The plan: To get a new blog and Twitter account with followers set up as quickly as possible. Start date: April 6th, 2009.
What I did: The first task was to get the business a name — mainly a domain name – which we would also use to create a blog. I thought a generic keyword domain name was best, so I looked for a .com name like “cape cod cleaning.” I found a locational, easy-to-remember domain — Cape Cod Cleaner — and that became the "name" for the blog, Twitter account, and business.
I realize a domain name isn’t free, but for under $10/year, you can’t complain. For alot of people, looking through the couch cushions, your car, the bottom of the washer, and skipping a latte or Dunkin Donuts coffee should cover the cost.
Next, the business owner needed a blog, and although I am familiar with Typepad, we were on a free budget. I decided to go with WordPress and a free theme.
I started with 1-2 posts and the About Me page. I found a free beach-ey header to use as a custom header with the Misty-look WP theme. For the post images I used commercial images with attribution from Flickr, or the client's own pictures.
Then I moved to Twitter and opened a new account for Cape Cod Cleaner under the account name @CapeCodCleaner, and added a few initial tweets to get things started.
This whole process took about 3 hours for setting up accounts, grabbing images, writing, loading a theme, and finding a free custom header. Not Bad!
The plan step two focused on adding more followers. That required some keyword searching first. Twitter’s search feature is limited, especially for targeting followers, so I went to Twellow and looked for twitterers within 25 miles of her hometown – or specific to Cape Cod itself.
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Article comments
1 - Marge Mercurio
Hi Roxanne,
Thanks for this information! I liked the simple way you spelled it all out for the reader. I look forward to reading more of your articles. ~~~ Marge
2 - Olaf Lederer
Nice article, but I think it will be much harder to find your customers on twitter in some branches. Think about all the spam follower
3 - Roxanne McHenry
@Marge - Glad to hear the article and information flowed well :) It's a simple idea that worked well!
@Olaf - This works well for a local business targeting Twitterers who live in the local area. We didn't follow anyone in the same business or industry, just local people.
Once they saw the blog, they could get in touch for more information about cleaning services. Thanks for your comment! Roxanne