We have all see it, you follow someone and as soon as you do an auto generated direct message is sent to your inbox on Twitter from them. I personally don’t like canned auto direct messages but that’s my preference. You can debate if auto generated direct messages are good or bad and maybe they are a good thing if you are getting hundreds of new followers a day but I wanted to address another important part of direct messages.

I consider the first direct message sent to someone after they follow you the very most important message you can send, it’s almost like a first impression. These messages should not be focused on asking your new follower to do something (go to my blog, download my eBook, click on my affiliate link, etc), remember this person just followed you and you could leave a very bad taste in their mouth.

Your first message to your new follower should be about them and them only. You should thank them for following you and let them know you appreciate them. Ask not what your followers can do for you but what you can do for your followers! If you take the time to make a good introduction you will build a better relationship with that person.

We have plenty of time after we build a relationship with a person to send another direct message or @ reply tweet with a link to our blog, website, etc. After a relationship has been established and trust is built they will be more likely to click the link then, rather than having it shoved in their face the first time we make contact with them.

We must remember that the people following us are real people and they have real feelings and should be treated with respect. It has also been said if you help enough people get what they want then you will also get the things you want. I am a strong believer in paying things forward, how about you?

I was just thinking this morning about the economy and about how it’s affecting online business. I’ve heard mixed comments from clients and other business people; some say their business is good, some say it’s bad.

Here’s my take on it…

I saw a comparison on recessions and job loss yesterday on Time’s Blog (you can see it here) and my thoughts were kind of mixed. There are a lot of people out of work now and it affects all of us. In a sense a lot of online business people are unemployed very frequently.

Being in any type of sales I have always heard that you are unemployed every time you make a sale till you get your next one and this can hold true for online business as well. Would we not all be better off if we concentrate on creating residual income or even passive residual income so that even in crazy times we have a cushion?

I think back to a story I heard as a child, I think it was about an ant and a grasshopper, the ant was busy working and putting food away for the winter while the grasshopper was sitting around being lazy with no regard to the approaching winter. It came winter time and the ant had plenty to eat but the grasshopper was starving because he had put nothing away and now there was no food to be found because it was covered in snow and ice.

I’m looking at these economic times as summer rather than winter, now is the time even though it’s lean to plan and “put back” so that later we will have something and not starve financially.

Even doing smaller things for your online now can really help not only now but later down the road. Think about marketing, social media, blogging and just doing things to “tidy up”.

If business is slow for you then you should at least have time to evaluate what you have and even write some good articles for your blog, it will pay off for you later if not sooner.

Think about ways you can create residual income, what are you good at? What are you passionate about? You may have to think outside the box but that’s ok, it’s time we all get a little more creative, isn’t it?