Does adrenaline makes the heart grow fonder?
The answer? Indeed, it does.
If you ever happen to find yourself crossing the Capilano River in North Vancouver, Canada, you’ll have two bridges to choose from:
The first is definitely not for the faint of heart: A mere five feet wide and 450 feet long, the Capilano Canyon Suspension Bridge is constructed solely of plank and cable and sways perilously in the wind some 250 feet above the turbulent rocky tides — right out of a scene from Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.” Your other choice? A solidly built anchored bridge that sits a mere 10 feet above sea level.
In 1974, two well-known psychologists, Arthur Aron and Donald Dutton, used these bridges as the focus of an ingenious experiment — one that sought to explore the mysterious nature of sexual attraction. It’s informally dubbed the Shaky Bridge Study — which is why I also like to call it the Shake Up Your Sex Life Study.
The two-part experiment went something like this:
On day one, whenever an unaccompanied man ventured across the shaky bridge, he would find himself stopped midway by an attractive young woman.
She would introduce herself as a psychology student and then proceed to ask if he would mind participating in a brief survey.
On day two, the identical routine would be conducted by the same woman on the sturdy bridge.
Sounds pretty straightforward, right? But there was a little twist: When each of the men completed the survey, the young woman would hand him her phone number and tell him that he was free to call her later that evening for the results.
Unbeknownst to the subjects, the real study was not the answers the men gave on the survey, but what happened afterward. Dutton and Aron set out to examine which of the men gave the attractive psychologist a call and, more importantly, why. In other words, they were interested in studying not just what happened on the bridge, but how that affected what happened later. Would the excitement and exhilaration of being on the shaky bridge, versus the more mundane experience of being on the solid bridge, promote romantic attraction?
Or, to put it simply: Does adrenaline makes the heart grow fonder?
The answer? Indeed, it does.
Not only did Aron and Dutton find that the men on the shaky bridge were more likely than their stable-bridge counterparts to call the woman later for results of the survey, but they were also far more likely to ask her for a date! When it comes to desire and attraction, a little unpredictability goes a long way: It spikes the brain’s natural amphetamines, dopamine and norepinephrine, which play a big role in sexual arousal.
Beneath the layers of linens that cover our beds, there lies a shaky bridge, ready and waiting for high-stakes action. Yet most of us spend our sex lives on the stable, sturdy one — often without realizing it.
So how can you shake up your sex life and metaphorically get out on that shaky bridge?
Work on the novelty outside the bedroom. 
In technical terms, Aron and Dutton were testing a concept called “misattribution,” also known as excitation transfer theory: The idea being that lingering excitement from one situation — say walking across a shaky bridge versus a stable one — could intensify a subsequent emotional state. It doesn’t take much to get the dopamine going, so think about new things you can do together as a couple. A little novelty goes a long way.
Share a fantasy or two. 
Sigmund Freud gave fantasy a bad name back in 1908 when he said, “A happy person never fantasizes, only a dissatisfied one.” But research shows that people with active fantasy lives are more sexually satisfied, more sexually responsive and more adventurous about sex in general. Not bad. Remember, there’s a difference between sharing a fantasy and actually acting one out. The brain is our biggest sex organ, so sharing a naughty thought or two might be all you need to get the ball rolling.
Keep it fresh. 
After you’ve had sex with the same person at least a thousand times it’s easy to fall into a routine. There are two types of sexual arousal — mental and physical. In the beginning of a relationship, we have no shortage of sexy thoughts and feelings that turn us on and create a sense of sexual anticipation, but after a while the mental component can easily fade and we rely on physical stimulation. We know each other’s bodies and we know how to get where we’re going, but we don’t know how to appreciate the journey anymore. That’s when it becomes time to introduce some new routes and paths to pleasure.
Have confidence. And fun. 
If you’re always submissive when it comes to sex, maybe it’s time to get more dominant. Have a little fun and explore a different sex type. Maybe you generally think of yourself as the girl next door or someone who follows your partner’s lead. Or maybe you’re always the aggressor. Give yourself permission to enjoy a new sex type. It can be as simple as putting on a wig, adding a flair to your lingerie, or just letting your partner know your needs.
And finally, remember it takes two. 
For every woman who’s willing to get out on that shaky bridge, there needs to be a man who will meet her halfway.

