So you have a twitter account, big deal.  You have a Facebook page, yippee.  You’ve been blogging, but are you earning any customers?  If not you probably forgot a major step when you were setting up your online presence.

Your presence is like a small town in the internet world.  You’ve constructed all of these places for people to visit but no one is traveling on to become a paying customer.  It’s probably because you haven’t paved the road for people to do so.

In order for your presence to be a lead converting, customer earning, revenue generating tool, there needs to be a clearly planned and constructed road for each visitor to take.  Do you have a road set up? Do you know how someone can go from being an internet visitor to a paying customer? Are the right people finding you to make this happen? Are you giving visitors the opportunity to accept an offer to become a customer?

Twitter is growing into a beastly network. Its developing millions of loyal users that want to protect the value it gives them. The first line of defense to their twitter world is to be picky about who they let into their feed. If you don’t meet their criteria, its an insta see-ya-later for you. The following things are on just about every real Twitter users list of criteria.

No profile picture and no bio.

Who are you and why would someone want to follow you? This is the first question someone asks when they find you on Twitter. If you fail to answer this basic initial questions, you’ll be dismissed. Not having a photo or bio shows you aren’t really serious about your twitter presence. If you aren’t serious enough to do that, you probably aren’t serious enough to contribute anything of value.

Only post links.

Give me a reason to trust your recomendation.  Why is it worth my time to follow your links?  Its way too spammy to just post links and expect people to care what you have to say.  If you want your message to be received by willing readers you need to establish their trust.  Offer links only because they’ll provide value to your followers.

No conversation

Everyone loves twitter because its so easy to connect with different people and engage in conversation.  If your feed is full of one way open-ended tweets or links with no “@’s” you aren’t talking anyone.  You can be sure if someones entire feed doesn’t have one “@” tweet they aren’t interested in conversation.  Conversation is what every twitter loyalist is after and if you aren’t down with that, you’ll get an ignore.

Auto Direct Message with a link

There is only one thing more spam like than only posting links, and its having an auto direct message sent to every new follower with a link to your website.  Twitter is not about shouting your message off a mountain top, its more like mingling at a cocktail party.  You’re looking for real conversation with real people that you can trust.  Sending that DM instantly may give your new follower the wrong impression about your motives on twitter.

Following 588 people with 18 followers and less than 5 tweets.

Its ok to follow people to develop a following of your own, but this is ridiculous.  Clearly this user is not trying to participate.  They’ve spent the time to follow a boat load of people and have put zero effort into becoming worthy.  They may be a worthwhile twitter user in the future, but at this point they’re going to get ignored.

Way Off Topic

Most people are getting picky about who they follow.  Your name, bio, picture and website will share enough to help potential followers determine if you fit into their topics of interest.  Make sure your tweets are in alignment with that initial impression.  Its ok to vear off and have random conversations but don’t be the golf guy that talks about hockey in every tweet.

The twitter culture is morphing rapidly.  As users get more and more attached to their beloved twitter, the etiquette is getting more and more cut throat.  Make sure you’re staying up with the times in the crazy internet world twitter has created.

You write a blog.  The people that read your blog read other blogs.  Blog readers have certain tendencies.  Use these 4 tips to appeal to those tendencies and get results.

Brevity

Keep it brief.  Keep it concise.  Get right to your point.  Web surfing blog readers are like a frenzied herd of ADD 4th graders.  They want a ton of information in as little time as possible.  So give it to them before they get another tweet or their attention launches from your blog toward one of the other 2,447 things that could distract them.

Magnetic Headlines

Your headline (aka title) is the single most important aspect of your blog post.  It determines whether someone reads your post or finds something more interesting.  Regardless of how great your content is, a terrible headline will get you ignored quicker than I can think of something witty.

Write How You Talk

You aren’t writing a text book, and your readers will puke if they think they’re reading one.  Pay attention to the way you talk and mirror that in your writing.  If this is tough for you at first, get a little weird and talk to yourself out loud.  Imagine someone is sitting next to you and explain to them what you want to communicate in your blog post.  Then write what you say!  You’ll start to think clearer, write how you talk and most importantly write better posts.  Besides, a killer blog post is way worth 22 seconds of weird solitary conversation.

