell others that you are not creative, unique, forward-thinking, or have anything exceptional to offer. A cheap logo can shout out loud to all within earshot a completely opposite message to the one you are speaking verbally, and it can end the discussion with a potential client before it ever begins. How’s that for a warning?

Here’s an example: take a look at this logo tutorial. It gives you a quick and easy way to create what the author calls an “elegant” logo. Seriously look at it. Would you hire the company or individual that handed you a business card with that logo on it?

Be honest.

Now take a look at the website of Graham Smith, a top logo and identity designer whose work I truly admire and respect. Look at his recent projects on the right hand side. Compare those works of art to the do-it-yourself model above.

End of discussion.

Still, regardless of this point, there are those of you who simply cannot afford to pay what could amount to thousands of dollars for a professional brand identity and logo, or will choose to use that money elsewhere. The rest of this article is for you.

WHAT GOES INTO A LOGO?

Think about its use. The logo is the first visual impression you give. It is what is seen on your website, your avatar in social media circles, your business cards and so on.

A logo is the proverbial picture that speaks a thousand words about you.

A good logo will make people want to know more. A bad logo will kill any potential interest.

So how’s that for pressure?

Once again we go back to the previous statements about the importance of your goal. Your logo should communicate your goal. It should say “This is me. This is my business. This is what I’m about.”

How do you do that visually?

Start by taking the answers to those questions. To help you understand this better, let’s use my social media avatar as an example.

When I created this avatar, I thought about what I want people to think about me when they see it. Here’s what I came up with:

I’m fun.

I have a sense of humor.

I don’t take myself too seriously.

I take good, creative design very seriously.

I think about the details.

I want to stand out.

I’m approachable and personal.

Do you get all of that from this tiny little box? I believe most people do, as I have received numerous comments and compliments about it.

So what do you want people to think about when they see your logo? Make a list, or use your list of goals from the previous installments. Then pull out a piece of paper and start drawing. Even if it is stick figures or simple block letters, start writing out your name and seeing what happens. Get the creative process going and let it develop. Don’t rush it.

CREATING THE LOGO

One of the first things I do when designing a logo is just write out the name. I look for elements of the letters that can be utilized. An “O” is a circle that can become any number of things. A “T” could become a cross or a plus sign. Think about what your business or personality or passion is about, and then see if you can create an image out of a letter in the name that represents this. It is the way a lot of good logos started and often end up – utilizing a letter or letters to integrate an image that represents the business.

Another approach can be to simply find a font you like, write the name out in it, and then look online for an image that you can place beside the name. This is very simplistic, but it can suffice when done well.

The color scheme is another important ingredient. Research color palettes in the same manner as you would if you were painting your house. Look at what colors go well together and which ones clash. Think about what your colors of choice communicate. For instance, bright, flashy colors communicate a liveliness and a fun spirit (see my logo again), while cool blues and greens can communicate professional and corporate. Show your color scheme to others and get their reaction. What does it make them think? What is their first impression?

There are a number of free design tools you can use as well. Here are a couple of resources:

40 Windows Freeware and Open Source Software for Web Designers

20 Tools For The Freelance Designer On A Shoestring Budget

Gimp (free Photoshop alternative)

The best collection of Gimp Video Tutorials

Obviously, there is time involved in learning how to use these tools – another reason you may find yourself wishing you had paid someone to design a professional logo for you. But if you have the time, the patience and the lack of budget, this is a route you can take.

Another important consideration is that you will need variations of the logo. Your social media profiles will require different sizes for the avatars and backgrounds you use. Your business cards will need print-ready files. Your website will need a header version. These are all things to keep in mind as you design your logo. How will it look when it’s tiny on a business card? How will it appear when it’s large on a website header? What variation can you use to make it fit in a small square Twitter avatar?

It is crucial to have a logo that you are satisfied with as your visual identity wherever you stake your claim. It will be used on your print materials, your website, your social media profiles – everywhere you will have a presence. Make sure you think about this and don’t stop creating until you are there.

If you run into any trouble, you know who to call for help. I try my best to provide quality logo design at an affordable price, so please don’t hesitate to ask. Or there are many other great designers who would be happy to provide you with a professional logo. In the meantime, good luck with your design – and please share your finished product. I would love to see it!

PREVIOUS: « Step 2: Choose Your Name Wisely
NEXT: Step 4: The Do-It-Yourself Website Install »

In case you have not been following this series yet, in the previous three installments we covered what goes into the creation and design of your brand. Be sure to go back and read those articles (and the comments – some good points added) before diving into the website building process. It is important to understand that each element of your online identity is integral to your success – you cannot only have a website or only have a logo or only have a social media account. You need every part and you should plan on investing a significant amount of time in all of them. Contrary to popular belief, the internet most definitely does NOT operate with a “build it and they’ll come” mentality. I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve worked for who thought if they had a good looking and professionally functioning website they would have immediate traffic.

So if you have followed the previous steps and have a good set of goals, a solid idea of where you’re heading and a visual identity that supports it, then it’s time to begin creating what will become your primary vehicle for steering the road toward your online dreams. Your website will be your headquarters – the place you can best communicate your message. With your website you will be able to track visitors and traffic and get a tangible readout of who is interested in your product, your message, and/or your online presence. All of the other elements will contribute, but they should be viewed as rivers that flow into the ocean that is your website.