Adapted from Ian Kerner’s book “Passionista”!
The comfort zone? bla bla bla… Y si… nadie es tan extravagante como un zorro para q no lo sorprenda lo inesperado. se trata de que abras los ojos y que si lo vas hacer valga la pena.
Queremos entender el porque de tantas cosas y a veces no es necesario analizar cada partícula que nos rodea. Ni un extremo ni el otro. Que exista balance aun en la adversidad. Desde este instante podes hacer cualquier cosa en cualquier lugar. Necesito que me mires a los ojos y me digas que si vas abrir los tuyos.
Es que el verdadero amor no esta cuando lo buscas en alguien mas—-  paso tras paso, beso tras beso, te encontras mirando a quien ya no te llena- si buscas en tu interior, ahí es cuando no te cansa nada…. de repente, cuando hacías todo por crecer, por avanzar, por descubrir, aparece alguien… no cuando intentabas buscar algo en una persona que cubra tus expectativas.
es la felicidad que surge del interior- entonces, en ese momento es real, cuando no te saturaste porque nada se sentía extraño ni absurdo. Todos los puntos se unen y cobran un valor con un sabor muy especial. Rompe todo tipo de barreras: “Anoche soñe con vos, no recuerdo nada pero se que estabas ahí”.
Entonces, cuando un flash- de un solo click- te cambia todo, ¿cual es la respuesta? fluir… contar… evolucionar… y paciencia: La ciencia de la paz.
3 Warning Signs That Your Social Media Efforts Will Fail
Businesses shouldn’t rush into social media.
Because having no social media presence at all is better than having a bad one.
Just because something is popular or trendy doesn’t mean you need to do it.
Pinterest for your business is probably a waste of time. It all depends on your unique situation.
Here are 3 questions you need to answer before jumping in to social media.
1. How does this support your business?
Most people start social media because they hear about it on TV, read about it in the news and hear from others that “it’s a great way to market your business”.
But most don’t understand why they’re doing it, or what to expect from it.
They can’t define what success will look like before they begin.
That’s a big problem. You don’t need to know the ROI. But you do need to understand how it’s going to either (1) increase revenue, (2) decrease costs, or (3) increase customer support.
So figure out your social media goals before jumping in head-first. Then when you understand it, you’ll appreciate it more and invest more time and effort.
2. Are your expectations realistic?
Being successful in social media is extremely difficult.
It’s a 24/7 job, constantly evolving, So you need to have realistic expectations.
Not only in terms of success (see #1 above). But also what it’s going to take to succeed.
Because it may be inexpensive, but it takes a ton of effort and time. So if you don’t have the energy, or can’t hire people to take control, then don’t even start.
For example, you can’t hire blog writers for $10 per article and expect it to drive business and build an audience.
And you can’t launch a new website, and expect SEO traffic to flood your website the next day.
Inbound marketing tactics like social media and content marketing can drastically improve your marketing ROI.
But they’re difficult, time consuming, and long-term tactics. You need to be willing to work for the long-term payoff if you want social media to build your business.
3. Why should your target customers care?
Finally, why should your customers read your blog posts, “Like” your Facebook page, or interact with you online?
The key to social media is engagement. Because without it, people won’t stick around any buy something.
And people don’t interact with you because you’re awesome. They do it because it benefits them.
Maybe it makes them laugh, cry, or shocks them into taking action.
Either way, it’s not about you. To succeed in social media, you need to be laser-focused on your audience and their needs, wants and desires.
For example, just because you’re in a “boring industry” doesn’t mean people won’t read your blog posts or follow you on Twitter. You just need to focus on what your product or services does for them, and come up with blog content ideas around that.
Because if you want people to interact, then you need to get them to care. This isn’t easy. You need to engage them, watch what they respond to, and be ready to experiment.
And if you’re not ready to embrace that, then you’re probably better off not wasting your time at all.
via socialmediatoday
The Straw Man Concept
Build it up, knock it down, and create a solid final solution

