I just might be an Apple FanBoy

January 28, 2010 · Posted in Musings · Comments 

Okay maybe I’m just a tech geek but I want an iPad. I love apple and have even before the release of the Mac. My first computer was an Apple IIC and was this amazing thing that if manipulated properly allowed me to write my own games.

Today the iMac we own renewed my interest in computing and is still allowing me to define my own games. The release of the iPad will take defining your own game even further. You can now take the game with you. As a blogger and tech enthusiast I love the product.

As a blogger and tech enthusiast I wonder why a few things were left out: Here is what I would have liked to see in addition to the incredible technology that is there. I want an iSight built-in on both sides so I can do video or video chat. I want the computer to do flash – this is a common technology used on many web sites and for many video presentations. I want the iPad to run more than one application at a time. And I want the iPad to be able to make and receive calls with a blue tooth headset and voice commands.

All the above said I think it turns out that the tweet I sent out on Tuesday before anyone else was saying it is going to turn out to be true “Somehow I think Steve Jobs speech tomorrow will be more impactful than the State of the Union !” For some reason I was thinking the State of the Union Speech was Tuesday.

The reason I think I’m right is because we have seen, even with some missing pieces, the introduction of a complete change in computing!

Tweet Strategy, Conversion, and Measurement

August 19, 2009 · Posted in Small Business · Comments 

I went to visit my Chiropractor today. We traded for some services so occasionally we discuss business. I brought up his tweet strategy and asked if he had any idea if what he has been doing on Twitter is helping out. Answer – “Not Really.”

Hmmm. I say “Let’s examine this and see if we can develop a strategy that will allow you to measure your success and hopefully build your practice.” So after some discussion here is the strategy and requirements we came up with. These requirements are fairly general so they can be applied to any business. The strategy is simple so it too can be applied to any business. Try it use the measurements and you will find success on Twitter and maybe some more conversions. By the way this strategy can be used in Facebook or any other social networking site that broadcasts statuses.

1) Tweet Positive uplifting tweets that enhance your brand. Use a twitter sentence structure that follows the format what’s the Problem, What to do, positive result. i.e. work got you stressed out, get adjusted now, sleep great tonight – vist me to find out more http://bit.ly/123456

2) We also provided an action for the user at the end of the tweet. By the way the above tweet still leaves me 28 characters to play with.

3) Notice that I use a bit.ly url. There is 1 very important reason to use a URL shortening service and that is to measure how many people clicked on your link. The second reason is to save space. So now I have a measurement to see how successful my tweet was. Using bit.ly is easy by the way simply login and enter the URL you want shortened. Actually it’s slightly more complicated then that but I’ll cover this in another post.

4) So by now you must be asking what is the URL going to and why. AHHHH. The landing page, conversion page or squeeze page (I hate the term squeeze page!). This is a simple page that has a form for the person to fill out. This should not be a long sales page in this case. A chiropractor is a professional and shouldn’t dropt to the sleazy level that many long form sales letters drop to. In this case we’re offering a free telephone consultation. The page should briefly follow the same format as the tweets Explain problems, how chiropractic can help, what the results will be and offer the free consult. The objective is to generate a warm lead. The doc can now follow up with the potential patient.

The form should be simple and to the point. It should collect the person’s name, email, and phone. The email should be used only as a single contact unless otherwise stated. This is not a news letter sign up it is a lead generation form for already hot prospects.

5) Measure, Measure, Measure. The tweets, the click troughs’, the page visits, the page conversions. Tweak and Repeat.

Good luck this is a simple but effective strategy.