Net Results
Helping your business succeed online.
Published by nrichmedia (www.nrichmedia.com)
Volume 5, Issue 3 – December 2009
In This Issue
Welcome
It's that time of year again, smack dab in the middle of the holiday season and just about the new year. New decade, in fact. It's funny, but it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal that we're also beginning a new decade. I remember when we hit the '80s, '90s, and, especially, the 2000s, it was something to talk about. But now, coming up to 2010, it just occurred to me the other day that it's in fact a new decade. Maybe the fact that we don't really have a name for the decade — the '10s? the Teens? — is a good part of the reason. Or, maybe because things are just speeding by and changing so quickly, that we don't even notice.
One thing that's really changed on the Web in the past few years is social networking. We're going to focus on one particular aspect — Twitter — in this newsletter. I hope you find it useful. And, before I forget, happy new year (and new decade)!
We're Accepting Articles
nrichmedia is now accepting submissions for our Articles page. All articles must be about a topic of social responsibility or pertaining to environmental issues. This is a great opportunity to market your cause and have a positive impact on visitors to nrichmedia's web site.
Although the articles that we post are not intended as self-promotional tools, we are happy to include a short bio and link to your web site, which may help with your site's Google rankings.
Please submit your article (with a short bio), in Word format, to info@nrichmedia.com for consideration.
Featured Article: What's All the Fuss About Twitter?
Hopefully by now you've heard about Twitter. Even if you haven't tried it out yet, you probably know someone who 'tweets' (in case you don't know, that's Twitter lingo for posting on Twitter).
Twitter's catchphrase used to be, "What are you doing?" and has just recently changed to, "What's happening?" So the idea is that you can let everyone know what you're up to right now... and then again in five minutes... an so on. At first thought, it sure seems like a tool that school kids would use to tell their friends that they're at the mall, bored to death by a homework assignment or "just hanging out." Most of us non-teens might wonder why on earth would I want to bother using something like that? Why would I care that someone I don't even know has just taken a shower or eaten a chocolate bar?
I also thought that at first. And, I bet most Twitter users once thought so as well. So what's the deal? Why are millions of people using Twitter?
Truth is, if used properly, Twitter can be a very useful news source and valuable marketing tool. You just need to learn how to use it effectively.
First, let's look at the news aspect. Millions of people around the world are constantly trying to be the first (or one of the first) to break a story. So you've got a non-stop flow of reported events, big and small, coming on your feed. You can decide what to follow — and even so, there's always some weeding through a bit of junk to get to the good stuff — but when there's a big story, you can bet you won't miss hearing about it on Twitter. I learned about Michael Jackson's death within minutes of it happening. If you're someone like me, who isn't always actively seeking out news, with Twitter, the big stuff finds you.
Now on to what probably really grabbed your attention: the marketing aspect of Twitter. Again, if you do it properly, Twitter is a fantastic tool for getting the word out about your products or services to a potentially very large audience. Admittedly there's a lot of competition and at times getting your point heard can be like whispering amongst a crowd of thousands. That's why you need to build up a large following — of hundreds or, preferably, thousands — and then grab the attention of as many of those as possible on a regular basis. It really is a numbers game.
The key to getting going in Twitter is that you have to be patient at the beginning (well, it doesn't hurt to be patient at all times!). You'll have to start by following people you know (friends, family, celebrities) and branch out to others you don't (yet) know and hope those people follow you back. You should naturally be following people who have similar interests and — assuming you have interesting and/or entertaining information to share — like-minded people will follow you. The more people you follow, the more other people will see and follow you. After a while you'll garner a decent following.
There's a sort of unwritten code on Twitter that if someone follows you, you should follow them back. Some people adhere to this; others don't. It's up to you if you want to follow everyone who follows you — chances are there will be some shady characters that you'll decide not to return the favour (and may even block from following you) — or just people you're interested in. In any case don't get too offended if not everyone you follow follows you back. It pretty much all comes out in the wash anyway.
Overall, you should be looking at your experience on Twitter — whether it's a regular, daily thing, or just occasionally — as a two-way street, as opposed to just your opportunity to advertise to throngs of potential customers. Most experienced Twitterers build communities where they help themselves and others. Enjoy and learn from your fellow 'Tweeps' and post informative, inspirational, or fun things for your followers to read.