If you build something out of straw what do you expect to happen to it in the long run? You expect it to collapse or be blown away! A straw man proposal similarly lacks solid foundation, and it too may be blown away under scrutiny. So is a straw man proposal to be avoided?
Not necessarily. A “straw man” can be very useful, as long as people know that what stands before them is indeed a straw man. When you begin a project or start looking into a problem, you often have incomplete information to work with. So you can spend time gathering facts and data until you are ready to build a really strong argument or plan, or, you can get going straight away and jump in with a not-so-complete solution, with the intention of finding a much better one, as you learn more and more.
That’s the premise behind building a straw man – creating a first draft for criticism and testing, and then using the feedback you receive to develop a final outcome that is rock solid.
Suppose your revenue is falling and you have to come up with a better sales strategy. Using the straw man idea you might do the following:
Create a draft proposal to expand to new markets.
In your proposal, outline the markets that might offer good prospects, based on your initial judgment and experience.
Present your draft proposal to the team and tell them that it is a straw man – This is critical because everyone must clearly understand that your idea is the starting point and was created for the purpose of being critiqued.)
Analyze the proposal, find the weak points, clarify assumptions and decision-making criteria, and work on a refined proposal.
Draft a new proposal and repeat the process until a final decision is made. These subsequent proposals can be given names too: such as wood man, tin man and iron man.
In a culture that values being right, the notion of constructing a straw man is difficult to embrace. Why spend time drafting something that, ultimately, isn’t going to be used? If you can get past this perception you will be surprised at how useful the technique can be. One of its main advantages is that it forces you to do something. Taking too long to deliberate the merits of an idea or hypothesis can be costly, as you risk never making a decision at all. With a straw man, you force an early, if incomplete, decision. This ensures that a final decision will be reached because doing nothing means accepting a poor plan by default.

Tip:
Be very careful when you’re using a Straw Man approach that people understand what you’re doing: The last thing you want is to develop a reputation for “coming up with half-baked ideas.” Make sure that your document is clearly labeled as such, and that the people receive it understand what it is.
For this reason, you may only want to use this approach when you can control the paper’s circulation and manage the way it is received.
A straw man is also useful in ensuring that everyone involved has a tangible concept to work from. Otherwise, there is a risk that people are working with different pieces of the whole, different perceptions, and different, unstated assumptions, as they continue to research and discuss aspects of the idea or solution.
The risk of using a straw man proposal is that, by definition, you are jumping to conclusions. Providing you are aware of this risk, you’ll challenge, test, and retest the real solution and so use “jumping to a conclusion” as a vehicle to find a better conclusion.

via mindtools

Interactive Map Lets You Travel Ancient Rome

A new online tool, made by a team of historians and information technology specialists at Stanford University, shows just how long and costly it was to send people and wheat between cities in the Roman Empire. “It’s Google Maps for the ancient world, complete with the ‘Avoid Highways’ feature,” Scott Weingart, a doctoral student in library sciences at the University of Indiana, wrote in a blog-post review. Weingart was not involved in creating the tool, called ORBIS, but its creators asked him to preview and comment on it. His review appeared May 4 in the Editor’s Choice column in Digital Humanities Now.
A paper map can show how far two cities are from one another, but in a world of sailing ships and donkey trains, the shortest route wasn’t necessarily the one people would use. ORBIS shows likely routes based on conditions 2,000 years ago. The ORBIS team used ancient maps and records, modern-day weather measurements and modern-day historians’ experiments with trying to sail in Roman-style ships to inform their calculations.
ORBIS helps historians see how the Roman Empire was shaped by the time and cost of moving people and goods between cities, according to the ORBIS website. Cities on the edges of the empire were very expensive to ship to, for example, even if they weren’t necessarily that far away. Here at InnovationNewsDaily, we imagined researchers might use the tool to figure out whether two cities traded often, or to check if someone spotted in one city in January could have made it to another city by March.
The interface is a little like adjusting travel in the old kids’ computer game Oregon Trail. Users select two cities and what month to embark. Then they can click to see the fastest, cheapest or shortest routes between the two cities and compare them.
The results also show how much it would have cost to travel or to ship a kilogram of wheat that distance, at that time of year. For example, the fastest possible July trip between Rome and Londinium – or modern-day London – would have taken 27 days. (The same trip now takes less than three hours by plane.) It would have cost a merchant 7.92 denarii, a late Roman currency, to send a kilogram of wheat by donkey that distance. For a person to travel the route, he would have to pay 900.93 denarii.
Users can make infinite adjustments, looking for the cheapest passenger route, for example, or for a route entirely on land. They can choose at what speed they’ll travel, specifying whether they want to go at a “rapid military march,” on an “ox cart” or in a “camel caravan.”
As in Oregon Trail, making those adjustments and seeing the outcomes gives users a glimpse of what it was like to live in ancient times.
“This tool is an exemplar of a shift in digital humanities projects,” Weingart wrote, citing how easy it is to download the data that goes into ORBIS’s calculations and to see the equations ORBIS’s creators used. He admonishes the group for not publishing their computer code, too.
 Historians may want to hold off on using ORBIS until it undergoes formal peer-review and gets published in a journal, Weingart wrote, but he predicted it would be popular once polished.


