7 Sure Fire Ways to get More Twitter Followers

I have been on Twitter for over 7 yars and at the height of my involvement I had 124k followers. I now have a touch more than 99k... and the stats say I am lsoing 4 followers a day. So, I thought I should stop the rot, and find out the best way, short of going to fiverr.com and buying them, how I could change the numbers to a positive gain per day.

Here are the 7 best ways to naturally grow your following.

1. Reply to others publicly. [ Idea from Michael Hyatt @MichaelHyatt } Rather than reply via DM, reply publically which allows others to join in and follow the conversation. This means to start with ".." or a word before the reply and all can see the conversation. Others who find the subject of interest will be tempted to follow and join on in. Michael says he nearly always replies  in public. This way both your followers and the other persons followers can see the conversation.

2. Many people use something called an "@message" to top Twitter users. Here's how it works. If you and your friend both have Twitter accounts and you both follow each other, you can send direct messages to each other that aren't for public consumption. But you can also send "@messages" to anyone you want, whether you follow them or not, or they follow you or not. Got that? Here's where it gets good -- an "@message" is posted on your profile page for all to see. So if you wanted to send an "@message" to top Twitter user actor Ashton Kutcher, anybody visiting your profile would see it. Good luck getting Mr. Kutcher to send a tweet back to you, but that's not the point. But if he does feel the urge to re-tweet your message -- or broadcast it to all his followers -- 17.3 million people will see it (as of December 26, 2015) [ How Stuff Works ]

3. Tweet often—but leave space for engagement.  Watch who retweets your updates—and which updates they’re sharing—to get a sense of your strongest advocates. And be sure to engage with those who share your updates and those who respond to you. Thank them, answer their questions, and ask them why they likes that tweet or this post. [ Prologger ]

4. Retweet relevant content so as to capitalize on ongoing conversations.You do this by retweeting relevant content. I use TweetDeck to identify thought-leaders in my areas of interest, and retweet meaningful content they’re sharing. Their voice is amplified, and yours legitimized. Your brand stands to benefit from associating with reputable commentators, and often you get reciprocal sharing. [ TNW News ]

5. Twitter true engagement can be effectively stimulated by asking questions. This will create interaction as your followers try to respond to your questions. You should treat your twitter home feed like a chat room. People like Tim Ferriss, James Altucher and Yoko Ono regularly have sessions where they ask questions or do a Q & A session.Twitter group chats are an excellent way of connecting with people and building more meaningful and deeper connections.  [ Twitter Tools Book ]

6. Ask Your Followers to Retweet You - research shows that a ppolite ask gets more RT's and the more RT's you get, the more followers come on board. Saying please has been proven to get better results.  If every retweet usually leads to a few new followers, depending on how many followers the person who retweets you has. [ I asks for RT's about every 5 ot 6 tweets ]

7. Use a service like Triberr. This system auromatically allows your blog posts to be promoted by tweets to fello Triberr members. My blog posts are seen by 10 million [ or have the possibility of being seen by 10 million ] and each post attarcts new followers.

So there you go - 7 ways to get more twitter followers. Be sure to follow me on twitter I am @WayneMansfield

In the spirit of welcoming people

MAYOR REFUSES TO REMOVE PORK FROM SCHOOL CANTEEN MENU... EXPLAINS WHY

Muslim parents demanded the abolition of pork in all the school canteens of a Montreal suburb.

The mayor of the Montreal suburb of Dorval, has refused, and the town clerk sent a note to all parents to explain why...

“Muslims must understand that they have to adapt to Canada and Quebec, its customs, its traditions, its way of life, because that's where they chose to immigrate."

“They must understand that they have to integrate and learn to live in Quebec."

“They must understand that it is for them to change their lifestyle, not
the Canadians who so generously welcomed them."

“They must understand that Canadians are neither racist nor xenophobic, they accepted many immigrants before Muslims (whereas the reverse is not true, in that Muslim states do not accept non-Muslim immigrants)."

“That no more than other nations, Canadians are not willing to give up
their identity, their culture."

“And if Canada is a land of welcome, it's not the Mayor of Dorval who
welcomes foreigners, but the Canadian-Quebecois people as a whole."

“Finally, they must understand that in Canada (Quebec) with its
Judeo-Christian roots, Christmas trees, churches and religious festivals, religion must remain in the private domain."

The municipality of Dorval was right to refuse any concessions to Islam and Sharia.

“For Muslims who disagree with secularism and do not feel comfortable in Canada, there are 57 beautiful Muslim countries in the world, most of them under-populated and ready to receive them with open halal arms in accordance with Sharia."

“If you left your country for Canada, and not for other Muslim countries, it is because you have considered that life is better in Canada than elsewhere."

“Ask yourself the question, just once, “Why is it better here in Canada
than where you come from?”

“A canteen with pork is part of the answer.”

Replace Canada with Australia

Wisdom from wine

I just love this quote from Benjamin Franklin

“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.”

I am taking a break from working at my emailing project and enjoying a glass of killed chardonnay.. hopefully from Margaret River but it tastes great and will surely wash down my fish and chips.

What is your favourite wine?