In this part of the series we will go through the steps it takes to secure a domain name and a web hosting account, install WordPress, find a free theme to install and activate, and start posting content. This is obviously only one of the ways you can inexpensively get a quality website up and running, but it is one of the most popular and manageable methods and usually proves successful. WordPress websites are everywhere on the internet (you’re looking at one right now) and this blogging and content management system is infinitely expandable and configurable to be used for almost any type of purpose. Most importantly, it is easy to learn and relatively simple for even the most challenged technophobe to begin posting content, which is essential for internet success.

Keep in mind that this is not the ONLY way to do it. But I have walked people through the various processes enough to know this is one of the best and easiest ways. There are even cheaper and free alternatives, but the method we will go through is, in my opinion, the best for search engine optimization (SEO), expandability and professional representation. For instance, you could get a free WordPress website hosted on WordPress.com or Blogger and point your domain there, but there are limitations regarding plugins and editing, and the SEO is not optimal. Instead, I am encouraging you to spend a small amount of money on one of the most significant pieces of online real estate you will invest in. I assure you it will be worth it.

The first thing you need to do is secure your domain name. In Step 2: Choose Your Name Wisely you should have been looking up the availability of the domain name you wanted and you may have already purchased it. The place you purchase and register your domain name is not significant, but I would suggest that you shop around before buying. GoDaddy is usually a popular choice because of their massive advertising campaigns, their domain services are reasonably priced and their customer service is pretty remarkable. However, I have some serious issues with their proprietary and counterintuitive administration system, so they are not high on my list. I am not going to advocate any one domain registrant or webhost because almost all of them offer similar services for similar prices. I use JustHost and HostMonster for most of my clients and haven’t had any issues to speak of, but I know there are countless others that are most likely just as good. If you Google “web host” you will find a number of sites that rate and compare services and then you can make your own choices. But here are some key features I would look for:

» Your hosting package should not cost more than $10 per month. Most are cheaper when you pay annually – some as low as $3 or $4!

» If you haven’t registered your domain already, many webhosting services will give you a free domain registration with your hosting account

» Unlimited storage space

» Unlimited bandwidth/data transfer

» Unlimited email addresses

» Unlimited databases

» Free setup

» No hidden fees

Most quality hosts offer these features as standard. Many also offer free WordPress installation, cPanel (the most popular control panel around) money-back guarantees, uptime guarantees and more. But insuring that those I listed above are a part of your package should provide all you’ll need for any future expansion or other ideas you may have. And don’t waste your money on any of the “special add-ons” they offer at “discount prices” while you’re signing up. You don’t need them, no matter HOW much the service recommends them.

Once you have signed up for your hosting account, you should receive an email with all of the information you need to get you started. Be sure to save this email somewhere you will be able to easily find it whenever you need it. Locate the information for your control panel and log in. (For our purposes I am going to use cPanel as the example, but your web host may use something different. cPanel seems to be the most widely use d though, so hopefully this is your situation and these steps will be helpful.) There are usually tutorials to help you find everything you need within cPanel, so I will not repeat them here. Instead I will just focus on the steps for installing WordPress.

There are a few options for installing WordPress. You may have all or just one of them. In this article we’ll look at the built-in easy install that many web hosts offer. Look through your control panel’s features in the right column and see if you can locate either of the two icons pictured above: Fantastico or WordPress. Fantastico is a tool that will help you install a number of scripts and software programs on your hosting server with just a few simple steps. If you have it you will want to use this option by clicking on either the Fantastico or WordPress icon. (If you don’t see the icon, you may want to check with your web host to see if they have an alternative offering for easy WordPress install before moving on to the more elaborate self-install.)

Once you click on the icon it should open a page that looks something like this:

You will see a list of available programs on the left column and some descriptions and/or instructions  in the right main column. If you clicked on the Fantastico icon you will see that it is selected (denoted by the blue button) in the left column and that it says “Fantastico” at the top of the right column. If this is the case you need to click on “WordPress” in the left column to select it, which will then open a page that looks like this:

Click on the link that says “New Installation”, which will open a page that looks like this (without the red arrows):

Now you need to fill in some information as follows:

1. Make sure your desired domain is selected. (If you have only one domain it will default to it.)
2. For our purposes you will leave this blank. If you were going to have WordPress in a subdirectory, this is where you would designate it. For instance, on my website I have installed WordPress in the “blog” subdirectory, which gives my blog the address http://www.bkmacdaddy.com/blog. Installing WordPress in your root (main) directory is usually the best route to take, even if you don’t want the blog to be on the front page. But in most cases you will.
3. Decide on your administrator username and type it in here. This is going to be the name you personally log in to the administration side with.
4. Pick a password you will use along with the admin name and type it in here. Make sure to use a good mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers and characters. It is crucial to the security of your site.
5. Your admin nickname will be the name visitors will see when you author a blog post. You can always change it later, but you could just put your name or “administrator” for now.
6. Type in your email address. This is important for any communication with the WordPress install. You will receive all notifications for comments, updates or if you lose your password at this address. Make sure it is a real email address that you have access to.
7. Type in your website’s name (not the address). Again, you can change this later. Mine would actually say “bkmacdaddy designs” in this box.
8. Type in a slogan or tag line if you have one. This will show up in places on the site. Or you can leave it blank if you don’t have a catch phrase yet.