This article originally published at InnovationNewsDaily 

To describe SEO as a simple process would be a lie, but it’s not magic. There are quite a few simple things you can do for yourself that will improve SEO on your website.
Bear in mind that search traffic generally has a higher conversion rate compared with other online sources, so if you are going to invest time and resources in online marketing, SEO is definitely worth considering.
Search engine optimization in its most basic format can be separated into four areas; keyword research, on-page optimization, content development, and link building.
Follow this DIY guide to increase your search engine visibility, get more visitors, and grab more clients.

Keyword Research
Keyword research is a fundamental part of SEO, but it is often a process that people spend less than an hour doing. In my experience, investing time and energy at this stage will pay dividends at a later stage in your campaign.
What you don’t want to do is select keywords based solely on the search volume. I would suggest that when performing keyword research you need to identify keyword opportunities that meet the following criteria:
Relevant – identify keywords that are suited to your business. It sounds so straightforward but it can be easy to get carried away with keywords that look attractive, but if they aren’t relevant, then targeting them effectively is going to be challenging.
Conversion friendly – identify keywords that your prospective customers are going to use to look for your services, don’t waste your time driving traffic that isn’t going to in some way benefit your business.
Ample search volume – the number of people searching monthly for that keyword is obviously an important metric because you need to know it is going to be worthwhile optimizing for.
Realistic – understanding and appreciating where your site currently sits in terms of SEO is important at the keyword research stage. Thinking you are going to effectively target ‘web design’ as a keyword perhaps isn’t realistic if you are a freelancer just starting out. A more localized keyword such as ‘web design Calabasas’ might be more realistic and probably lead to more clients if you are pitching yourself as a local designer.
Be clear which pages of your website are going to champion the keywords you have chosen to target. A common mistake is to attempt to target a dozen or so keywords with the homepage, when in reality you could silo your website, and more effectively target different keywords with different areas. For example you might offer web design, email marketing design, and social media page design services – separating these and targeting them as individual business areas would improve your SEO.
On-Page Optimization
On-page optimization is essentially housekeeping on your own website to ensure it is generally search engine and user friendly.
There are a great deal of on-page factors to consider as time goes by, but to get you started, here are some of the essentials that you should really be taking care of:
Clean code – find a designer that is committed to lean coding, as bloated code with over-use of Flash and Javascript can be harmful to your SEO efforts.
Meta titles and descriptions – craft unique meta titles and descriptions for each of the pages on your website. These have become less important in terms of rankings, yet they still act as your ‘advert’ in the search results, and can encourage people to click-through to your website, so make sure each title and description is relevant and enticing.
Title tags – make sure each page has no more than one ‘h1′ tag, which should wherever possible include a natural use of the target keyword.
Keyword use – use the keyword you are seeking to target naturally throughout the content on each page. Consider inclusion in the title and opening paragraph for maximum impact. Don’t overdo it though because keyword stuffing (overly repetitive inclusion of a keyword) is not seen as a good thing by Google or your visitors.
Address, privacy policy and terms – Google likes genuine, reputable businesses, therefore you should always list a physical address on your website, and wherever necessary a privacy policy and terms of service. These act as a signal to Google that you are a real-life, authentic business, worthy of appearing in search results. Make sure that wherever your business is cited around the web, the address and phone number match up, as Google references many data sources for local listings and outdated contact info could cause confusion.
XML sitemap – your website should generate an XML sitemap to help Google find all the pages on your website. There are quite a few plugins and gadgets out there that help you do this.
SEO friendly URLs – many of the leading open-source web publishing platforms enable you to easily create SEO friendly URLS (i.e. yoursite.com/web-deign rather than yoursite.com/c-45678/p-126478/) but there are other ways to do this manually if you don’t have the luxury of WordPress and the like.
Speed up your website – loading time plays an important part in visitor satisfaction and also plays a part in search engine performance. You can speed up loading times by ensuring code is lean, your host and server setup is optimized, and if you wish to reach audiences around the world then you might even consider implementing a CDN (content delivery network) to further increase speed.
