Practical Business Guidance from David M. Brown, MD
Writing Your Twitter Business BIO
When you set up your Twitter account, one of the most important things for you to pay attention to is the “BIO” section. You are limited to 160 total characters in your BIO, including punctuation and spaces. This is approximately 20 words, so every word must count and must help people to know what your business is, what it can do for them, and how they can find you when they want your products or services. You will want to give this some thought and include at least four things in your Bio:
1) The full name of your Business, especially if it is different from the Twitter ‘handle’ (“Username”) or the “Name” you used when you opened your Twitter account. This would certainly be the case if the name of your Business is longer than the 20 characters that they allow for the “Name” field, or if you are a sole proprieter and you used your own name for the “Name” field. IF you already have your complete Business name in the “Name” field, you do not have to repeat it in the BIO, but you can if you have enough room.
2) Your Business Address, so your customers can locate you. You also have the “Location” field to complete, but that is usually only for the City and State that your business is in. If you have a single store, you can list your full business address here. If you have several stores, you can list ‘Multiple Locations’ or state the areas or cities where the stores are located.
3) A brief description of your business and what you offer or how you make your customers lives better. You could also mention a best-selling product here if a lot of people will be looking for it. This brings us to the last thing that you need to put in the BIO and that is:
4) One or more Keywords or Keyword phrases for your business. Keywords, quite simply, are how a customer can find your business when they need your service or products. If you have a ‘Handyman’ business in Puyallup, WA, then “Puyallup Handyman” is probably your primary Keyword phrase, i.e., what most people would search for when they needed your services. Keywords are a very critical topic and one that I will address in more detail in a future post. Businesses that are primarily offline businesses often overlook very important Keywords that have the capability of significantly increasing the bottom line of that business when used properly as part of the business’ online Marketing efforts.
Your Web Presence is Critical to Your Business
Are you a business owner who is looking to have a more effective online presence? Maybe you need your first website or you want to be involved in all the Social Media online to help grow your business or you need to make the website(s) you have more effective at reaching new customers. No business owner wants to be left behind and technology is evolving rapidly. It’s easy to get confused and/or overwhelmed by all the choices out there for websites, Facebook pages, Twitter pages, blogs, Squidoo pages, Linked-In pages, etc. It’s easy to understand why some business owners just throw up their hands and claim that figuring out the Internet is just too complicated to bother with. But let me reassure you that all these choices of different ways to effectively market your business online have really made it easier and simpler for you to get started.
If you don’t currently have a blog or another website and don’t at least have a page on Twitter and a Fan page on Facebook, then you are missing out on a golden opportunity to serve your customers better and gain a whole new customer base that you would probably never get if you weren’t online. I’m constantly surprised by the number of brick-and-mortar businesses who do not have ANY Web presence at all. Many business owners still don’t understand how important their online presence is for their customers to find them, get to know them and what they have to offer, and begin to really like and trust them, so they will think about that business more and be more apt to visit it when they need what the business is selling.
Many customers will do at least some of their shopping online and all customers or clients who use the internet (let’s face it, that’s a large majority of the potential customer base for most businesses) WILL DO RESEARCH ONLINE BEFORE THEY MAKE A PURCHASE. The Internet is all about finding the right information: finding what you need when you need it. If your business is not online telling all your potential customers what you have to offer them and why your products and/or services are superior to your competitors, then you are losing an incredible amount of business to your competitors who have realized the importance of having a significant online presence. There are many ways to grow your business online. It’s not all about new customers, although that is a huge benefit of being visible to those people who are looking for you. It’s also about customer service and customer education and customer retention, leading to more repeat business.
There are so many things that any business can do online that will lead to significant growth for that business. You may need some help with Getting your business online and maximizing the growth opportunities there. We can help you with any challenge that you may encounter. I will be discussing many aspects of growing your business by increasing your online presence over the coming weeks. If you want to get on my mailing list, you can receive more of the specifics of developing your online presence via emails sent directly to you. If you want more growth in your business now, during what has been rather tough economic times, just enter your name and email address in the box to the right, and you will be well on your way to much greater success in your business.