Finally, BEFORE CLICKING THE INSTALL BUTTON, WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN! Save a copy of all of this information somewhere on your computer and write it down to have access to again later. You are almost guaranteed to someday forget your password or login and will need this info. Don’t lose it! Still, if you do, WordPress does have some pretty helpful recovery features.

Now click the button labeled “Install WordPress”. Yes, it’s okay. You won’t break anything. I promise.

The next page will show you the database information, which would be worth writing down as well. You most likely won’t need this but you never know. It will also show you the install directory and the URL (web address) of your WordPress install. Go ahead and write this down too.

Now click the button labeled “Finish Installation”.

It shouldn’t take more than a minute or so and you’re next page will show you the results of a successful install. Be sure and write this info down also, because it includes the login address for your administration area of WordPress.

Once you have it all written down, go ahead and click on the link to the admin area (http://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin). You will come to a page that looks like this:

Now you can type in your admin username and password and log in!

If you do not have the easy process we just went through available on your new web host, you will need to install WordPress the “old-fashioned” way, which is a little more involved but can also be done by anyone (with some good instructions.) If the demand seems strong enough I will write about this process in the next installment, which should be published in the next day or two. If you can’t wait and are feeling a bit capable, you can follow the instructions from the WordPress Codex located HERE. Keep in mind that you will need to do some minimal work with a mySQL database and some FTP uploading, so if this thought scares you, you can hire me to do it for you or leave a comment below requesting that I write a guide for you in the next installment.

In the next few installments I will help you learn how to set up WordPress for a basic blog and business website as well as finding and installing the theme that will best fit your brand and help to enlarge your online footprint. Be sure to subscribe via RSS or email (by filling out the form at the top of the right sidebar) so you don’t miss a post! Also be sure to leave a comment or any questions below if there are things I have missed or you would like me to cover.

PREVIOUS: « Step 3: Your Logo

This is the 5^th installment of the series, so if you are just arriving you should start at the beginning. Also be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed, sign up to receive updates via email (I promise – no spam!) and bookmark this site so you don’t miss any updates!

In the previous step we got your domain name, signed up for your hosting server and installed WordPress. In this step we’ll look at finding the right theme for your brand.

FINDING A THEME

For the uninitiated, a WordPress theme is the look and style and functionality of the website. Everything from the layout, images, colors, font styles and more are determined by the theme you are using. It is possible to have and try out multiple themes on your website with a simple click of a button or two, but you can only have one theme activated at a time. There is a cool little plugin called “Theme Test Drive” that enables you to test out a theme on a live site without anyone else being able to see it, which can come in handy if you are indecisive or if you stumble on a theme you like further down the road. So keep in mind that while you do want to settle on a theme that you will use for a while to build your online presence, one of the beauties of WordPress is that it’s relatively easy to change the theme and plugins, so nothing has to be permanent.

This is the place you could spend an incredible amount of time, so I would recommend starting out with a plan rather than diving straight in. There are countless free and premium themes available and just as many websites with lists of the best of each type (“Top Minimalist Themes”, “Best Red Themes”, etc.). Run a quick search on Google for WordPress themes and you’ll see what I mean.

Better yet, search for WordPress themes on the bkmacdaddy links page to see the most recent related articles. Here are some of the results as of this writing:

10 Sites To Find The Most Amazing WordPress Themes - http://is.gd/1Pvd5

16 Premium ArtWorks Wordpress Themes For Free – http://bit.ly/1AHhrZ

Free Paper WordPress Themes – http://bit.ly/3tdVx

30 Fresh Wordpress Themes, Domain Names & Brand Packs – http://bit.ly/OVOCy

Websites where you could find great WordPress themes – http://bit.ly/18ct4E

6 FREE Wordpress Themes You Need Today – http://bit.ly/23nINi

20+ Free & Stylish Typography Wordpress Themes – http://bit.ly/16dO49

So you can see how this could take a bit of time. There is also a pretty good search feature built into the administration side of WordPress that allows you to define parameters and preview themes, but I would not recommend using it if you are looking to save time. Before you dive in and spend the next 3 months scanning through theme showcases and roundups to find the one that catches your eye, here are some suggestions to hopefully streamline the process:

Start With Your Goals (again)

What are you trying to accomplish with your online identity? This is again important because you don’t need to spend time looking at corporate themes if you are starting a design blog. Narrow your theme search by aligning it with your goals. However, don’t limit yourself entirely to a specific genre because you might find something outside the norm that will work for you.

Set A Budget

It is pretty likely you are reading this post because you have little or no money to spend, so rest assured that there are an outrageous number of very high-quality themes available. If this is the case for you, refine your search to free showcases only. However, if you have the money to invest in what is called a “Premium” theme – usually somewhere between $30-$100 – you can step up a bit to some themes that have more polish, functionality and uniqueness than most free themes. Personally, I wouldn’t spend any money on a premium theme – not just because I can design my own, but because there are so many GREAT free ones! Still, if you have a bit more money to invest you can get a custom theme made to order that is built around your logo and color scheme. Obviously this is the optimal way to go because you should end up with a one-of-a-kind website that doesn’t look like anyone else’s. If this is your desire and something you wish to explore, it is a service I provide for a relatively reasonable price. Just email me and we can discuss the possibilities!

