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Use Twitter to Test Headlines

A New Post By Bill Rice
Marketing & Lead Generation Expert
Read other posts by Bill Rice

Twitter is a great way to test your headlines and short copy effectiveness. Hundreds of followers and a 140 characters maximum makes for a powerful marketing test environment. Twitter is a quick and efficient way to see if your headlines convert into clicks.

Article Library

Start with a good repository of articles. You should create a significant number of articles in a variety of topics. Good article diversity and quantity will ensure you have a ready-made test bed for a variety of projects.

This article library can be an article directory (eZineArticles), one or more blogs, or your website copy portfolio. Using your own blog or website gives you the added benefit of driving prospective business traffic too.

Since Twitter users, like most social networkers, don’t like constant self-promotion I suggest you routinely test using others websites, blogs, or articles as well as your own. The other authors will love the traffic, may link back to you, preserves your credibility, and it still achieves your conversion testing.

Tracking Conversions

Don’t forget the primary objective–tracking conversions. If you are using your own website or blog this is pretty simple–look at your blog stats or Google analytics. However, what about Tweets that you point at websites you don’t own?

In the past there was little opportunity to collect measurable results from these tests. You could use Summize to track keyword discussion and possibly track re-tweets. Unfortunately, this only measures buzz and typically has more to do with the destination content, not the headline. It doesn’t give you the core metric–do people click because of my copy?

Enter bit.ly Tweetburner, a new tiny URL technology that lets you track source and traffic through your shortened URL. So, now simply shorten and attach a unique bit.ly Tweetburner URL to each of your headline or short copy tests. Then you can track sources and volume of click-throughs.

Respect Your Audience

The quickest way to damage this excellent focus group is to abuse it. So, here are a few cautionary etiquette suggestions to keep yourself from poisoning the water:

• Promote others, as well as yourself, with your headline tests
• Stagger test headlines over various days
• Make sure the destination content is interesting
• Do not link your headline tests to sales letters or landing pages
• Participate in the community too (ask questions and participate)

Happy Testing!

Does Your Social Network Generate Leads? It Should

A New Post By Bill Rice
Marketing & Lead Generation Expert
Read other posts by Bill Rice

We’re all buzzing about social media and social networks. Is it just a waste of time or can it produce a reasonable ROI? Stop talking and do the math. Does your social network generate leads that convert into business? It should. It might even become a personal asset.

Is Your Social Network Important?

It is becoming obvious that social networks are important. Chris Brogan talks about the vital importance of your network and even ventures to state that companies (employers) will value your person networks. And, because there is real dollar value in a network Jeremiah Owyang cautions us that social media has risk and reward.

Still need to be convinced it is important?

Why Build a Social Network?

Chances are you have already have some foundation of a social network. However, building a social network that adds value to your community and produces business opportunity for you should must incorporate some strategic thinking.

A value-based social network should accomplish three primary objectives:

• Increase the efficiency and frequency of your communication
• Facilitate you consistently adding value to your network
• Generate and/or spot business opportunity

Unfortunately, social networks often degenerate into ego arms races. Creating or growing your network in this fashion creates an overwhelming and useless mess. This approach simply creates a high noise to signal ratio, which destroys any hope of value.

What Services Do I Use?

New social networks and supporting applications pop up daily. Getting distracted by every venue for your network can be paralyzing. Organizing these solutions into categories, based on your objectives, quickly sorts them.

• Contact database: Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, Mac Address Book
• Reputation and identity: LinkedIN, Plaxo, Personal Blog
• News and opportunity: FriendFeed, Twitter
• Communication and nurturing: Twitter, FriendFeed, Personal Blog
• Metrics: TweetBurner, Bit.ly

Each of these services allows for the simple importing and connecting to contacts in any of the major address book applications. I highly recommend you begin organizing your network there, import, and then continue to sync back to that as a master contact database.

How to Nurture a Social Network

Getting your network to generate leads and business opportunities is perfectly correlated to your lead nurturing strategy. Or, as Tim Sanderssays refresh your network for better performance.

Nurturing a social network is significantly different than nurturing a sales prospect database. You are not creating a drip email campaign. This type of activity will quickly erode your network. Lead nurturing and network building in social media should be focused on listening, discussing, and adding value–in that order.

Listening teaches you what people are interested in learning about, what they find valuable, and messages that call them to action.

Discussion allows you to build relationships and grow your audience. Again, you should be learning here too.

Adding value, this is what produces business opportunity leads. Directing people to and providing valuable, problem solving information drives them to you. This approach drives them to you in solving these problems and attracts others with similar problems.

How do you maximize the value you get back from your time spent on social media and social networking? What are the tools you use?

Reprint: From Bill Rice's "It's About Conversion"

Taking Your Blog To The Next Level

Hint: It's more than JUST blogging, rather it's about integrating your blogging activities into your whole marketing mix.

How To Add Podcasting To Your Marketing Mix

A New Post By The Mortgage Cicerone
A Guide for Mortgage Professionals
Read other posts by The Mortgage Cicerone

NikNik at MyTechOpinion posted an excellent instructional guide on "How To Add Podcasting To Your Blog."

