Many businesses have seen an opportunity in the rapid development of internet transactions, to the point that you can do your shopping right from your computer and have the product at your door after a few days. Browsing in cyberspace you will find stores that only do their marketing and sales online – that’s the audience they attend to.

The same way, many professionals have decided to go freelance and work online with a lot of success. But, this also raises the question,  if I decide to work freelance online, how will people know I’m the right person for them?

The answer can be simple and complex at the same time.  It’s pretty much the same basic requirements you need to have in order to do business in the outside world: do good work and continue advertising yourself and your services.

But offering services online will also require for you to create a medium from where people will get to know you, here are some ideas:

Have an Online Profile

This could be a social networking account, website, blog,  store, etc. This is pretty much the first step you will need to take in order to have a presence online.

Show Them What You Do/Provide

It’s important for your potential customer to see the type of work you have done in the past. This will help them get to know you better through your work.

For instance, if you are a web designer (like me), it’d be good to have a portfolio where you can showcase the best of your work. You don’t have to show all of it, just the ones you are confident are the best designs you’ve done.

Meet People, Let People Know You

You need to let people know you are on the cyberspace now, in order to do so you will need to network. A good idea is to have a profile in the different social networking sites outhere, sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc. and of course the microblogging tool everyone is talking about, Twitter . If you don’t have an account on Twitter yet, consider creating one. I’ve been in Twitter for about four months and I already have more than 500 followers and get many clients through that medium. You don’t only get to know potential clients but also many talented professional who you can learn from and share ideas with.  Make sure you check my last post about Twitter and the advantages of having a Twitter account. Meanwhile, here’s an idea, you can follow me!

Let Your Face be Known

The best thing about doing business in person is that your clients get to know you, not only your work but your face. It’s interesting how much effect this small detail has. It’s recommendable to have a picture of you in the profile or website/blog you create, just so they can have that personal touch when reading your website.  If you like to leave comments in blogs, I’d recommend you create an account in Gravatar (globally recognized avatar), this allows you to link your email address with a picture/image. So whenever you leave a comment in other WordPress blogs (that have this plugin installed), your picture will automatically appear and readers will start recognizing you by just looking at your picture.

Stay Active

Leave comments, post something interesting in your blog, say “hello” to people,  keep in touch, you will get to make some good friends in the cyberspace. Plus, you never know when the people you get to know will require your services.

Be Yourself

Just like in any other case, it’s important that you show yourself for who you really are. This doesn’t mean you need to disclose every personal information you can think of, it just means that you need to be honest when talking about yourself to other people. They are  getting to know you, so be honest and try to get to know them as well.

Be Friendly

The fact that you decide to advertise yourself and your services or products, doesn’t mean you need to shout it out loud to whoever you talk to. People can get turn off by that, just let them know you first and when the time is right, you will be able to share about what you do.

Have Fun

Internet is a lot of fun, you get to meet people, share ideas,  have fun in your free time, and on top of that you learn a lot! So relax and have a good time!

Continue Reading…

This is the first post I make about Twitter. I’ve heard that once you start posting about TW you never stop… we’ll see how this goes. I got to admit that I’m loving my twittering moments so far. In the time that I’ve been there all I’ve had are good experiences. I got to meet a lot of people and it’s an easy way to stay up-to-date with the new tendencies where technology is going nowdays.

First, let’s read what wikipedia has to say about Twitter.

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS, or through applications such as TwitterMobile, Tweetie, Twinkle, Twitterrific, Feedalizr, Facebook, and Twidget, a widget application.

There you have it, Twitter has spread like a virus is almost all the social technologies outhere. Even Facebook has seen an opportunity there and has included a Twitter App so you can update your status automatically from Twitter to Facebook or viceversa.

The benefits of having a Twitter account are many, here are some:

Connect with professionals like you: Depending on the field that you work on, it’s more likely you will find somebody on Twitter that share the same interests as you! In my case, I’m a web developer/designer and Web Hosting Specialist – to put it in other words – my life is the internet! In my list of “following” & “followers” there are many talented people who share my passion for technologies, graphic design, web development/design, and even share some links where I can get the inspiration I need to start a day of work! You learn something new every day, and Twitter brings it to your computer!

Increase your knowledge: Times are changing and at least in my field, technologies evolve rapidly! It’s important to keep up-to-date in the latest technologies, trends, etc. and the best way of doing so is by sharing your knowledge. when you are part of a conversation you can’t help but produce an exchange of knowledge and experiences. As you can see it’s a win-win situation.