Make Your Own Style Guide

Have you ever redesigned a room in your house? Part of the preparation is to look through magazines and TV shows to find color palettes you like. Usually you will go to the paint store and look through the color samples and try to match different colors together to create an appealing look that matches your style. Then you will find furniture and all of the other elements for the room that you desire, careful to make sure they each contribute to the overall look and style you want. I’m sure you see where I’m going with this. Put together a style guide for the theme search that includes the following:

» Color palette (usually 2-4 colors is best to keep from overwhelming your visitors. Of course you also want it to match well with your logo.)

» Typography (look at how websites you like use type – is it legible? Large enough? Distracting? What fonts are incorporated?)

» Layout (1, 2 or 3 columns? What type of content will reside in each column? Do you want a cleaner, minimalist layout or a high-content, news magazine-type of layout? Do you need space for advertising?)

Make A Shopping List

You may not even know all of the elements you will want to include in your website, and it is likely you will come up with more even after it’s been up for a year! So it’s a good idea to have an ongoing list easily accessible to help you decide on a theme.

Most current quality themes will be “widget-ready”, which means you can infinitely and easily add widgets to your site as you desire. Widgets are plugins to WordPress that add various types of functionality, usually to the sidebar column. Having that expandability is one of the best features of WordPress! Still, it will be prudent to know that, although the themes you look at will not be utilizing every single element you are going to want to use, they will have the ability and layout that best suits your needs. The best way to do this is to have your list of those needs before you start. I’ll start you with some “must-haves” for building your online presence and you can add to it as you see fit:

» Basic social media integration capabilities (Twitter feed, Digg button, Flickr photos, Facebook status, etc.)

» RSS subscription

» Ad space (if you intend to get to a point of selling advertising)

» Links to latest news or articles in your related field

» Easy to find and navigate blog components (comments, category and page navigation, etc.)

» Anything else you can think of…

When working with a designer/developer (me!) each of these elements and more are easily configurable to your liking. Some designers will also assist you for a reasonable fee in customizing a theme of your choosing to make minor adjustments, so that may be a less expensive route that will aid in getting you up and running.

These are just a few primary considerations and not nearly comprehensive, but if you start your theme search with these preparations you should save a significant amount of time. Also keep in mind that WordPress has been around for several years now and has gone through several versions, so it is important to make sure your chosen theme is not so old or outdated that it doesn’t function with the newest version of WordPress.

It may be wise to set a deadline as well, because, as I said earlier, this can become a very long process. There are so many great themes available and more being created daily, so don’t get caught up bookmarking 200 themes to choose from. Try finding 3-5 you really like. You can try each of them out easily in your WordPress installation to make your final decision. Remember – your decision upon a theme is not final! You can change it later if you want and it’s pretty simple to do.

Now start your search! You may want to create a bookmark folder in your browser to save the themes that catch your eye so you can find them easily to review and compare later.

Once you find the few themes that you want to try, go ahead and download them to your computer. They will usually be downloaded in a compressed “zip” file.

Now log into the admin side of WordPress and navigate to the Theme area by clicking on the left sidebar on Appearance and then clicking on Add New Themes.

This will open up the built-in theme search feature, which we are avoiding for the time being. Toward the top left of this page click on the link labeled Upload, which will show the following page.

Click on the button labeled Browse and navigate to the place on your hard drive where you have saved the theme(s). Select the zip file you are going to upload and then click the button labeled Install Now.

Wait for it to upload,and then click on the link labeled Activate.

Now click on the button at the top left of the page right next to the name of your site labeled Visit Site to see your new theme!

Keep in mind that you haven’t added any plugins or content yet so it will be a little bare. But in the next installment of this series you’ll learn how to add plugins and content to get your site ready for sharing! Hopefully by then you will have found and installed your theme and will be ready to go!

Please leave any questions or comments you may have below. I respond pretty quickly so don’t hesitate to ask for help or give additional suggestions if you have them. Good luck in your theme search – and have fun!

PREVIOUS: « Step 4: The Do-It-Yourself Website Install

As businesses, professionals and individuals frantically scramble to keep from being left behind in the latest technological phenomenon of global virtual communities that have been collectively coined “social media”, the wide-eyed and wondering search everywhere for answers. As with all revolutions past – only multiplied by the miraculously rapid pace at which real-time communication and information disbursement occurs – the common laws of the emerging society appear to be caught up in a free-for-all battle fought between self-proclaimed experts, early-adopting renegades, ground-breaking pioneers, drooling capitalists and everyone else who refuses to end up classified as living under the proverbial rock.

Over the past few weeks I have been asked some very interesting questions by various relative newcomers who for some reason believe I may be one who has the inside track on how things are done. Most of these people don’t realize that only 6 months ago I did not have a single social media account. I don’t know if someone recommended me to them, or they are just looking at my numbers, or they have seen my name in certain circles, or any other reason that would lead them to seek me out as one who would have the answers. All I know is that there is a common thread to their questions, and it has led me to write this post to hopefully answer them all simultaneously.

They all want to know what “the rules” are.

