Internet Marketing with Mike Gillis

Of course, if you’ve read any of my previous posts or watched my videos on using url shortening services for recommending affiliate program and such, well this is different.

I still recommend using your own site with recommended links, but when your using mirco blogging services such as Twitter where you only have a limited amount of space to let people know about something, this is when the short and covert links are useful.

Before today, it didn’t really matter what service I used to shorten my urls for use with these micro-blogging services but after hearing and seeing the power of a new service that Paul Colligan notified me about called BudURL that allows you to track everyone who clicks through your link.

For a better review, here’s the YouTube video Paul did.

Also for those of you who have been wondering where I’ve been lately (no updates in awhile) I been sick with the flu but it’s almost all gone now, little bit of cough left but feeling much better.

I talked about how I have been using Twitter to build my list of followers instead of using the same old opt-in form for emails. I am also testing it with my lists that do use email.. great way to find the people that are actually reading and interested in what you actually have to say.

So because I know not everyone has a twitter account setup or knows how to use it, I wanted to create a video for you covering some stuff to get you going.

I was going to show you how to use Twhirl, a desktop application for twitter (and other services) but had some problems trying to capture it on video.

So what I decided to do is just let you watch some better quality and more informative videos created by my mentor friend Ed Dale in the 30 day challenge this year.

How To Setup Twhirl

How To Use Twhirl

Tips When Using Twhirl

Now that you have setup your Twitter profile and installed Twhirl, here are a few bonus strategies about using twitter in your marketing strategies:

You can share your pictures using TwitPic

For sharing pictures and videos, you can use Twixxer

Tweet My Blog – Plugin to your Wordpress blog and automate a new tweet ever time you make a new blog post.

Want to be able to tweet a message at any time without even having to be there – on vacation, in a meeting, spending time with friends or family or doing you just have a lot of great ideas to share? Schedule the messages to go out when you want them to with Tweetlater

If you use multiple micro blogging platforms, you can also use PostLater to schedule posts for several platforms including: Twitter, WordPress, Tumblr, Drupal, Joomla, FriendFeed, Ping.fm, Laconi.ca and many more.

Join the $100 Million Dollar Challenge Now

Russell Brunson has just opened up the $100 Million Dollar Challenge, it’s free to join and Russell will teach you how to create an online business and make money online. I’ve have learned a lot from Russell in the last few years and really enjoyed all the products that I have received from him and his DotComSecrets team.

There are a few reasons Russell has launched the $100 Million Dollar Challenge, first off to help those who join to become successful online and have his students make $100,000,000 in total, Russell also wants to raise $50,000 dollars for charity… watch this video to find out more

Also to encourage you to get started and continue working through the challenge, he will be buying a brand new 2009 Corvette and giving it to the winner of the challenge. What color corvette would you like? Black or Red? And to keep you inspired throughout the challenge he is going to be offering additional high quality prizes such as a 42 inch TV.

I highly recommend you check this out, you won’t regret it. Join the contest now

See ya on the other side

Ok, if you haven’t already read my prior post “What.. No Opt In Form“, check it out so you know what’s going on here.

For those that have been waiting to find the answer to why I’m not using an opt-in form on my blog.. your wait is over!

As you may have noticed, even if your using one of the best autoresponder services such Aweber, you probably won’t be able to get a 100% delivery rate because of all the filters out there. At one time, email was important… back before getting tons of spam or hundreds of emails a day.

So part of the reason I’m not building an email list with my blog is so I don’t have to worry about loss messages to my subscribers (you) not getting the updates that you want to receive. Isn’t that the whole point?

If you want to receive my updates and I want to send you new updates, their shouldn’t be any filters blocking these messages.

With the many new features that web 2.0 allows you, me and everyone else to do, there should be no reason for not being able to receive the information you want and in a more flexible way.

So the ways I’m using to build my list is the first two sections on the sidebar, you see my picture and right below is a contact form if any one has questions or need to contact me for some other reason. Also just below that is the “Follow Me” Section which includes my Facebook, FriendFeed and Twitter pages so you can choose how you want to get updates from me.

I highly recommend using Twitter, if you don’t have an account on Twitter yet. Go sign up for an account, then visit my twitter page and click the follow button just under my picture. After you click the follow button, if will change to a check mark and following. Here a before and after picture below:

Simply by using Twitter, you will be able to access any updates that are made, no worry of missing any message, no worries of any spam and if it came to a point where you were following someone and didn’t want to receive updates from them anymore, all you have to do is click the following button and remove yourself – meaning no more updates. Giving you more control of the content you receive.

And to make it easier for you to keep up to date on what’s going without having to sign in to your Twitter page, you can download Thwirl, which is a desktop application that allows you to get new updates as soon as they are available.

Now I know some people maybe thinking about stuff that you can only do with email and not with Twitter or these other services that people can follow you on. (This popped into my head, but I can’t think of anything you can’t with it)

If you can think of something, let me know.

One last thing before I go (to bed), I want to let you know that I will be creating a video in the day few days (maybe tomorrow if I have time) showing you how to setup Twitter, Twhirl and some other tools and services that you can use along with Twitter.

I haven’t decided yet, but I may added a bonus video showing some more cools stuff you can do. We’ll see what happens over the next few days.

Hope this gives you some creative ideas,
Mike

I just came across this good post.. see how many of these seem familiar:

You Might Be an Internet Marketer If…

1. It takes you twenty mintues to explain to your family what you do for a living and they still don’t quite “get it”.

2. You wake up in the middle of the night and can’t resist checking your email and your stats on the way to the bathroom.

3. When the first thing you do in the morning is check your stats – before you’ve had breakfast or brushed your teeth.

4. You eat all your meals at your computer.

5. You start having withdrawal symptoms when you’re away from the computer for too long.

Take a look at the full post at buzzblogger and get some good tips as well.