We know that Twitter has roughly 20 million plus users and growing. Actually by the time I write this post it could have doubled.. who knows? Anyway, you also know that these 2o million people are answering to their followers and the world, the question, ‘what are you doing now?’.

Imagine there was a way you could find out what people are wanting, what they are asking for, what questions they have that have remained unanswered, by simply asking the question: What’s everybody doing? How powerful would that be? If you knew that one of the most asked questions and problems people faced bringing home a brand new puppy was actually  ‘what should I name my dog?’, would you do things differently? How many profitable products could you release based on what topics are really hot right now?

You also know what whenever you search a question in Twitter you will receive a load links to information and affiliate products rather than genuine concerns and questions. Even if you find the good stuff, filtering through the clutter would take forever and a day. So doing the above is virtually impossible without endless days of work.

Well I’ll tell you that it is possible. I’m going to show you a way you can cut through the clutter, find the information you need so you can create relevant products and sell them for profit. Are you ready?

Ok here it is:

Visit Twitter Search. Now Type this in: (obviously replace keywords with whatever you like)

-http Insert Keywords Here since:2009-05-30 ?

What have I done?

1. By putting the ‘-http’ I have removed most links so you don’t get people trying the redirect you through to a page of information or their affiliate product.
2. The ’since:2009-05-30′ asks Twitter search to only find stuff relevant since that date. You can take it back as far as you like to get a larger response. (in the Year/MM/DD format).
3. The “?” at the end tells the Twitter search engine that we are only after questions. ie Anyone know how to stop a dog barking?. Also because we have removed the links we won’t get any questions like this -> Want to know how to stop a dog barking? Visit http://etc etc. So we have filtered out all the rhetoricals and commercial questions and replaced these with genuine concerns. You can remove the “?” and you will get more responses including both statements and questions so either way will work. I just used the ‘?’ in this example to show you another feature you may want to implement.

What do you do now?

Essentially the fiddly time consuming stuff that would usually takes days, even weeks to do, has already been done! Now go through the findings in Twitter, read the posts and jot down the concerns one by one. You will start to notice a pattern developing about what people are after and what’s in demand. This is your market research data. Take this, run with it and create an in demand and profitable product.

To see this in action check out my video at the Bootstrapedia Blog

It’s an awfully kept secret that the majority of good Internet Marketers are from North America. It’s not surprising really as the region is to me, the entrepreneurial nexus of the world. A lot of the good stuff comes from there (except cars.. why is it when there are 4 wheels and an engine they go all loopy?). Silicon Valley houses some of the greatest start-ups with investors willing to pump millions of dollars to support the dreams of budding entrepreneurs.

A lot of what I do everyday is a result of entrepreneurial insight from the region. I Jump on my computer (DELL, Austin TX, USA 1984) check my emails using Outlook (Microsoft 1975 Albuquerque, New Mexico), search using the Google search engine (Menlo Park, California, 1998), visit the Shoemoney Blog (Lincoln, Nebraska) using the Firefox browser (Again North America) and then when I feel thirsty I grab a Coke (take a guess?).

This isn’t surprising or a revolutionary insight by any means but I think its important to note the effect this has had on marketers. I’m an Australian but when I write a post or release a product, I know that the majority of the people making use of what I have to offer will be from the US. When I was writing my eBook I had an extremely enlightening recommendation from one of my reviewers who questioned my use of Kilograms instead of Pounds. I used the word ‘bootstrap’ in the title instead of ’shoestring’.

Tailoring my approach to suit the people most likely to follow me is now second nature to me. Whenever I’m asked to fill out contact details online, I instinctively put a +61 in front of the number. I even get excited when I purchase something and then realize that its in Australian dollars, thinking I’m getting a bargain because I’m so used to paying in US (about 80USc for $1AUS).

However something happened the other day which I never thought would, I felt I had an accent in my own mother tongue. I was creating a screen capture video and realized how ‘different’ I sounded to all the other Internet Marketers. I’m so used to hearing marketers from the US speaking in Audio and Video that my voice, even to me, sounded quite alien. Even after a few attempts I was considering a voice over! Obviously I didn’t take this route as I understand the importance of using myself as my brand so this was simply not an option, but the fact that the thought came to mind really made me think.

So I’m wondering whether other non US marketers have felt this sense of Internet Marketing alientation. The Internet is such a global medium yet there is a prominant ‘language’ in the IM world. Not that it bothers me at all, its just an observation which I find intriguing.