We’re not talking about technical questions like “How do I make a fan page on Facebook?” or “What does ‘RT’ mean?”

Really what they’re asking is for the rules of etiquette.

Emily Post would have made a killing if she were alive to write a book on social media etiquette. The problem is that everyone who sees the potential to make that killing for themselves is seizing the opportunity and cranking out books and blog posts with catchy titles and self-imposed empirical authority, attempting to wrangle the wild online frontier into a nice neat little package that is palatable and manageable and under control. And financially fruitful.

Does anyone else see that these emperors are wearing no clothes?

I’m not writing this to bash others. There is already plenty being written with aims to tear down ‘experts’ and ‘gurus’ and reveal their nakedness to the previously blind and uninitiated. Besides, I believe that everyone is entitled to their own approaches and opinions as long as they don’t endanger those around them. It’s that second part that forces individual freedoms to intertwine with the consideration of others which in turn forms the foundations of what we call “society”.

Society, according to Merriam-Webster’s, is an enduring and cooperating social group whose members have developed organized patterns of relationships through interaction with one another; a community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests.

If social media is the obvious chosen communication method of a newly emerging society, which I believe in the most organic and rudimentary sense is true, then does it not by definition consist of a community of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests?

Traditions

Traditions by nature take time to form. Yes, most of the more popular social media channels have been around long enough to form some of their own traditions. But how did they get there? By the people who were involved in creating them. No one wrote out a list of traditions – they just came into existence because people wanted them or spurred them on. And different ‘families’ create their own traditions, which are not necessarily taken on as the traditions of the global community.

Institutions

Facebook. Twitter. YouTube. Flickr. Digg. FriendFeed. Blogs. And so on…everyone has their primary favorite, and they are drawn to it because the other people that are also drawn to it start with that basic commonality. Together these institutions are the online society, and they are the media choices of the social beings.

Activites and Interests

Obviously we are all interested in the activity of social media. The immediate bond is formed based on this primitive need for community – to share ourselves, our lives, our thoughts, our hopes, our experiences with others. No one wants to be alone, and the social media revolution enables us all to find ways to be around others even when we are alone in our own home or workplace.

The Key: Collective

As I see it, the key to best understanding how to move forward in uncharted territory is to contribute to the collective formation of it.

Who makes the rules in your life? Yes, there are laws that our elected officials and forefathers have made throughout the years to govern our society. But who put those leaders in place? You did. I did. Our ancestors and neighbors did.

Society put the leaders in place. And where society did not, the opportunists swooped in and found ways to fill the voids and push their own agendas until they too became a part of the social norm.

I believe this is where each of us who are asking how to do this thing stands now – on the precipice of a decision.

Who will make the rules of how you conduct yourself in this revolutionary online society? Will you allow the popular, the well-studied and informed, and the early adopters dictate your behavior to the point that your online presence looks unsettlingly more like theirs and less like your own? Will you blindly follow the advice of the measurably “successful” until your own personality is unrecognizable behind the skin you have cloned and stitched yourself into?

It’s like high school all over again. Do I want to fit in with the jocks, the cheerleaders, the stoners, the skaters, the geeks, or the preps? Once I decide, I’ll buy the required wardrobe and adjust my behavior accordingly until they realize I am one of them. Never mind that I’ve forgotten who I really am

Not me.

It may come as no surprise to you, but when I went to high school I created my own style (sort of a mix of preppy argyle and San Francisco ghetto pimp – can you picture that? Me either. Give me a break. It was the 80s.) Yes, at first I was a loner. A bit of an outcast. No one knew where to put me! I didn’t fit their classifications and I challenged their system. But eventually those that appreciated individuality, integrity, creativity and confidence were drawn to me. They didn’t make me their leader. Because we didn’t need one. We were a community. A society unto ourselves. And we made our own rules.

My point is this: YOU make your own rules in the social media revolution. By doing so you contribute to the true freedom and uncontainable spirit that will hopefully continue to grow as the mediums multiply. Sure, you should ask around. See what others are doing. Interact and examine and research and get informed about your society.

But please don’t let others dictate your behavior to the point that we lose YOU.

This society needs YOU. Not clones. Not mindless reruns of what the popular kids are doing. We need YOU.

If you bring your own personality, humor, values, culture, traditions, insights, and behaviors into the mix, we all become better, as individuals and as the whole. We learn from each other and grow together and we all gain a little piece of each other as the global community strengthens. Not to the point of losing ourselves, but to the point of becoming a better us.

I want to know and possibly adopt some of your traditions. I want to hear all about your interests and activities. I want to be invited to visit and hang out in your favorite institutions. And I want to share mine with you.

Please don’t drink the Kool-Aid and allow someone else to dismantle the real you. Dive in. Make mistakes. Learn and grow and contribute. I hope that together we can all make the social media rules. And then we can break them together too!

In this 6^th installment we will briefly go through the process of installing and setting up plugins, as well as some recommendations for which ones to use. This will not be an exhaustive study of what will work best, but instead it should get you started on adding some key functionality and enhancements to your site that will contribute to the growth of your online presence.

If you are just discovering this series, be sure to go back to the beginning and catch up so you will have a clear understanding of where we’ve been and where we’re going. Also be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed, sign up to receive updates via email and/or bookmark this site so you don’t miss any updates!

