TWEET LATER (tweetlater.com)

Tweet Later is the most useful Twitter program I use by far. The interface is horrible, but you only have to configure your Twitter options once and then you’re done. After you’ve loaded your Twitter account into Tweet Later, go to “Accounts”, “List Accounts”, then “Edit”. You should have at least the following two options set-up.

Auto-follow:
This will follow anyone who follows you automatically. This is essentially just common Twitter etiquette for marketers… if someone follows you, you follow them back. Most marketers on Twitter use this function, which is how you will get your followers; when you choose to follow someone and they have this option selected, they will automatically follow you back, and you now have a new follower. If you gain followers this way, it’s just nice to return the favour. Additionally, the more people you follow, the more likely someone is to follow you.

Auto-Welcome:
I would also recommend checking this and using it. It serves as a great way to start up a conversation with new potential leads. Send a simple message… thank people for following you, and maybe ask them a question to get the conversation started. Do no pitch your business in your auto welcome message. I get this all the time everyday, and I just delete those messages automatically. Be prepared to be bombarded with such messages.

You will also see Auto-Unfollow here. I personally don’t use this (more on unfollowing under “Friend or Follow” below).

Tweet Later also allows you to… Tweet Later. Go to “Tweets”, then “New Tweet”. You can write in as many Tweets as you like and how them published to your account whenever you like. This way you don’t have to return to Twitter throughout the day to post something new. Simply set up a few new Tweets in the morning and then forget about it.

I personally don’t use any other Tweet Later functions, but browse around and see what suits you.

TWITTER FEED (twitterfeed.com)

Twitter feed will Tweet your blog’s RSS feed, i.e. every time you make a new blog post, you will automatically Tweet this to your followers. This is great because it gets traffic to your blog, and you don’t have to worry about remembering to Tweet it yourself.

TWEET DECK (tweetdeck.com)

Tweet Deck allows you to do everything you can do on Twitter, but without having to actually go online to your Twitter account. It has a different interface than Twitter, which some people may like. It also has an option to shorten your url’s (which Twitter does, but only after posting the Tweet), which can help you make longer Tweets. Beware though, Tweet Deck makes really loud annoying sounds periodically, so you might want to lower your volume.

HUITTER (friendorfollow.com)

Twitter recently changed the the interface in the “following” section. Previously you could immediately tell who you were following, but wasn’t following you back, but you now have to click the icon on the right of the screen to figure this out. Yes this seems effortless, but when you’re trying to unfollow 100 people at a time, it takes much longer with the new interface. Huitter allows you to unfollow everyone who isn’t unfollowing you with the click of a button (if you wish to keep following certain people you can specify this). If you wish to unfollow these people, it’s now a lot easier. For anyone who doesn’t know, once you hit the 2000 “following” mark, you must have followers within 10% of your following, i.e. if you’re following 2000 people, you must have 1800 or more followers. Hence, it becomes necessary to unfollow people who aren’t following you, or else you won’t be able to follow more people.

TWITTER BACKGROUNDS (google.com)

I’m not speaking specifically about any tool or website here. Google “twitter backgrounds” and you’ll get several sites with free twitter backgrounds, some with some really really cool images. They’re a lot more interesting than the boring ones provided on Twitter, and they can serve to start up conversations too (I get asked about my Twitter background once in a while).

So there is your “automated” Twitter system. Add as many new followers per day and it won’t take too long to get to several thousand followers (I recommend following less than 400 new people a day, or else your account might get suspended). Just remember to unfollow people, be friendly, and don’t spam people with your business opportunity.

For information on optimizing your Twitter profile for your business, see my blog post “How To Use Twitter For Your Business”.

1) Write an Article:
Write informative and content-rich articles. Again, this is not the place to blatantly self-promote or state that your business opportunity is the greatest thing on earth. Many people out there looking for online opportunities don’t know one thing when it comes to internet marketing. Establish yourself as a marketing authority by posting useful marketing advice (or related topics) and readers will be curious as to what it is exactly that you do, and may opt to join you (your author bio should be at the end of each article, including a link where people can go to learn more about you or opt into your business opportunity).

2) Write a Press Release
Press releases are announcements of news-worthy events, and should be written in the third person. For example you may want to announce the launch of your new business, your website, your blog, or any event that may be related to your business. Use quotes in your press release, as if you were being interviewed i.e. “our business model is one of a kind” said Matt Mossop. Keep press releases short and to the point (around 400 words).

3) Blog
Use the same guidelines for blogging as stated above for articles. Your blog will be used to establish yourself as a marketing authority. I personally post all my articles on my blog, as well as some additional content which I don’t want to release as an article. You should have a capture form on your blog for possible new leads.

4) Create a Squidoo Lens
Squidoo is a website where people share content about about whatever you want. Again, follow the article writing guidelines as above. There are additional options to add pictures and video etc to your squidoo lens, just follow the instructions on Squidoo on how to create a lens.

5) Create a Facebook Profile
Create a Facebook profile (or MySpace etc) as you would if you were using it to talk to friends (keep it professional however, i.e. no offensive content). Don’t make it look like you’re only there to promote your business. Add friends who are also into internet marketing/business, as some of them may be looking for new business opportunities. I personally also add people with similar interests as me, i.e. movies or music I like. Do not push your business onto any of these people. When adding friends let people know you’re looking to network or speak to like-minded individuals. If they decide to ask you what you do and join you, that’s their decision.

6) Use Twitter
Create a Twitter account and follow as many new people a day as possible (limit to 400 or so so your profile doesn’t get suspended by Twitter). Tweet about other topics than just how to join your business. You’re limited to 140 characters per tweet, so it’s not difficult to post other interesting advice or information (a cool video or news story you read for example). Once you’ve reached a few thousand followers (this does take some time to establish), it is possible to get several free business leads per day.

7) Create a Video
Create an informative video and post it to Youtube (or Viddler etc). Simply record yourself talking about whatever business-related topic you wish, it can be as short or long as you want. The more unique your video, the more views you will get.

8) Post an Online Classified Ad
I personally like Craigslist, although they limit you to how many ads you can post within a 48 hour period (three unique ads per e-mail address). Simply create a short ad with a link to your opt-in page and post it.

9) Join ListJoe
With ListJoe, you can send thousands of e-mails out weekly to potential leads for free. The catch is that every e-mail you send out goes to another ListJoe member, i.e. someone doing the same thing as you. Leads are still possible however as some members may be frustrated with their business and looking for something new. You must personally look at other ListJoe members’ e-mail to acculmulate points. The number of e-mails you’re allowed to send it determined by how many points you have. It is not difficult however to accumulate enough points to send out 2000 or so e-mails a week.

10) Post to Online Forums
Join online marketing forums and simply reply to posts, demonstrating your marketing knowledge. Again, this will build your credibility and may have people wanting to know more about what it is you do, and how to join you.

You will of course have to find websites to post your articles, press release, etc. Simply google “free article marketing” (or similar topics) to find sites to post your content on. Free business leads do take more effort to produce in general than paid leads, but if you’re on a limited marketing budget they’re invaluable. As stated above, articles and your blog will also help to establish yourself as a presence in the industry. Further detail on most of the above topics can be found in previous posts on my blog.