So where to for these money churning start-ups? I’ve never quite understood the business models of some websites and I’ve openly stated that. I’m talking Digg, Reddit, Twitter etc. They are backed by big-in-the-pocket investment firms, VC’s and angel investors yet no one bothers to stop and say, how are we going to make money?

Twitter is now trying to find a way to make money. Interestingly enough they have no clue how they are going to do it. They have already stated that advertising is not an option they are currently considering for their revenue model so where will it lie?

My take on this is simple: why start a business with no revenue model whatsoever? No you might think that this is quite a narrow minded view but the main reason for thinking like this probably isn’t what you think.

Let’s use a few examples (I love my examples!) and take Facebook for example. Now Facebook has always had some type of advertising on the site and I remember the first type of ads were tower banner ads. That was pretty much it and probably didn’t make them a lot of money. But it set a precedence. Users were comfortable with the advertising. So ramping up the ads into a full blown network, although not the most successful, didn’t put too many people off because it has always been there.

Same with Google. I’ve always known Google with two columns, one for organic and the other for sponsored links. Of course at some stage it was just organic search but the ads were put in quite early on, showing a defined revenue model and the users happily accepted it.

On the other hand you’ve got other start-ups like Twitter. These guys have built a massive following and have in no way monetised it. The negative effect isn’t in the fact that they are not making money now but the inability to easily implement a revenue model in the future. Taking the earlier examples, their revenue models crept up early on and didn’t cause to much of a flutter among the users. However Twitter has always been a free, non ad-obtrusive service with a host of loyal followers. Throw in a need to charge for anything and their loyal base will be kicking and screaming. This is their own doing.. they dug a hole from day one.

You can find clear evidence of this when reports came through of an agreement to form Twitter TV and Twitter’s most famous user Ashton Kutcher, made the following statement: “Wow I hope this isn’t true. I really don’t like being sold out. May have to take a twitter hiatus”. This shows any sign of Twitter trying to profit from their micro-blogging service, they are shunned by their most loyal and popular “Tweeters”. I can’t help but feel that if they implemented some type of revenue strategy from day 1… it may not have been so difficult.

I have written a few post about the micro-blogging, social networking monster on this blog and I have been relatively frank. But this post is probably a bit more candid than the rest of them because I’m pretty frustrated with the platform to say the least.

To give you a background, I’m a relatively recent blogger, with this blog only starting in late Feb 09 (from memory). So its safe to say that I am a relative unknown compared to some of the super bloggers and IM superstars such as Jeremy Shoemaker, Darren Rowse, John Chow and the rest. I’m not going to try and tell you I’m a superstar because I know I’m not, I’m new in the online world and I know where I stand and don’t really have a problem with it.

An example would be John Chow writing a great article about Blog Marketing vs Email Marketing vs Twitter Marketing. John was able to get several sales out of Twitter promoting a product (a $27 footer ad which I’m suddenly interested in at the moment!) but I have a feeling that if someone not in John’s league did the same thing, the results would be completely different. John has a brand and has effectively and intelligently been able to leverage off his brand to make Twitter work with him.

The guys I mentioned earlier have all lauded Twitter and the utility is has provided them. This is fine and dandy but they have a name and an online presence which not all of us have. By the way, I’m a big fan of the above mentioned bloggers… so by no means am I discrediting what they have to say. But what is it like for those who are not virtual brands like these guys? If they were to state: New blog post “http://ww….” then yeh, a flood of people go rushing to their blog interested in the next post and that’s very understandable as I do it myself. For example if Coca Cola brings out a new drink and a Coke rep tells you that they are bringing out a new drink then immediately, you want to know more, right? However if Florentine says they are coming out with a new flavored milk what would you say? Exactly what I would say; who the hell is Florentine? Or more appropriately, flip the page, change the channel or check the other Twitter updates.

There is a vicious cycle developing here which I believe has lead to the overwhelmingly skewed favoritism of the network. This is when people go out and read reviews of the site, chances are these reviews are conducted by the very people who already have an online presence, ie the top 20% of bloggers, IMers or webmasters. Well is a proven fact (I have proved it) that the top 20 sites in the world receive roughly 80% of the traffic therefore 80% of the audience are fed with ideas that all is good in the Twitterverse. The other 80% of blogs (the majority) make up the measly 20% of the audience. These lesser read blogs are those that will probably have alternate opinions, the opinion of the majority but because they only receive 20% of the audience, not that many are listening. Here lies a problem where the ideas and opinions are bias towards the top bloggers, IMers and webmasters… who own 80% of the audience.. Vicious circle.