PLUGINS

Plugins are tools to extend the functionality of WordPress. Plugins offer custom functions and features so that each user can tailor their site to their specific needs. ~ WordPress Codex

WordPress comes with a couple of plugins already installed: Akismet and Hello Dolly. You can see these by clicking on the left sidebar on the button labeled Plugins. Go ahead and delete the silly Hello Dolly plugin and then take a quick look at Akismet. This is an important plugin to activate because it helps with preventing spam comments. In order to use it you will have to create a free account at WordPress.com and get the API key connected to your account, then cut and paste it into the configuration of Akismet. The instructions for this are shown to you when it’s activated, so go ahead and click on the link Activate underneath Akismet, then complete the configuration process as it instructs you.

WHICH PLUGINS?

Next you will need to determine which plugins you want to install that will help to get the most out of your site and increase your branding. Currently the WordPress Plugin Directory has 6,510 plugins available. This could take you a while to go through! There are countless things to consider so in the interest of brevity I will give you some basic must-haves for building your online presence.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
Most commonly used is the All In One SEO Pack. I have recently started using Greg’s High Performance SEO. Either of these are great plugins that when used correctly will help you be found better by the search engines. Be sure to read the documentation to set them up properly for best SEO.

RSS Feeds:
You must generate an RSS feed in order for visitors to subscribe to your blog, which in turn contributes to return visits and builds community interaction within your site. WordPress has this functionality built in, but it can be greatly enhanced for free by running your feed through Feedburner. There’s a great little plugin that will take care of this for you called FD Feedburner. You will have to create a Feedburner account through Google, but you will also use the Google account for analytics and more, so go ahead and set one up if you haven’t already.

Social Media:
It is crucial that you install social media plugins to enable the broadest reach for your website. Incorporating social bookmarking, the ability to tweet your posts or share them on Facebook, adding a Digg button and numerous other ways to share your site across social media channels is a vital part of enlarging your online footprint. The easier you can make it for visitors to share your posts, the more often they will do it. And the more you can show what your brand is doing around the web, the more your website visitors are likely to visit your other “locations” to see what you’re about.

You can see on my site that I have social bookmarking at the end of each post. This is a plugin I use constantly called Sexy Bookmarks. It’s highly configurable and looks great. The other popular social bookmarking plugin is Sociable. It is also highly configurable and I believe it has a lot more options, but I prefer the way Sexy Bookmarks looks and its ease of use.

Then in the sidebar I have incorporated a Retweet button to allow users to easily tweet my posts. I use Backtype’s TweetCount rather than the ever popular Tweetmeme because I can edit the colors of the button to make it match my site and brand, I can link it to my bit.ly account for tracking and analytics, and I can configure it to disallow crediting BackType so all the tweets are purely referencing the blog title, my Twitter username and the bit.ly link.

I also added a Digg button to give visitors the ability to add the posts to Digg, which gives it the potential of reaching a larger audience. There are several good Digg button plugins. The one I use is called (surprise) Digg This Button.

Notice that Sexy Bookmarks has Twitter and Digg included, so you may ask why use these features twice? I have done it because the retweet and digg buttons have become very recognizable, so for many users it will encourage them to use the buttons in the sidebar. I have seen the footer buttons and the sidebar buttons both get about the same use, so the jury is still out on this one. But I don’t think it hurts anything.

Some other features I would suggest including would be adding your Delicious bookmarks, your Twitter feed, and your Facebook status updates to your sidebar. There are several plugins that will do this also and I would encourage you to try them out to determine which ones best matches the look and feel of your theme. You definitely do not want them to be a distraction, but they can be great tools to enable your visitors to connect with you on all of the major social media channels.

Content and interaction:
Finally, I would suggest using a few plugins to manage your content and encourage visitors to comment. There are all kinds of ways you can do this, from including recent comments, recent posts, comment enhancements and more. I won’t go into all of these, but instead will give you a few resources where you can explore what will work best for your site.

15 Essential Wordpress Plugins for Aspiring Designers

70 Best Wordpress Plugins to Supercharge your Blog

10 Wordpress plugins that every website needs… and others that may come in handy

INSTALLING PLUGINS

Installing plugins has become pretty simple with the latest versions of WordPress. There are several ways you can do it, but the simplest is using the built-in search and install feature. You can also use this to find other plugins without ever having to leave your administration area.

To find and install a plugin, simply click on the button labeled Plugins on the left sidebar, then click on Add New.

This will open the Search section, where you can type in any term to find the corresponding plugin. You can type in the exact title if you already know it (like any of those suggested above) or you can type in a term such as “Twitter”, then click on the button labeled Search Plugins.

A list will load that you can choose any plugin from. You can click on the plugin’s title to visit its website, or you can click on Install to go ahead and install the plugin. Don’t be afraid. WordPress is made to do this and does it quite well. If you install a plugin that you decide you don’t want to use, it’s very easy to deactivate it and delete it.

CONCLUSION

Go ahead. Try a few plugins out. See how the system works and get a feel for what will work best for promoting your brand and encouraging interaction within your website and social media channels.