Promote your business! Attract more traffic to your site/blog: If you have a website, blog, internet business, etc. Twitter is the tool you should use to promote your business. Twitter has an option to RT ( Retweet) many people use it over in the Twitterspace, which is simply re-sending the tweets that you get from your tweeps to help them promote their business. This kind gesture on your part will most likely help you make friends quick and they will consider re-tweeting your post for you in the future. It’s that easy! jus think of how many impression your website will get in less that an hour.

Keep an online presence: Almost everyone of us have a presence on the internet already. This could be having an account on social pages like Facebook, Myspace, Hi5, Tagged, etc or maybe an account on Youtube, LinkedIn, etc. Is this you? If so, then you have a presence on the internet already! The difference about Twitter is that you keep your presence alive. Maybe somebody will check your profile, or blog for a day or two, but there is a chance that a week later might forget about it if you haven’t posted anything new. It’s easier and faster to post something on Twitter, all you got to do is to answer the question “What are you doing?” If you are just watching TV, and decide to tweet about it, you will be surprise about how many people reply to a simple tweet like that!

Stay active: If you happen to have some free time, Twitter is a good way of keeping your mind active, you learn something from tweet to tweet.

It’s fun!: If the reasons above didn’t convince you then maybe this one will, Twitter is fun! You’ll meet people from all over the world and make friendships that you wouldn’t have make if it wasn’t for Twitter.

Some tips to be a good Tweeter:

Be yourself, but stay alert: It’s good to show your personality, this is the only way people will be able to get to know you and maybe ending up having a solid friendship; but keep in mind that what you “tweet” is being registered in the twitterspace, so be careful whenever you want to share something personal.

Re-tweet (RT): Colaborate with your twitter friends, if they tweet a link about their new post, RT the message so your friends will see it. Who knows, you might want to promote your link in the future and this tweet friend might decide to return the favor by Retweeting your link.

Just ask: If you have a question about a subject, don’t feel shy and not ask. Express your doubt, somebody might know the answer to it already!

Use a Desktop App for Twitter: Twitter in the web is good, but I’d recommend to install an application that will allow you check your tweets from your desktop. There are many to choose from, to mention a few TweetDeck,  Twhirl, Twitterrific, etc.

Increase the number of friends: Search for keywords on Twitter > Search and find people who share similar interest as you.

Worth mentioning:

Twitter is a pre-sale tool, not a sale tool: Twitter works as a tool of creating a link of trust between the you and your followers. If you want to close a deal with a potencial client, it’s necessary to remember that you need to make an impression to this person. Make sure they see how professional you are.

Did I miss something? What do you use Twitter for? Show your love by leaving me a comment. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter! Happy Twitter!!

Ok, lo admito. No son muchos los post que hago en espanol, pero pense que seria importante expresar lo que pienso en ambos idiomas, pues Twitter es una herramienta que se viene usando mucho ultimamente y ha venido para quedarse.

Me resultaria muy dificil saber que todavia hay algunas personas que no han escuchado acerca de Twitter, en caso esta es la primera vez que escuchas acerca de Twitter, pues bienvenido! Empecemos viendo que dice Wikipedia acerca de TW.

Twitter (['twɪtəʳ] I vi (pájaro) gorjear fam (persona) parlotear) es un servicio gratuito de microblogging, que hace las veces de red social y que permite a sus usuarios enviar micro-entradas (también denominadas “tweets”) basadas en texto, con una longitud máxima de 140 caracteres, donde se responde a la pregunta ¿Qué estás haciendo?. El envío de estos mensajes se puede realizar tanto por la web de Twitter, como vía SMS (Short Message Service) desde un teléfono móvil, desde programas de mensajería instantánea, o incluso desde cualquier aplicación de terceros, como puede ser Twitterrific, Facebook, Twinkle, etc.

Pues si, Twitter se ha expandido viralmente en casi todas las technologias sociales de ahora! Incluso Facebook ha visto una oportunidad en esto y esta dado la opcion de agregar Twitter como aplicacion en el perfil, ya luego en mis proximos posts estare tocando ese tema.

Los beneficios de tener una cuenta en Twitter son varias, aqui unas cuantas:

Conectate con profesionales como tu: Dependiendo en que area de trabajo de desenvuelves, siempre encontraras a otra persona que se dedica a lo mismo que tu! en mi caso yo soy desarrollador web y Consultor de alojamiento de paginas – en otras palabras mi vida esta en el internet! En mi lista de “Followers” ( Amigos, seguidores) tengo muchas personas que comparten mi pasion por el internet,  diseño grafico y desarrollo web! Dia a dia siempre hay algo nuevo que aprender, y Twitter te lo trae a tu computadora al colaborar con profesionales como tu!