Wayne's Law Number 1. Always break for lunch and have a glass of wine

Not to decide is to decide

Not to decide is to decide

is often credited to Harvey Cox

I found this explanation today:
Many times we have a decision to be make that we don’t want to make. It’s a difficult decision because someone might get their feelings hurt, you might get hurt, it will cost you money, it will cost you time or you’ll have to step out of your comfort zone.  No one wants to feel uncomfortable. Ugh! I know I don’t. So, what do we do? We put off making the decision or we say, “I’m just not going to do anything and see what happens.” And, just so you know, that is not not making a decision, that is actually a decision.  But we say we won’t decide so we can release ourselves from the outcome in the event things don’t go favorably.

Sometimes, you really can’t decide what to do. Your brain freezes and there are just too many options and you haven’t the slightest idea of which road you should take. Just realize that you always have a choice and if you decide to let the pieces lay where they may, that is your decision. So, the next time you have a tough decision to make, ask yourself if by not doing anything are you going to be happy with the result.

7 Secrets of the the Top 1% of the Billionaires on Forbes.

Apparently becoming a Billionaire is easier if you live in an emerging economy - read India, Russia, China, Mexico... so says author Sam Wilkin in his great expose book "Wealth Secrets of the 1%"

He goes back to ancient times of Greeks and Romans, through to Silicon Valley mega rich like Gates and Zuckerberg and identifies at least 7 Secrets that helped these titans of wealth get the way.

The book is sometimes hard going but worth the effort if you want to get seriously rich or succeed in business. I wish I had read it 40 years ago when I was starting out... instead I read Napoleon Hill's classic Think and Grow Rich on November 11th, 1975. That lead me to a life of positive thinking and masterminds... and I did reasonably well but not on a scale of the "1%'ers"

So I have taken notes and here are Wilkin's 7 Secrets... [ he identifies more Secrets but these 7 recur most in his research.

1. Don't be the best - be the ONLY


2. BIGGER is still BETTER

3. The Worst Place to do business is REALLY the BEst

4. When Lenders can't lose, YOU WIN

5. You have GOT TO OWN IT, Baby, OWN IT!

6. Spin Laws into GOLD

7. To Succeed, NETWORK< NETWORK, NETWORK

Starwars....

What is all the fuss about??

I didn't see the first one until 10 years after its release and was underwhelmed. Already two of our family have been but I am not yet inspired to want to go.

Please check back in 2025.

Live like today is your last day!

Last Saturday someone I know, lets call him Jack, died, aged 68, of cancer, that was first diagnosed 30 years previously with the profound words of the Doctor, "you maybe have three months to live."

In my home town Jack become well known because he held cancer at bay for 30 years, being the human guinea pig for bone marrow transplants, plus any hair brained scheme to defeat cancer. I remember seeing articles where he was featured as a glowing testimonial to the possibilities of modern science in the war against cancer.

When I was much younger, 68 was OLD... so I think he lived a long and fruitful life. But now when 80 is the new 60, the common sentiment among his tribe is that he died too young.

I have a much different view of this man. All those years ago we went on family holidays as a group, my family and maybe another 5 families... a huge tribe. And when I was looking for a holiday where everything was sedate, Jack and the other men in the group, lived as if it were their last days.

I remember being so scared during a hell raising trip in a four wheel drive vehicle through bush at break neck speed, and seeing another vehicle coming in the opposite direction at a similar speed, that I was sure my days were over.

Also I remember going fishing at night, catching a huge fish moments into the trip but waiting another 8 hours to catch another. The result was being stranded until midday, because the tide went out and the boat was miles up a coastal river that was too shallow to allow the boat to float back to the mouth of the river.

Apart from  myself, everyone though these moments were part of an amazing adventure lead by Jack, their spiritual leader who was living as if it were his last day on earth, after all, he had terminal cancer.

My choice was that this need to experience near death on a regular basis wasn't my ideal way of how to spend holidays, and I stopped going on this annual pilgrimage of hedonistic pleasure.

Observing from afar, Jack indulged his fantasies with a bright yellow Ferrari, skiing holidays in Japan, trips to F1 with his followers and I am sure other hell rising adventures because he had been dealt his "I am out of here" card by the doctor.

All of this came flooding back when I was reading the memorial notices in the local paper and one included the line: "I will always remember our holidays... they were just amazing."

And reflecting on how I now feel, I was brave enough to say to my wife, "I never liked him" and now I realise that life should be lived as if it will go on forever, and every moment deserves to be savoured not remembered in terror. I am looking forward to the next 20 years with eyes open in expectation of being amazed.

Request: Permission to marry

I young man asked his father for advice about getting married and his father said:

The post important things is to say you are "sorry."

The young man was  confused and asked his father: "Why Dad?"

His father said: "Son, just say sorry...." to which the young man said "Why?"

Growing frustrated that the boy wasn't listening to his advice, the father said: " son, just say you are sorry!" Feeling he wasn't progressing towards the advice he required, the son gave in and say "Sorry!" and his elated father said... "You are ready for marriage my boy.... just say Sorry whenever anything is mentioned and you will lead a long and happy life with the wife."

Real advice:

Automatic apologies, however abject, are usually intended to deflect the other person's anger: they have little to do with genuine assumption of responsibility or sincere regret. They are made to "keep the peace".