If you are looking for further reading on this subject, I produced a complete guide to on-page optimization for Web Design Ledger.
Content
Content forms the lifeblood of any successful website and as a freelancer with skills and expertise to share, creating the content shouldn’t be a problem.
I’m a keen advocate of freelancers and indie consultants starting their own blog because I think it is a very smart attention strategy that helps to generate new business, convey expertise, and build trust and authority.
The aim of the game is to produce engaging content that actually pulls in visitors and encourages links, rather than producing content for the sake of the search engines.
You may have seen the talk recently about Google’s Panda update(s) and this has put a stop to a tactic that was previously effective, which enabled website owners to create as much junk content as they wanted and still rank for hundreds, if not thousands, of different keyword terms without providing very much value to the end user.
When I produce content for my own website, I follow a very simple 5 step process:
Brainstorm – pull together as many topic ideas as you can. Look around the web at competing blogs, forums, Alltop, news outlets. Identify opportunities and common problems that you can provide a solution to.
Collate – bring all your ideas together and start fleshing them out. Conjure up a few headline ideas and start to determine the key points of the piece.
Refine – since we are hoping to garner some SEO benefits from the content, it is important to refine your ideas by identifying keywords that the piece can target. Look closely, as slight variations of a phrase or a different way of describing something can ensure your work gets found in Google.(Note: I am suggesting you develop content ideas and look for potential keywords, rather than the other way around, which tends to result in junk that is boring to readers and meant only for search engines!).
Produce – now you actually have to write and I believe that the best way to produce top-notch work is to not force the issue. This is a creative process and so you have to be ‘in the mood’ to write in order to create something worthwhile. As you develop at writing content for your freelance business, you will become more adept at coaching yourself into the right mindset to produce great content.
Share – I call it seeding the content, because while it might be first-rate stuff, if nobody can find it, it is a wasted opportunity, and sharing it is essential. Broadcast to as many social networks as you are active on, and tell your email list about it. If it is particularly noteworthy, ask your professional network for a hand promoting it. Search engines will pick up and rank higher content that is well shared across the social web.
Link-Building
Google says you should encourage links to your website, rather than build them, and if you are looking to establish a long term web presence then this really is the best way to go about it.
That being said, there are some good, low cost tactics that you can employ to start generating some traction for your website.
Directory submissions – target good quality thematic (industry/geography) directories.
Article submissions – target high quality websites and produce unique content.
Social bookmarking – thematic and general social bookmarking websites are a good source of high quality links and for generating good volumes of traffic.
Press release submissions – create news about your freelance business and spread the word. Provided you submit to the right sources, very often you will find your press release makes it onto Google News, which offers great exposure for your personal brand. A press release distribution campaign is also a very good source of high-quality links.
Web 2.0 mini-sites – websites like Squidoo allow you to contribute content and add a link to your own website. This can be great for link-building and driving visitors. There are also quite a few industry specific web 2.0 websites out there now, which makes this technique all the more effective provided you choose the right outlets.
Guest posting – look for relevant blogs and websites that you can work with to produce content that appeals to their audience, while getting you some attention and a link in the process.Links from partner websites – work with a service partner that offers something closely related and start referring business both ways.
Linkbait – see my guide to creating free linkbait.
Regardless of what you hear around the web, these tactics still work. The lower quality tactics discussed above such as directories, articles and bookmarking are still highly effective when used strategically and in conjunction with other methods.
Analyze Your Performance
Understanding how well your website is performing is essential. I wholeheartedly recommend Google Analytics because it is quick and easy to get installed and it’s completely free.
Having Google Analytics tracking installed on your website will help you understand where your visitors are coming from and what they do once they arrive. This can help shape your SEO strategy going forward.
As a minimum you should setup goal tracking to help you think of your website as a lead generating, marketing machine, rather than a pretty brochure.