I should mention, for those who aren't familiar, that each tweet you post is limited to 140 characters. That's not a lot of space. Most of your tweets will be links to full blog posts or web pages that either you or someone else has written or simple short and sweet one-liners or quotes. Linking to your own blog posts (or web pages) is a great way of hooking people and getting them into the realm of your full online marketing material (which hopefully all ties together and gets them to at least sign up for your newsletter or eventually contact you). These are usually the more serious, marketing-type of tweets. The other tweets you make will generally be more lighthearted and fun. Overall it's a balance of being professional (informative) and personable (friendly) that builds a loyal following and, in the long run will get you results.
In a future newsletter, we'll get into greater detail about how you should be tweeting, re-tweeting, and the many Twitter tools out there. But for now, I hope this is enough to convince you to give Twitter some serious consideration and get you started on using this fun and useful social marketing tool.
Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/narichman
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Want more valuable information like this to help your socially responsible
business become an online success and get the results you've been looking
for? Subscribe to Net Results, our FREE
quarterly newsletter by filling in the form at the top left of this
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About nrichmedia
nrichmedia creates innovative and unique web sites and other multimedia
for ethical and socially responsible businesses and organizations.
We also offer green web hosting, web site maintenance, CD-ROM production,
and more.
nrichmedia was founded by Nathaniel Richman in 2000. Nathaniel graduated
from the Vancouver Film School with a Certificate of Recommendation
in Multimedia Studies in 1997 and has been working in the web design
and new media industry ever since. He previously received a Bachelor
of Mathematics degree (Honours Actuarial Science) from the University
of Waterloo and worked in the pension consulting industry.
Nathaniel works with other designers and programmers, according to the
needs of the project, to provide the client with the most professionally
designed web site and other marketing material as possible.
“Nathaniel and his team have been totally accessible and professional, genuinely caring about all of the little details when creating and updating our website. All of my new-to-this-website-stuff questions have been clearly answered – I’ve never been made to feel foolish asking! We were immediately thrilled with the clean layout, crisp navigation, and Nathaniel’s quick understanding – and ability to reflect – what our company is about. All of our guests have commented positively about how our site so accurately represents us and the wilderness kayaking trips that they love and keep returning for! Thanks Nathaniel and team for the ‘can do’ approach to making it all work: balancing the aesthetic with the function... and the human side of this internet world.”
- David Pinel, Owner, West Coast Expeditions Kayaking,
Vancouver Island, BC
To learn more about nrichmedia’s services, view
our online portfolio, and read glowing
testimonials from many satisfied clients, please visit www.nrichmedia.com.
Green Web Hosting
nrichmedia is pleased to be offering green web hosting services. Our
standard package includes 500MB of disk space (which is usually way
more than most small to medium sized businesses require), email and
webmail accounts, and web statistics which allow you to track how many
visitors there are to your site, where they come from, what search
terms they used to find your site, etc.
What makes our web hosting green? A few things, really:
- Our hosting is shared on powerful, energy
efficient servers so the amount of electricity we use is minimized. We maintain our
own dedicated environment within these servers so that we have full
control over performance and security.
- The electricity used by the servers comes from hydropower, which,
although not ideal, is one of the more environmentally
friendly means
of power generation.
- We’ve purchased wind power certificates to offset the
amount of electricity that we do use. Wind power is, of course, a natural, clean, and abundant energy source with
little or no negative impact on the environment.
If you would like to switch to nrichmedia’s green web hosting,
please click here for details.
Charitable Causes
nrichmedia donates 5% of proceeds on all projects of $500 and above
to charitable organizations. We are pleased to have supported and continue
to support several worthy causes. To see a list of the organizations
we support, please visit www.nrichmedia.com/causes.htm.
The Not-to-be Missed Link: mysusthouse.org
Sust.org is a Scottish site dedicated to "sustainable design in architecture and the built environment", and mysusthouse is an interactive game they have developed to help people understand the importance of sustainability and how they can apply it to their homes.
It is a three part game that takes about 30 minutes. There are teacher notes for those who want to use it in the classroom or with their children. The first game "explores ways to create a more sustainable environment" and the second game challenges the players to build a sustainable house within a set budget. This is a fun, challenging and hands on enviro game for adults as well as children.
Visit: www.mysusthouse.org
Archives
To view previous editions of Net Results, visit www.nrichmedia.com/archives.htm.
Pass it on and Enjoy
Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to anyone who might find
it useful.
Want more valuable information like this to help your socially responsible
business become an online success and get the results you've been looking
for? Subscribe to Net Results, our FREE
quarterly newsletter by filling in the form at the top left of this
page.
 nrichmedia
is located in Courtenay (in the Comox Valley, on Vancouver Island),
British Columbia, Canada, and thinks and works globally! Thanks
to the Internet, we're able to create web sites and other multimedia
for clients all over the world. You can contact us by
or by telephone, at 250.871.7424.
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