According to NikNik:

"Podcasting is simply a way of distributing digital media over the Internet using RSS...Podcasting can enhance your blog content and your online visibility. Strengthen the bond you have with your current audience, as well as reach a new audience. And, give your blog readers the flexibility to listen and obtain your expertise on the go!  Podcasting is even an affordable and pretty seamless option when it comes to integrating a new social media tool to your blog.

Cicerone readers are going to be reading a lot regarding this subject from our resident online Vlogging master, Mike Mueller, however in the mean time, read NikNik's post and start learning more about this powerful way of distributing digital media over the Internet via RSS.

Click hyperlink below to read:

How To Add Podcasting To Your Blog

Using Social Media to Meet Real Estate Agents and Grow Referral Networks

A New Post By The Mortgage Cicerone
A Guide for Mortgage Professionals
Read other posts by The Mortgage Cicerone

Todd Carpenter of Lenderama was interviewed by The Ibis Group that is focused on "Using Social Media to Meet Real Estate Agents and Grow Referral Networks ."

A definite must listen for any mortgage professional.

Click Here To Download Interview

Great interview Todd!

Mike Mueller - RE.Net Founding Father Joins The Mortgage Cicerone

A New Post By The Mortgage Cicerone
A Guide for Mortgage Professionals
Read other posts by The Mortgage Cicerone

To say we fellow Mortgage Cicerone's are thrilled to announce Mike Mueller is joining our merry band of Cicerone's is an understatement!!!!

Mike Mueller started blogging in 2001, before 99.9% of us ever heard the term and has recently taken his social media presence to the next level via video blogging (vlogging).

Bottom line...Mike Mueller is a vlogging and social media expert and IS one of RE.net's founding fathers!

Welcome aboard and readers, get ready to be amazed with the knowledge Mike shares with you!

Understanding Twitter and Social Networking (In Plain English)

A New Post By The Mortgage Cicerone
A Guide for Mortgage Professionals
Read other posts by The Mortgage Cicerone

Endless social networkers are extolling the virtues of Twitter, yet countless others are asking a critical question:

What is Twitter and what value does it have to me?

If you find yourself in the latter category, please watch these two videos.

Twitter The Mortgage Cicerone @ http://twitter.com/cicerone

Hat Tip (on videos): MyTechOpinion

Can McCain Compete with Obama Online?

A New Post By Bill Rice
Marketing & Lead Generation Expert
Read other posts by Bill Rice

You thought this post was about politics, didn't you?

Not quite, but I have ripped a headline from the our daily dose of political buzz. This article from Politico.com caught my eye this morning and every mortgage broker and real estate agent should read it this morning.

It is, of course, about the political campaigns of our Presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama, but you could simply replace McCain with old-line/off-line mortgage brokers and new generation/on-line community leaders. The burning question in the article is, can McCain can compete with Obama's new media strategy?

I really want you to read the article so I am only going to highlight two important factors your should think about:

• Are you command and control, top-down mortgage broker? Or, are your a community builder, giving your clients the control to make their own intelligent choices?
• Have you done so much business, and been in the business so long that you are trying rely on what has worked? Or, are you acting like an underdog and realizing big success means fresh ideas?

Actually, I want you to think about a third important thought:

• Which of this two approaches looks more like the customers you are serving today?

I think today may be a good day to think about your online mortgage origination strategy.

The Trojan Horse Strategy

A New Post By Brian Brady
America's #1 Mortgage Broker
Read other posts by Brian Brady

I'm a Johnny-Come-Lately to The Mortgage Cicerone.  While intimidated is hardly an adjective to describe me, the Cicerone Crew is an accomplished bunch. I'm taken by the assembly of talent we have here.

I'll start off with a simple social media marketing strategy every originator should employ; The Trojan Horse.  Look for online communities filled with real estate agents and few or no originators.  The proliferation of real estate networks like Active Rain, Wanna Network, and RealTown offers us a chance to show up and add value to the community.  SEO should not be the focus of your participation on those networks but you'll get that benefit, nonetheless.

Here are six quick and easy rules to The Trojan Horse strategy of social networking:

1- Add value through educational posts- understand that your readers are real estate agents.
2- Sit back and watch for the talented agents to reveal themselves.
3- Comment and engage those talented agents in an online conversation.
4- Pick up the phone and introduce yourself- ask permission to keep in touch with them via e-mail.
5- Add them to your weekly e-mail newsletter for REALTORs.
6- Call them at the beginning of every month and ask them, "What specific information do you need from me, this month, to help you close a transaction?"

You'll be surprised how quickly you'll build, what social media marketers call, "platform". Before long. real estate agents will go viral about you and recommend you to their colleagues.  They'll be commenting on your posts, calling you for advice, and referring you clients.  Old-timers will remember how we used to gain REALTOR referrals; we banged on office doors and showed up with donuts and rate sheets.  Think of a social network as the busy corner in town with 3-4 real estate offices on it.

The principles remain the same.  Show up regularly, add value, and ask for the business.

New Domain Just For Bloggers

Last night Dan Green of the Mortgage Reports tipped me off to something incredible...the early release of a new domain exclusively for blogs.

Fortunately I was able to register www.MortgageCicerone.blog and www.mortgage.blog. While they still have to directed to my blogs, they are protected and mine.

If you want to be one of the first bloggers to register a rockin domain name, go to Blog Dot Blog to grab the domain you want before someone else does.

Thanks Dan!