This briefing on plugins is not even close to comprehensive and there are still many more steps and options that are available. Plus, once you get these plugins installed you will need to determine where they will go on the site (sidebar, footer, etc.) and for many of them you will be using the widget area to add them to your sidebar. There are many resources and guides, including usually the documentation that comes with the plugin itself, to assist you. Of course, if you get stuck you can always contact me with any questions you have.

In the next installment of the series we will look at Posts and Pages so you can start loading content into your site. Until then, have fun playing with the plugins!

This article is a part of our first article exchange. The post was written by Beirut Abu Hdaib (@beiruta) of Thoughtpick. At Thoughtpick, we talk about social media, Web marketing and discuss our views on Tech news. Other than blogging, we aim to produce scrappy projects to solve problems online – starting with the Twitter Follow Management tool, Tweepi

“People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps”. Mary Kay Ash

Celebrating Success By Michael D. Brown

Whether we like it or not, people – customers- are and will always be the main focal point of any marketing, promotional and research and development efforts. They are, as the quote above clearly indicates, the real assets of any business with which it can’t operate or function without. Therefore, when considering the best practices for promoting any brand or product, through social media or offline, the first thing the company has to consider is its target audience, in terms of demographics, education, backgrounds, likes, dislikes and so on and so forth.

Yet, since the simple marketing mix theory consists of 4 main elements: product, place, promotion and price, the tricky part is figuring out the right mix that suits a liquid medium such as social media.

Therefore, this article will discuss, in details, the best 10 top tips and ideas that can help steer a brand towards success and away from mistakes that might lead to utter failure and losses!

Best Practices: 10 Top Tips & Ideas for Promoting Your Brand through Social Media:

1. Learn from Others: “Experience is the best teacher“- proverb. Regardless of your product or service, your brand must take into account the successes and mistakes of others who have previously used social media, especially that Web 2.0 in general is considered a new born when compared to the business and marketing industry as a whole.

2. Avoid Conceit: You’ve been in business for years, you have great pride of what you have accomplished. This is good. Yet, when considering a shift to a new medium such as social media, you have to be ware of excessive pride: you do not know it all and yes, there are some new things you will need to learn!

3. Listen to Your Customers: As I have previously stressed in the introduction brief, customers are your greatest asset; listen to what they want and, whenever possible, make it happen. As opposed to the common belief that customers are “ignorant and don’t know what they want“, today’s consumers have the power of knowledge and the ability to compare and contrast every aspect of your business or brand with others, with luxury of ease and timeliness.

4. Choose the Right Mix: When thinking of utilizing social media channels, you have to take into account that not every channel can and will suit your offering. Study the channels you want to use, one by one, test it for a while and then decide whether it will benefit your promotional purposes or negatively influence it. Twitter may seem lucrative for all brands but I have to disagree! A certain brand of hair shampoo, for example, could easily fail to utilize Twitter.

The Road to Success

5. Avoid Being Intrusive: Whatever it is you are trying to sell, remember this: “You are entering other people’s space and you have to be welcomed!” Whichever social media channel you decide to take advantage of, you always have to keep in mind that intrusive advertising will cause more harm than good, especially on the long run!

6. Abandon Imitation – Seek Innovation: Mimicking an existing promotional campaign, or product, is easier and cheaper than being creative and innovative in your approach, I know! Yet, and with the huge number of social media users distributed all over the various channels, someone, sooner or later, will notice your ingenuity and negative publicity might hunt you out of your business!

7. Adopt Sincerity in Your Approach: Most people are well aware of your intentions, good and bad. Try to be sincere in your approach; hypocrisy will get you isolated over social media channels! Allow me to point out though that although you need to be sincere with your audience, you still need to remember your business focus and your brand objectives.

8. Be Active, Available & Consistent: I am sure that a relatively high percentage of social media “users” are inactive in their nature of usage! If you are seeking to build a good and memorable brand reputation, you have to remain active throughout the chosen channels you have picked and you must be consistent in your tone, messages and the relations you build with your groups, friends and followers.

9. You Are Always Watched – Remember That: Whether one of your employees send a wrong message about your brand, or a customer complains about your after sales service, once you choose to take your brand on the social media ride, you will face many bumps ahead! Watch out what you say and how you say it because you can’t take it back (and by you, I mean the owners and employees on all levels!)

10. Have a Contingency Plan of Action: Just like any other business investment, social media requires a special contingency plan, with different scenarios, to battle any kind of opposed and dismissive reactions to your brand. The exit plan is a tricky business in the case of social media yet, the real objective is to know when to pull the plug before losses are even more sever!

Bonus Tip: Read, continuously, about social media and its different channels. Look for well trusted sites that offer good social media tips and try to apply them whenever possible.

When There’s a Will, There’s a Way!

Nothing is impossible – if, and only if – you know how to play your cards right! Therefore, whether you decide to choose Facebook Fan pages or MySpace, Twitter or Hootsuite, Mixx or Digg and so on, study your steps and you will, essentially, succeed! Mixing, matching and modifying your plan of action is not a problem as long as the transition is timely and organized.

Finally, I invite you to my favorite top 5 links for social media information and links… Enjoy!

»    5 Essential Tips for Promoting Your Charity Using Social Media

»    Brand Building Through Search & Social Media

»    To Promote Your Brand Use Social Media

»    50 Top Noise-Free Twitter Tips & Links in Social Media, Marketing,
SEO, Design & More!

