2 EZ Ways to Get Celebs to Tweet About You

Have you ever hoped and prayed a celeb like Paris Hilton would retweet something you posted??  How about having someone like Deepak Chopra talk about your product or service in their Twitter stream?  Too good to be true?  Well, not to take the fantastical value out of it, but it’s not as hard as you might think.  In fact, for the right price (Lindsey Lohan’s is $3,500), you can have someone famous endorse you to millions of followers whenever you want.  Top two resources I know:

Ad.ly

Sponsored Tweets

More on this topic:

How Charlie Sheen and Other Stars Get Paid to Tweet

The Secret Business of Celebrity Tweets

My Picks for Top 10 Female Entrepreneur Blogs

The secret to success in this economy is to stay on top of business trends.  For me, it's not just by reading the headlines, but rather about reading what goes on in the trenches.  My Google Reader pulls feeds from these ten great resources:


Blog: http://blog.brazencareerist.com
Alexa Rank:  Alexa Traffic Rank: 32,738

Blog: http://shetakesontheworld.net
Alexa Rank: Alexa Traffic Rank: 393,215

Blog: http://www.theglasshammer.com
Alexa Rank:  Alexa Traffic Rank: 371,369

Blog: http://www.blogher.com
Alexa Rank:  Alexa Traffic Rank: 4,356

Blog: http://www.womenonbusiness.com
Alexa Rank:  Alexa Traffic Rank: 274,178

Blog: http://www.women2.org
Alexa Rank:Alexa Traffic Rank: 87,374

Blog: http://she-conomy.com
Alexa Rank:Alexa Traffic Rank: 528,896

Blog: http://flokka.com
Alexa Rank: Alexa Traffic Rank: 329,373

Blog: http://womengrowbusiness.com
Alexa Rank: Alexa Traffic Rank: 471,289

Blog: http://legal.entrepreneur.com
Alexa Rank: Alexa Traffic Rank: 2,569

How Passion = Profits

God I love this town...where perception becomes reality.  It's no different in the business world.  You get excited about what you do, it becomes infectious. That infectious attitude then spawns viral activity and great online PR.   Here's a quick clip to share how one savvy Glampreneur Matriarch has done it throughout Beverly Hills, Brentwood and the Palisades for over 20 years.  

 Anita Neumann, Day Spa Consultant

Fail proof banner ads for PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Campaigns

Pay-per-click banner ad campaigns are one of the most effective ways to get fast, targeted traffic zooming straight from Facebook to your website.  It's crazy how effective they are.  So how do you get it right?  Here are some important points to remember:

Get Real

Would you walk up to a stranger and ask them to marry you?  Flirt with your prospects on your banner ad...don’t ask for a buying decision. Give them a reason to click-thru to find out more.

http://www.grokdotcom.com/2008/02/15/banner-ad-conversion

Be Simple...Yet Current

Lots of options out there about visual design, font selections and color palettes to think about.  That’s all well and good, but trends change regularly.  Here’s four steadfasts you can always count on:   

1.) Keep the offer simple.  The less they have to think, the better.

2.) Keep the design simple - less is more.

3.) Be relevant.  In other words, think about what's hot out there, then use images that relate to it AND your product or service at the same time.
4.) Make sure you can answer the question: What's in it for me? 

Play Around with Ideas Before Hiring a Professional

Fun Banner Creation Site (and it’s Free)

http://www.bannersnack.com/

Non-surgical, non-injectable thermo skin-tightening machine

During our lunch the other day, my friend Anita (long time Beverly Hills day spa owner) looked at me and said "it's time for Botox dear."  I spent the first thirty seconds quieting the sirens in my head, and the next preparing myself for the "why?"  Apparently the elevens are starting to develop (you know the two little lines in between your eyebrows).  I'm also losing collagen under my eyes and well, I could go on, but I'd like to stay on the positive side of this one if you don't mind.  Thx.

I reminded Anita that I'm not a fan of pain and really would rather not do injections if, I can help it.  "Thermo collagen stimulation," she responded, then took me by the hand to see her friend Marianna at the Rejuvatech spa in the Palisades.  She owns this European celebrity frequented super secret place only a handful of people know about (does no advertising).   Apparently she's the first to have this European technology here in the states and people are going crazy over it.  I can see why: Instant result! Been smooth ever since. Radio waves...who knew!

Impressions vs. click-throughs – Which matters most?

I can certainly appreciate the value of a distinct branding campaign that clearly identifies a brand’s value and ultimately the “promise”.  However, when it comes to banner advertising, sometimes, defining the need first is most effective. 

Banner 1 – Responds to a need

  

Banner 2 – Respond to a need after you’ve 
established trust through a recognized brand.

 

Now the argument in these articles is “do we measure with analytics (click throughs) or should we focus on the branding impressions? Unless you're neck deep into tracking online analytics you're probably thinking what the heck is a branding impression. It's actually easier to understand than you might think.

First, think about the "impression" part. Every time a user has a chance to simply look at your ad its considered an impression (most pay-per-click campaign managers report on both). Branding, is well - just that - it's that familiar image or phrase that conveys your promise and connects with the consumer. 

If the objective is to raise awareness of the brand, then impression metrics are more valuable, in my opinion.  However, if point-of-purchase is the objective, then perhaps a needs based banner ad strategy is better suited.  I really don’t think one approach is more important than the other.  I believe it’s really about objective of the advertiser. 

Additional Resources:

http://econsultancy.com/blog/4720-16-of-users-click-on-banners-are-display-ads-dead
o http://econsultancy.com/blog/4999-ignore-the-top-of-the-funnel-at-your-own-risk
o http://www.clickz.com/3635646
o 
http://econsultancy.com/blog/4905-nielsen-display-ads-send-more-traffic-to-retail-sites-than-search

A Business Girl's Credo

I just love today's business women.  Felt inspired to share some reasons why...

Not afraid to be herself, have nothing to prove to anyone BUT herself and sooo, could care less what the boys are doing; it's really all about her.  Here in LA, I meet these girls (my kind of girls) - all the time.  Each on a different journey, different backgrounds, yet with one similar goal:  Being the BEST me possible.

 

Haunted by the same voices of doubt and discouragement at times I'm sure; yet able to hush them quickly in between checking the next appointment on her Blackberry and the next need for a make-up touch up in her rear view mirror.  She waits for no prince, chooses to work especially hard and expects reward.

Today's business girl owns her "sexy" in the boardroom and in the bedroom - makes no apologies for it.  Instead she celebrates it ...

She embraces motherhood with all her heart, shows her babies off to the world, makes no apologies for putting them first either ;-)

Most of all, today's business girl makes time for others after she's made time for herself.  She respects her mind, body and the precious value of feeling centered.  

Bravo Ladies...Bravo.

Free Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Sample: The Budgeting Worksheet

As promised, here is a sample planning worksheet I used this week to test camp a client's $6700 monthly budget.  These aren't the final numbers but will give you a good idea of how we go about measuring and estimating profit margins on a PPC campaign (something you should know before making a decision to vest).  Note: We actually decided against spending the entire ad budget, suggested they spend less than they originally thought they needed ;-)

Cost Per Visitor (C/V)
Revenue Per Visitor (R/V)
Margin Per Visitor (RPV - CPV = MPV)
Advertising-to-Revenue Ratio (CPV/RPV)
Exposures (E)Click-Thrus (CT)
Click-Thru Rate (Clicks/Exposures) x 100
Branding/View-Thru Rate (BVT)
Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
Cost-Per-Conversion (CPC)