via freelanceswitch
A beautiful Steampunk Mac- built by Steve La Riccia uses outfits a classic Macintosh with a well-done aesthetic overhaul and a keyboard pulled from a 114-year-old Remington typewriter. This is cooler than Apple’s new thin and light MacBooks, iMacs and iPads, isn’t it?

via: dvice

“Has the attention span of the average web user gotten shorter or is the world just moving that much faster?”
The evolution of social media marketing into an image-based exercise suggests that both may be the case. Your prospects are still searching for quality services and products, but that search is moving much faster, with stops along the way happening only when an attractive picture, logo or video captures the eye. Does that mean net surfers are reading less?
You can have the most comprehensive content on the internet and it won’t do you any good at all if no one stops by to read it. Something needs to capture the attention of web surfers who are often clicking through dozens of sites in a matter of minutes. It’s not the words that will get them to stop; it’s the visual you present, whether it’s a cool pic, a brand logo, or an interesting video. Scientists look for whitepaper. Consumers still window shop. It’s the same on the web as it is in the mall. What are you displaying in your image area? If its only words you’re not going to score many conversions.
Website Design is more important than Ever
Internet marketing philosophies regarding the importance of image versus content have swayed from one extreme to the other in just the past two years. The Google Panda announcement in February 2011 convinced everyone that content development had to be the primary concern for attaining higher page rank. That may be true, but what good is a Page One ranking of no one stops to read what your writers have written? Our San Diego website design team employs some of the best writers in the country, but we understand clearly that it’s the design that stops traffic, not the words.
That’s not to say that the words aren’t important. The days of flash websites have passed us by. If you’re still using one of those you really need to contact us right away. If you’re getting any organic traffic at all it’s a miracle. All of the websites we design here at Skybox Creative are coded for search indexing, visually pleasing, and rich with high quality content that benefits the user and satisfies search engine algorithmic requirements. No one of these elements is more important than any other. They all need to be addressed.
Pinterest, Photobucket, and iPhone Apps
The new kid on the block in social media, Pinterest’s explosive growth in the past six months is proving that images are more popular than words when it comes to traffic volume. Photobucket, a photo sharing service that has been around for a while, is currently ranked at #153 in the world by Alexa, the people who track web traffic. If you own an iPhone you have no doubt already learned that there are hundreds of photo based apps, many of which do the same thing. Why this much hoopla over photo sharing? The answer is simple. Images are what consumers are looking at.
How do you incorporate image based social media sites into your marketing strategy? The best way is to let our San Diego social media professionals do it for you. We are experts at choosing and/or creating the images that your prospects want to see. Even better, we know where to post those images so that web surfers will actually see them. Once they stop to take a look, our website design and content will keep them occupied long enough to turn a casual visit into a conversion.
Using Image based Social Media for Brand Marketing
Among the many services we offer here at Skybox Creative is Brand Development. Your brand and your logo can be effectively marketed using image based social media like Pinterest and Photobucket. Simply putting it out there in as many places as possible will start to familiarize people with your company and what you have to offer. When it comes time for those image viewers to make a purchase in your niche market they will remember you. This is not a new concept. Brand recognition has been a key to success for many Fortune 500 companies over the years.
More and more consumers are viewing the internet on mobile devices. When was the last time you saw someone stop to read a page or two on their iPhone? It does happen, but not until after the user has skimmed dozens of images and headlines to get to the one they want to investigate further. Why do you think they chose that particular site? You guessed it. The image captured them; the words come later. How often do you make decisions based on the same principles?
Don’t forget Video Marketing
YouTube is a social network and video is an image. It’s actually a series of images, but to the human browser on a cell phone or mobile device it shows up as a still image first. Our San Diego web design team often incorporates video right into the design of a website. It can be a powerful tool for marketing and always increases your time on site numbers – a variable in the Google algorithm. Make sure you ask about this valuable option when you contact us about social media marketing or branding services.
via http://www.skyboxcreative.com