Write Conversationally

When is the last time you had a good conversation with someone that didn’t ask you any questions? Probably never because that isn’t how good conversations go.  Good convo goes back and forth with a balanced mix of questions and comments.   Don’t be the blogger that talks AT the reader.  You, the blogger, want everyones participation so revolve your blog posts around it.  Ask questions, be a little controversial, share unique opinions and engage your reader…

…which reminds me, How’s it going?

There is a great divide among Pro’s in the golf business.

There is the MBA Pro clique thats in it as a business.  They want to do what a successful business does…make money.  Their decisions are based on what is best for the bottom line and a good year ends in the green.  They beat their projections because they make projections and they know what works because they track what they’re doing.

Then there is the Purist Pro clique thats in it for the art.  They love the game, they love to learn and they love to teach.  Their main focus is on the instruction, getting better at what they do and working with the players they enjoy.  When asked about their “business” they shrug it off assume all of that will take care of itself if they just focus on learning and getting better.

What’s It like to be an MBA Pro.

At the top of the MBA’s, you have guys that are making well over 6 figures a year, some are even tapping a mill.  They have developed elaborate businesses with multiple income streams.  Almost all of these guys are instructors with schools and academies in multiple places.  They may teach a few PGA Tour players but their biggest skill and success has come in business.  They’re constantly ridiculed by the Purists because they are charging way too much for knowledge and information that 1) Every Purist has and 2) “Isn’t worth that much.”  The MBA says “I’m great at what I do and its worth what people will pay for it.”

In the middle you have Head Golf Professionals at elite clubs and golf school owners looking to grow.  They have a long way to go till they reach their goals, but they are still bringing in a great income and most importantly…they are running successful businesses.  They are known in the professional world for their management and business savvy.

At the bottom you have just about every PGA Professional.  They see the guys at the top…at elite and exclusive clubs and they hope to get there some day.  Grinding it out in the pro shop or taking the first available Head Pro job is, in there mind, the next step in their travels to the top.  A lot of Pro’s don’t make it out of the bottom, but the ones that have what it takes, the business abilities, move up quickly.

What It’s like to be a Purist Pro.

The Purists at the top have all the knowledge in the world, they are on the cutting edge in both technology and instruction.  They can debate and dominate just about any discussion with their supreme knowledge.  They are known as the best golf instructor in their area, the word of mouth has grown student base rapidly…but they aren’t making much money because they aren’t making any business decisions.  They are great at what they do, and they can devour any top MBA on the lesson tee…but they’re making less than they should because they don’t tend to their business.  All of the purists are uncomfortable with what some MBA’s are getting for a lesson and they could never imagine asking someone to pay $500/hr with a straight face.

The middle of the Purists are pros that think they’re on the path of the MBA’s…they aren’t.  They think continuing to learn, learn, debate, discuss, learn, learn then teach will get them where the MBA’s are.  It will help…but it won’t get them there.  They’re mistaken with the path they are on…they’re going to underachieve like the Purists at the top, but  they just don’t know it yet.

At the bottom are the new golf instructors learning what they should, setting the foundation of their career and getting their feet wet with some lessons.  Most are terrible teachers at first, so $35 a lesson is fantastic…because they’re just learning anyways.  The hopes and dreams of being a well respected golf instructor motivates them.  Wether they want to be recongnized locally, regionally, nationally or internationally the drive and determination to be the best and know the most is the same.

Obviously These Two Cliques Are Worlds Apart

If you love golf, love to teach and love to learn there is no way you could learn anything from the MBA Pro’s.  Those Guys don’t know how to give a lesson thats worth the socks they wear to the gym.  And if you love to run a business, make money and be recognized for your business abilities, there is no way you could learn from a Purist.  Those guys don’t make any money, they don’t pay attention to their business and they’ll never enjoy my success.

