Michael Dorausch will be speaking about “Twitter” at SearchFest 2010, which will take place on March 9th at the Governor Hotel in Portland, Oregon. Tickets are available now. To purchase, please click the following link.
1) Please give me your background and tell us what you do for a living.
I used to live in two separate worlds, but thanks in part to social media and local search, those worlds have collided. A Los Angeles Chiropractor by day, that owns and operates a popular chiropractic website (Planet Chiropractic) by night, learning the world of SEO and local search became essential to me. I’ve been attending SEO events since the late 1990s, and have been a practicing chiropractor (and webmaster) just about the same amount of time.
2) I’d love to hear about how you create a life balance between being a chiropractor and a cybergeek (two disciplines that seem almost mutually exclusive).
I don’t know how well I do in the balance department, it’s not easy, but I’m really passionate about both being a cybergeek and chiropractor. I limit myself to a 25 hour chiropractic office work week, which provides about an equal amount of time to focus towards Local Search, SEO, Social Media, and other geek activities. When I travel for conferences, the trips are typically short and organized so that I can still see clients before I leave, and after I return. If I’m gone for several days I have an additional chiropractor that covers my practice. I don’t work weekends so that time gets pretty much devoted to online activities.
3) How can a small business owner use Twitter to grow their business?
There is an easy way and a more difficult way small business owners can use Twitter to grow their business. The easy way is to get involved on twitter and get to know the people tweeting in your local community (if local business is what you’re seeking). Do all the right things (don’t be spamming DMs and auto responding to everyone and everybot that tweets in your area) and really get to know people behind the avatars, and you will likely attract some social media savvy evangelists for your business. The more difficult way is to take what you’re doing locally and expand your efforts globally. Be genuine and work to attract people that have a tendency to reciprocate. I have found that the SEO and Internet Marketing community has been spectacular in helping individuals and companies reach their goals. A personal example is when my business was featured in USA Today (https://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2008-05-20-online-reviews_N.htm). The backend story was that the connection happened on Twitter, thanks to friends I’ve made face to face in the search community, a big enough motivator for me to continue my attendance at conferences like SearchFest.
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.