NOTE: These recaps are a bit more for me than you. I’ll skip over stuff (more than usual in this one since it covered some personal areas), include asides that are more personal notes to me, etc. Your mileage may vary. More detailed/sanctioned recaps will be available at http://microconfrecap.com at some point.

Speaker: Mike Taber

Twitter Automation (How to Build an Audience)

  • Why bother? It helps expand your footprint and create personal discussions and customer development. Followers are less reigned in by corporate politics.
  • Followers > Prospects > Customers
  • Slow growth in @AuditShark follower growth until August 2013, when experiments started.
  • Doubled from Aug-Sept. Automated the process in November, then big spike (127.49%).
  • Not really correlation between number of tweets and follower count.
  • Neither are retweets
  • Nope, not mentions, either.
  • Easiest way to build an audience is to follow people. For every 100 people you follow, you’ll gain 10–15 followers.
  • Automated following, wait a week, if they don’t follow back, unfollow (likely to keep under Twitter following limits)
  • Tools: HootSuite, TweetAdder, Google Docs (collaboration with VA)
  • TweetAdder works because it’s not automated, you need to click a button to follow.
  • Create a repeatable process. 1. Identify who to follow, 2. Follow them, 3. Unfollow if no followback.
  • Personal note: I’m sure this works, but I don’t know that I’d feel comfortable with this approach. Different strokes for different folks.
  • Provide legitimate interactions for people. Make sure you’re proving value.
  • If executed correctly, three things: Thank followers, some will favorite that tweet or retweet it. Or will respond back.

Automate finances

  • Owns parts of three companies. Hates paying bills.
  • Stopped paying them.
  • Don’t do the things you don’t want to be doing.
  • I don’t want to pay these bills, but they need paid. So, document the execution to paying the bills so it can be handed off to an assistant or VA.
  • Review frequently so you can identify gaps.
  • Give authority: You need to give them the ability to do what you want them to do - including decisions. Goal is to extract yourself. For instance: Bookkeeper has signing authority. Mike can’t write checks himself, but goes through the bookkeeper.
  • Give guidance: Give general guidelines for the exceptional situations that will arise. Also give access to allow the documentation to be edited.
  • Give praise: They’re helping you out, Anyone executing these processes is doing you a favor. Thank them for it.
  • Financial system = bills go into a box. Said box is dropped off with bookkeeper once a week. This doesn’t need to be complicated.
  • This saves 4–6 hours per month.

Leveraging internal data for SEO

  • First spike from August-September: added AuditShark to prelaunch software lists (http://bit.ly/prelaunchdirectories)
  • Not a scalable mechanism for increasing website traffic
  • Continuing spike = much more content on the site. Big spike in indexed pages in Google Webmaster Tools.
  • Policy pages for operating systems.
  • Targeting long tail keywords
  • Make sure you’re providing relevant content
  • Process takes a while.
  • Crosslink policy pages
  • For long tail keyword traffic, url doesn’t matter as much since no one else is targeting it
  • Use Google Analytics to measure effectiveness of said content

Personal Development (increase productivity)

  • What if you only had 4 hours a week to get all your work done?
  • When you do that, you end up ignoring reddit and the like.
  • Work expands as to fill the time available for its completion.
  • Limiting the time you have to do something increases productivity … but this effect is limited.

Personal fulfillment

  • StrengthsFinder: http://bit.ly/strfinder
  • About finding what you want to do/have an aptitude for
  • You need to understand who you are what kind of things you like.
  • Pushing your boundaries into other areas - what’s the worst that can happen?
  • Become comfortable being uncomfortable.
  • Trying new things: Builds confidence, Satisfied the urge to grow, boost courage, stimulates brain activity, cure boredom, increases productivity

Personal Health

  • Sleep, Exercise, Eating Habits
  • When you focus on not all three of those, the problems bleed in-between them. Don’t sleep well? You’ll eat more, exercise less.
  • Stress: overlaps with the above.
  • Decreasing stress: Stop working evenings and weekends[1], schedule sleep/exercise, no late night snacking.
    • Give your brain/body what they need to function properly.
    • Reduces stress.
    • Correct hormone/chemical imbalances.
  • I didn’t expect a Back to Work episode to break out here.
  • Sometimes lifestyle adjustments don’t work
  • http://bit.ly/developerdepression

Q&A

  • Twitter doesn’t convert well, but it opens avenues for conversations. It is high touch and likely doesn’t scale well.
  • If you have a business in a low-complexity domain, how do you find topics? Look at GWT (or Hittail).
  • Aside: I enjoy that this is the sort of conference where the organizers are the mic runners for Q&A. Not surprised. Just enjoyable.
  • You can’t just always power through stress and such. Sometimes there are underlying hormonal or chemical issues.

  1. Of course, if you’re building a business on the side, this isn’t really an option. Ed.  ↩