I hope I’m not too optimistic here, but I think a third clique can come together.  One that loves golf, teaching and learning but isn’t scared to make business decisions and try to make money.  There is the possibility that you can maintain a Purist approach while truthfully, carefully and sincerely making business decisions that will benefit you and make you the money you deserve.

Is it possible that these two cliques could actually come together, learn something from one another and blow the lid off the success they’ve already had.  I don’t know, that may be asking a bit much…what do you think?

You need more students…No matter what skill level you want to teach or facility you want to build…you need more students.  More students will kick basic supply and demand into action, allowing you to get paid more for your time.  Before someone is a student, they are a lead, a prospect, a potential student.  And before they’re even a lead…they’re an interested golfer looking to improve their game.  Thats important…LOOKING, not just wanting.  Looking is much more actionary, a lot of people want a lot of things…looking means they’re a lot closer to becoming someones student.

Therefore if we connect the dots, The way to get new students is to captivate interested golfers LOOKING to improve.  This is how you use the internet to build your business.  Be the guy that golfers find when they’re looking to improve, then make them fall in love with you (in that totally unique golf-enthusiast way).  Once they’re in love, they’re your customer for life.

There isn’t anything more powerful than giving your market free information.  Understandably at first this seems counterintuitive.  You might think “I’m a golf instructor, my knowledge is my product, if I give it away for free…no one will want to pay me for it?” Actually the exact opposite will happen.  You will share your free information and people will start to see how much you know and think “holy crap I need this guys help!”  You obviously aren’t going to title your free info “This is Everything I Know, So Now You Don’t Need To Get a Lesson From Me.”  You will present your free information in a way that is useful to your market AND showcases your wealth of knowledge and information.

If you love golf and you love teaching you have a goal or multiple goals you’d like to accomplish in the golf instruction business.  In order to do that you need to develop your knowledge, learn as much as you possibly can and continuously improve the product (your mind) you offer.  All is great but to take everything to the next level and give yourself the greatest opportunity to do that you need to take control.  Don’t leave it up to chance, make the decision to do all you can to grow into the golf instructor you aspire to be.

That growth will not come with ONLY knowledge and development.  Of course that will play a major role, but an equally major role is played by your marketing efforts.  There are golf instructors making half as much as they should be…with no opportunities to grow… all because they are neglecting to embrace golf marketing.  Don’t get stuck in the “Whats Next?” vortex and take controlf of your future teaching business.

Things are changing quickly.  Just 10 years ago, if you wanted to get any kind of exposure you needed to be recognized by a golf publication like Golf Digest.  To do that you had to network, network, network, then impress the select few that assembled a top 100 list (just 2% of instructors).  As a member of the list you were asked to provide content for their magazine in exchange for some notoriety.  The lists still exist but they aren’t what they used to be.

The new generation of media has put a hurting on those magazines.  They claim its the economy, but personally I think it has everything to do with the Internet and new media.  Either way, the top 100 lists have been put together in lackluster ways that have nearly sent their relevance into extinction.  For one, not as many readers = not as many people care, and two, their credibility has been shot.  This past year Golf Magazine did not accept new candidates for its top 50 list because of man power limitations.  How is that the top of the top if they aren’t considering everyone?

You can overcome these changes by taking advantage of new media and getting ahead of the trend.  The select few that set pioneer this movement will be successful.  People no longer turn to Golf Digest like they used to.  If you establish your personal brand, provide great content and connect with a following you’ll dominate.  Whatever medium you’re most comfortable with, go ahead and kill it.  Your following will continue to grow and your golf instruction business will benefit.

Be authentic and care about people

And its not your tagline. Although  both of those may be a part of your brand, it’s really the tone and perception you’ve established for you and your service.  When someone meets you, they develop an impression of you and your personality.  That perception of you has become your brand.  In fact everyone already has a brand whether you’re conscious of it or not.  This makes it important to develop a deep awareness of who you are and what you enjoy.  It’s essential to your brands success.  Not only will revolving your brand around your true self clinch its authenticity, but you’ll enjoy the freedom from unneeded reigns of “brand control.”