via dolliecrave

Twitter marketing is sometimes strangely similar to sex—at first glance it seems like a relatively straightforward issue, plugging one piece into its corresponding part.
However, just like sex, it’s incredibly easy to fail to recognize many of the finer points and screw up what can be a very good thing. Yes, there are only a handful of fundamental tools offered on the surface of your Twitter account. However, there is a lucrative river of potential capabilities flowing just beneath the surface, made to run faster, deeper, and farther through symbiotic relationships that marry these tools and take advantage of the wealth of external resources specifically optimized for Twitter marketing campaigns.   If you’re interested in Twitter beyond finding out why Lindsay Lohan is back in court or what your friends are currently eating, and you’d actually like to tap into the true power of Twitter, read our Twitter-list-marketing guide to capitalize on social media marketing opportunities that will help you grow your business at record speed.
How to Create a Twitter List
Visit the profile of the first Twitter user you want to add to your list
Click the icon shaped like a person to view drop-down menu options
Click on “Add to list”
Enter the details of your list (List names can’t exceed 25 characters. List descriptions can’t exceed 100 characters.)
Select private or public (other users can view your list)
Twitter Lists Deliver:
Quick and Easy View of Vital Tweet Activity to Keep You Engaged
Categorized Twitter List Strategy:
Create lists of categories of people/businesses that are related to your most common client profiles.
For example, you could have public lists for 1) Branding/PR; 2) Marketing; 3) Client/Customer Education.
You can then easily share relevant information with your own followers by browsing through your lists to find recent/useful/quality/interesting/viral-inducing tweets from people you’re following and retweet them.
Use your lists as filters to alternate between topics and keep a pulse on what people on each of your lists are most interested in, which will eventually help you to cater your tweets/marketing to current trends and capitalize on existing traction.
Private Twitter List Strategy: Client Lists and Prospect Lists
Build private list (vs. list viewable by public/all) of followers/customers/prospects/clients in order to be able to quickly check on those Twitter participants whose tweets are especially important for your business to monitor—be proactive.
These private lists would essentially feature your herd, your list of warm leads and people you’ve established a touch-point or interaction with. For example, it would be a good idea to herd people into your private lists who’ve actually replied/mentioned/retweeted your tweets as well as those who have asked you for tips, etc.
You can check in with these priority tweets to keep track of questions you can answer for them as well as suggest solutions or resources for problems/challenges they’re dealing with, creating a bond or connection to keep current clients happy. This will also help to keep your business at the front of your prospects’ minds, enabling your business to be the first one they think of when they decide they’re ready for your type of service or product. This includes non-competing resource suggestions to help position your biz as a value-added, trustworthy company who genuinely cares about their clients/followers.
Twitter Analytics:
Lists can also serve as a crude metrics tool to assess your position in the market or analyze how others perceive your business. This can help you lock down and fine tune the best ways to talk about your company and zero in on your target audience(s).
The “listed” section in your profile helps you assess patterns and the general effectiveness of your social media campaign(s). Visit your profile page, click the button/tab labeled “listed” in the “about” section of your public user info and you will see the lists that are following you.
For example, let’s say that you are an article marketing company. Some of the lists that you may see following you might include “make money,” “marketing,” “articles,” or “Great business tips coming through in their tweets, or have a top business tips blog.” Similarly, this can also clue you in to negative trends and enable some proactive spin control and fire-damage management. For example, if you start to see your business name popping up on lists with descriptions such as “Filtering out Twitter’s Biggest Idiots” then you’d obviously use that type of information to assess where you might have gone astray and adjust your approach accordingly.
 Everything You Need
And remember that any marketing, especially social media marketing, requires consistent effort for measurable success. Above all, if you maintain an altruistic frame of mind and strive to help others more than yourself you will eventually get everything you need.
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