»    HOW TO: Build Your Personal Brand on Facebook

Beirut: ThoughtPick’s Web marketing consultant and content writer. Born into a well-rounded and educated family igniting her interest in reading, writing and research. Graduated from the Lebanese American University with a bachelor’s degree, with honors, in Marketing followed by an MBA. Currently an active writer, poet and blogger.

I was recently participating in a discussion among freelancers in a Google Wave regarding finding new clients on Twitter. I was surprised to hear that all of the other participants had not found a single new client or made any money through their efforts on the social network. The reason I was surprised is because my experience has been quite the opposite. I came to realize I might be the exception to the rule and I could possibly help other freelancers by sharing what I am finding to be some proven successful keys to marketing my services and finding new clients on Twitter.

Before I explain how, take a quick look at some of the measurable results I have achieved directly from Twitter since I started using it in April 2009:

»   15 new clients – an average of over 2 per month!

»   20+ new projects of various sizes

»   Major increase in requests for proposals

»   Revenue in 5 digits

All of these have come directly from connecting with people on Twitter!

Now for the disclaimer: your results will most likely vary. In fact, I can’t guarantee that you will get any positive results at all. But it is my hope that if you take what I have learned and figure out the ways to best utilize these keys in a way that compliments your individual personality and approach, you will see an increase in your clientele and your business.

Key #1: STOP MARKETING

I have yet to meet someone who has much patience for salespeople (my apologies to salespeople everywhere.) If someone approaches me with even a hint of a sales pitch I immediately stop giving them the benefit of the doubt and my skepticism stands at alert. I tend to make purchases based on research, the product, and then the customer service – in that order. So if someone comes at me with an offer my first thought is, “What’s the catch?”

On the other hand, most people are very impressed by word of mouth. If someone recommends a product, a service or a person to me with no foreseeable personal gain on their part, it carries great weight.

On Twitter there is an ever-increasing backlash towards those who are obviously there trying to make a quick buck. As businesses and individuals jump on the bandwagon to try to find ways to monetize social media and measure ROI and turn it into the “next big thing” in marketing, the negative response appears to be exponentially growing. In my experience, one of the kisses of death on Twitter is to bombard your followers with self-promotion and attempts to market yourself, your product, your blog, or whatever you are trying to draw attention to. It’s the same reason we all fast-forward through the commercials on our DVRs. Become a commercial for yourself on Twitter and you will most likely be blocked, turned off and/or unfollowed. How in the world will you connect with potential clients if no one is paying any attention to you?

Key #2: START ENGAGING

Most people who are on Twitter for reasons other than selling something will tell you they are looking to connect and network with others. Many use Twitter to find information, others share their personal lives and interact with other people, and others use it as a platform. I am continuously working on determining a good balance of all of the above for me. I do what I can to provide useful information by sharing interesting and informative articles that I read, I listen to what others are saying and sharing that pertains to my own interests, and I spend some time getting to know other people on Twitter personally by interacting with their lives and sharing tidbits about my own. In short, I treat people the way I want to be treated. I don’t want anyone to blast me with constant requests to read their latest blog post or check out their newest product. But if someone shows interest in my life or what I have to share, I become their Twitter friend pretty quickly.

Pay attention to others. Take an interest in their lives, or at least their tweets. The more you engage as a real person with other real people, the more others will do the same with you.

But don’t engage so that you can start blasting them with your sales pitch once you’ve “won them over”! Engage because you truly care about other human beings. We all can see through the façade of anything less or interaction that is self-serving. I have found that others are drawn to me because I truly care about them, at least enough to take a moment to say hello and ask how they’re doing, rather than targeting them for my next sales conquest.

Key #3: CONTINUE GIVING

One of the main reasons I have had new clients come to me through Twitter is because someone else on Twitter told of how I had helped them out. Word of mouth is the best possible way to attract new clients, because they come to you with a foundational level of confidence in you and your services. If someone they trust has convinced them that they can trust you, you do good work and you’re a good person, you’re already well on your way to building a solid relationship.

Find ways to help others and you will have word of mouth recommendations for life on Twitter. I have cleaned up someone’s code, given a discounted service to someone in need, provided resources for a specific problem, and other things simply by paying attention to what others are tweeting and offering assistance where I can. Most people are floored that I would take the time to help them troubleshoot a problem without charging them! Some of those people are now my clients, while others have sent new clients my way.

Helping people out without any ulterior motives (like hoping they become a client) will ultimately provide its own reward. Whether you call it karma, or a religious belief system, or the universe, or whatever – you can never go wrong by giving selflessly to others. Even if it doesn’t generate one new client for you, the rewards of generosity will come.

I know there are plenty of other things you can do, and these are very general tips, but they have worked for me in ways far beyond my imagination. Even better than the business rewards, I am learning and growing and connecting with countless amazing and wonderful people on Twitter, whether they are clients or not. For me that has become the bottom line for my focus in social media. I am not a salesperson, nor do I ever aspire to be one. But I am a social being, and by sharing what I can, I have found ways that I think most of us can use to attract potential and new clients on Twitter.

What is your experience? Have you attracted new clients on Twitter? Please share your experience, insights and thoughts in the comments below. Hopefully we all can learn from each other and continue to grow our online communities in mutually beneficial ways together.