So what if your Florentine? (by the way I have completely made that name up, but lets use it as an example). What is Twitter like for all the other Florentines? Well, it’s a pretty lonely place to be honest. The truth is, apart from friends and family, not many people actually care what you have to say but at the same time they want you to care about what they have to say. You feel like a 8 yr old, you can speak, people can hear you but not many people are that interested in listening. You yell, wave, RT, @, RTT and still silence. No love. Just another 40 Tweets with affiliate hoplinks in them. Well maybe it’s just another step, you need to wait until your a little ‘order’ and maybe people will start listening.

In conclusion, “what are you doing?”. Apart from the select few, does anyone really care?

Microsoft launched their attack on Google with their own search engine, Bing. It’s meant to change the way we think about search engines, or something like that. So I decided to search: “what is bing” using, none other than, the Bing search engine. Interestingly, this new generation search engine was unable find me the answer of what it actually is! I got results for an electrical shop (BingLee), BING the rigid polyurethane insulation industry in Europe and a bit of information about Bing Crosby. Naturally I head to Google and good old faithful tells me straight away.

Obviously I don’t have the greatest first impressions but I’m an open minded type of guy, I won’t judge right now.. I think time shall take care of that.

Anyone actually used it and found anything interesting or out of the ordinary compared to other search engines? I would be interested if you’d share a few things we could have a look at that exploits its potential.

My experiment was… how shall I say… a resounding flop. Nothing. Nada. Zero response from the bots. Great way to embarrass myself in front of the readers but hey, knowing me it won’t be the last!

Thanks - blogs.sun.com

I do have a couple things to say more specifically in regards to Twitter. I’m sure anyone using this platform understands how addictive and also how useful it can be. Yet there is a level of frustration of how much SPAM you get on this medium. Also one other frustrating thing is knowing that any time you spend away from your Twitter hub you miss out on plenty of great and valuable resources which would have possibly solved a current problem or issue.

So I have a couple of suggestions.

1. Introduce a user rating – rated by their peers, this rating gives you an idea of what people think of this persons Tweets. Would be simple to implement and would help improve the quality of followers you wish to follow.
2. Have a post rating. At the moment the inclination is to Retweet popular or useful posts. How about implementing a system Like Digg or Reddit where you can vote for your favourite Tweets. You can only see common “Tweeted” Tweets on your sidebar so every morning you get up… have a look at your sidebar and read all the interesting stuff.

What do you guys think?

(Image www.wtnphotos.com)

What an odd heading. What has your (and my) success got anything to do with women’s Tennis?

I’ll start by listing the top female players in the world using the WTP tour rankings . This was done at the time of writing so if it changes by the time you read it don’t worry… I’m strongly convinced that my point will still stay valid! Well for the next 5-10 yrs anyway.

Top 10 – Women

1. Dinara Safina (RUS)
2. Serena Williams (USA)
3. Elena Dementieva (RUS)
4. Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
5. Venus Williams (USA)
6. Vera Zvonareva (RUS)
7. Ana Ivanovic (SRB)
8. Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
9. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RSA)
10. Nadia Petrova (RUS)

I know your thinking, where am I going with this? Your looking at the similarities and considering whether your name should end in an “a” or that you need to be from Russia or the Balkans in order to become successful. You could try that but there’s a little more to it.

Let me give you a brief run down of the dominant nations here, namely those countries that form part of the former Republic of Yugoslavia as well as Russia. I can see you just sitting there thinking I’ve gone mad with nostalgic school history delirium. Maybe I have a bit but bare with me, just give me 3-4 minutes of your time, it will make sense shortly.

I’ll be going through a very brief time-line after WWII. I’m doing this because that will give us a bit of a background of the Baby Boomers, ie the generation that belongs to the parents’ of these top players. Please note I’m using the great resource of Wikipedia and Infoplease.com for the first example. I’m not that gifted to be able to remember these facts my own!! By no means have I covered everything but there is a chance, and probably have, the facts a little bit mixed up but that’s not my point here. I will get to this a bit later.