Incrementa tu conocimiento: Los tiempos estan cambiando y al menos en mi area de trabajo las technologias evolucionan dia a dia! Es necesario mantenernos al tanto de los ultimos avances y la mejor manera de hacerlo es compartiendo conocimientos, al generar conversacion lo que haras es incrementar tu conocimiento pues puede que la otra persona conozca mas que tu acerca de un tema y viceversa.  Como lo ves, ambas partes se benefician.

Promueve tu negocio! Atrae más tráfico para tu blog: Si es que tienes un blog, pagina web, negocio en internet, etc. Twitter es la herramienta que debes de usar para promover tu negocio por internet. En Twitter existe la opcion RT ( Retweet) que puede ser traducida a re-enviar, es una opcion usada por muchas de las personas en el Twitterespacio, que simplemente significa que si haces un “post” donde promueves tu negocio mediante un link, es muy probable que tus amigos lo lean y decida retweetearlo a sus amigos y los amigos de tus amigos tienen la opcion de mantener la cadena! Asi de facil! imaginate cuantas personas ah visitado tu link al ver que su amigos lo estan recomendando.

Manten tu presencia en internet: Casi todos tenemos una presencia en internet querramos o no, pues casi todos tenemos cuentas en diferentes paginas sociales como Hi5, Facebook, Myspace, Tagged, etc o alguna cuenta de videos en Youtube, si este es tu caso, pues ya existe en el mundo del internet! La diferencia de usar Twitter es que crear presencia dia a dia, puede que las personas luego de leer tu perfil, blog, etc despues de una semana se olviden de revisar tu perfil si es que no has posteado algo nuevo. Con Twitter es mas facil postear algo pues simplemente rspondes a la pregunta “Que estas haciendo ahora?” Si es que estas viendo TV pues lo posteas y a veces te sorprenderas de cuantas personas responden a un post tan simple!

Mantente activo: Si es que tienes un poco de tiempo libre, Twitter es una manera de mantenerte activo, ademas de aprender algo nuevo de tweet en tweet.

Es divertido!: Si es que los puntos listados anteriormente no te convencieron pues  tal ves este lo hara, Twitter es divertido! logras conocer personas de todas partes del mundo y crear amistades que de no haber tenido cuenta en Twitter posiblemente no se hubieran encontrado.

Algunas consejos para ser un buen twittero:

Se tu mismo, pero mantener alerta: Es bueno mostrar tu personalidad, pues es la unica manera en la que las personas lograran conocerte y podras crear una amistad; pero siempre ten presente publicar solo lo que estas dispuesto a dar a conocer al mundo pues recuerda que cualquier informacion que publiques acerca de tu vida personal esta siendo grabado en tu ciberespacio por siempre.

Re-tweet (RT): Colabora con tus twitter-amigos, si ellos postean un link a un nuevo post que hicieron en su blog, RT el mensaje,  para que tus amigos tambien lo puedan ver y promuevan su blog. Quien sabe, puede que cuando tu tengas algo que compartir, ellos hagan lo mismo por ti.

Simplemente pregunta: Si tienes alguna pregunta acerca de algun tema, no te quedes con la duda, expresalo, puede que alguien ya sepa como resolverlo y te respondan con la solucion!

Usa una aplicacion de escritorio para Twitter: Twitter en la web es bueno, pero recomiendo que instales una aplicacion que te permita correr twitter desde tu escritorio (tipo MSN) entre los programas estan TweetDeck,  Twhirl, Twitterrific, y muchos otros.

Incrementa tu numero de amigos: Aumenta tus amigos dirigiendote a Twitter > Search o Buscar y utiliza palabras que describirian los intereses que buscas en tus amigos, por ejemplo: web, diseno grafico, desarrollo web, etc.

Algunas notas dignas de hacer mencion:

Twitter es una herramienta de pre-venta, no venta: Twitter en este caso crear un enlace de confianza de parte de las personas que llegas a conocer hacia tu persona. Para cerrar un trato con un posible “cliente” es necesario recordar que en un primer momento debes haber hecho una buena impresion en esa persona, profesionalmente sobretodo.

Olvide algo? Dejame un comentario haciendomelo saber, Happy Twitter!!! y sigueme en Twitter!