Courtesy www.yale.edu

Countries that form the former Republic of Yugoslavia:

• On January 31, 1946, the new constitution of Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia was formed
  
• The country distanced itself from the Soviets in 1948 and started to build its own way to socialism under the strong political leadership of Josip Broz Tito.
• After Tito’s death on 4 May 1980, ethnic tensions grew in Yugoslavia, especially in Kosovo between ethnic Albanians and Serbs.
• 1991 Slovenia and Croatia each declare independence. Because 12% of Croatia’s population is Serbian, Yugoslavia fights hard against its secession for the next four years. As Croatia moves towards independence, it evicts most of its Serbian population.
• 1992 Ethnic tensions strain to the breaking point, and Bosnia erupts into war. Thousands die and more than a million are displaced. By the time a tenuous peace is achieved in 1995, the country has been partitioned into three areas, with each region governed by one of the three ethnic groups.
• 1996 In the southern Yugoslavian province of Kosovo, the militant Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) begins attacking Serbian policeman.
• 1998 Milosevic sends troops to Kosovo to quash unrest in the province. A guerrilla war breaks out.
• 1999 After peace talks fail, NATO carries through on its threat to launch airstrikes on Serbian targets.
• 2000 A popular uprising begins. A general strike is called and one million people flood Belgrade. Mobs attack Parliament building, security forces join them or retreat. Milosevic support crumbles, he steps down. Kostunica takes office. U.S., European Union begin to lift economic sanctions
• 2001 Milosevic is arrested by Yugoslavian authorities and charged with corruption and abuse of power.

Let me guess I’ve gone mad now haven’t I? Once again just bare with me a little. Now lets briefly (very briefly) go over Russia. Again I’m looking at post WWII Russia for the same reasons mentioned earlier. Sources used here are Wikipedia and a great Yahoo answer I found which summed it up nicely.

Courtesy www.yvonnefoong.com

• Soviet Union emerged from World War II considerably stronger than it had been before the war. Despite huge losses to its Red Army it extended its control over most of Eastern Europe known as the ‘Iron Curtain’ which separated the ‘Free Peoples’ of Western Europe from the Communist East. (The curtain was made tangible by the ‘Berlin Wall’, which bisected that city after 1961.)
• Despite its power, life in the country continued to suffer. Industrial production was once again concentrated on heavy industry, agricultural failures produced widespread famine, political freedoms were restricted even further, and another huge wave of purges was carried out.
• The Russian leaders also killed an unprecedented number of political prisoners, mainly by shipping them to Siberia or the far north (the ‘gulags’), where they either worked themselves to death or froze.
• In 1989, Russian control of Eastern Europe collapsed, and the Berlin Wall was torn down.

Ok so hopefully you have stuck around to read what I have to say and why I bothered to write a brief history of these nations. What in the world its got to do with womens Tennis and business success?

No one can read through these histories lightly. Many of the incidents that occured are shocking and disturbing. Citizens were subject to the most terrifying conditions where their main goal was to survive until the next day. People who have been subjected to these times of war and hardship have witnessed things people like me, living in the comfort of Australia, don’t dare imagine. These are people of a different mindset and a completely different level of drive and determination. Their drive is one motivated by survival.

As we can see, eight out of the top 10 women tennis players in the world are from these regions. That’s 80%. These are people who’s family history is of an extremely overwhelming background. Their parents were most likely subject to unimaginable hardships and the drive to be successful is paramount. For many of these families, the mentality was that being successful, meant survival. Their drive to succeed was fueled by the prospect of a better life.

You often hear stories of these tennis players starting at an extremely young age, being sent off to Florida alone at the age of 12 in order to make it in professional Tennis. These stories are fueled with over zealous and demanding parents expecting nothing less that success from their children. Why? Because to them, after what they have endured, that success is a matter of survival. Sure, currently the situation in the nations at hand are not what they once were, but the survival mentality and the drive to succeed does not subside.

So to me its not surprising to see a burst of talented Russians, Serbians and Croatians making headlines in the world of professional tennis. The age they enter the sport is rather fitting if you look at what their family and most likely their parents endured.

What I’m trying to get at here is that we can look towards these players for inspiration. Inspiration when it comes to drive and motivation. For us, if we fail we pick ourselves up and try something new. Not all of us have this type of drive and our privileged and cushy lifestyles make it difficult to possess such a level of determination. This is not a bad thing as we take comfort for granted which should not be frowned upon, but understood. If we do fail, its actually not that bad as you can simply pick yourself up and move on or try again.

But I’m going finish this here. I’m not going to conclude my argument or my thoughts, I’ll let you do that. However I will pose this question: how different would your approach to life and success be if failure was truly not an option?