Sharon Hayes - Sharon Hayes

Cheesy web page? You got it! I wanted to get something up that was quick & easy. At some point, I'll get it fixed up nice & pretty ;)

If you're here, it's likely you have come across me on Twitter. The page is designed to deal with some of the many q's I get from Twitter followers.

Where to Find Me:

If you add me on LinkedIn or Facebook, please include your Twitter username in the message so I know who you are on Twitter. Note: do not add me on either of these if we have not had direct contact.

Contacting Me

Please see my notes below about DMs.

I do not give free consultations on Twitter or business issues. The most common questions I receive are dealt with below. To retain my services for something not covered below, please contact my staff at support at ListCast.com with as much detail as possible.

Do not contact me about setting up a call to network or pick my brain. Engage with me on Twitter in the public stream and if appropriate, it will happen.

Media inquiries: please email my staff at support at ListCast.com with as much detail as possible. Depending on the nature of the request, it may get routed to my assistant or PR contact.

Qs & As - Twitter

A. I share inspirational quotes and links relating to technology, science, social media, business, marketing, health/fitness, domains, animals, things that make people smile & laugh, and things I find interesting. A little bit of current events thrown in. I don't actively go out of my way to find things to tweet - instead I try to share stuff I come across over the course of a day. I use Cotweet for managing tweets so that followers don't get inundated with a bunch of tweets at one time.

I also share music via Blip.fm from time to time. I used to do this on a regular basis throughout the day but it became more difficult as time went on.

I also do chat/engage with followers. I try to answer any tweets that come my way but often I get behind just because of the volume. Eventually I get to everything :) From time to time, I also throw out questions to try and get to know followers better - and for them to know me a bit more.

I don't get involved in debates/arguments. If you don't like the way I tweet, there's no need to DM or tweet me and complain. The nice thing about Twitter is that we always have a choice about who we engage with and who we follow. My tweeting style isn't for everyone. If you don't like it, simply unfollow.

A. The least expensive & most comprehensive training option is BrandedTweets.com. This is a group training program offered in collaboration with Joshua Denney and Josh "Shua" Peters. The core program consists of 12 modules that will walk you through the basics of using Twitter to the development of strategy and more advanced training. You'll also have access to a private forum to interact with other program participants. You'll also benefit from ongoing support and training through additional new material we add and new sessions we host each month. The program cost is affordable for any business or professional.

A. I host a weekly Mario Kart tweetup for my Twitter friends. You must have access to a Nintendo WII gaming system and the Mario Kart for WII to play. Mario Kart numbers are exchanged via GoogleWave. So far, these tweetups have been held Saturday evenings at 10 pm Eastern, 7 pm Pacific. Please DM me your GoogleWave email and I'll add you to the wave.

A. No, they appear just on Twitter. However, I favorite all of my tweets/quotes. You can see them by going here.

A. There are a few restrictions on following on Twitter: You can follow as many people as you want until you have 2000 followers. At that point, you can only follow 10% more people than are following you. There is also a limit of 1000 following actions per day. If you unfollow people on the same day, that can affect the number of people you can follow. Tip: don't get caught up in the numbers.

A. First of all, avoid bulk adding and the software tools that are out there. Yes, you can build your numbers fast, but numbers alone mean absolutely nothing. Twitter is a social media network which means you'll derive the most benefit if you actually take the time to interact with people. See my blog for tons of tips.

A. I have blog posts that tackle most of the common questions I have received regarding Twitter. Here is a breakdown:

A. Every few days, I get someone offering $$$ to tweet links. I do not - will not - do sponsored tweets under any circumstances. If you want to provide me with a sample of your product or service for review purposes, feel free to contact my team via email.

A. I get inundated with requests on a daily basis from people I have had no prior contact with to retweet/tweet something. Try forming a relationship with me via tweets before asking for anything first. Retweet my tweets first. Let me find your great stuff to share with my followers rather than throwing it at me. Do not DM when you have a new blog post. Do not send me request to tweet fundraising efforts, missing children reports, donors needed, etc. I get 10+ requests for these a day. It's not that I don't care, but I can't do everything. If it's interesting & relevant, I will find it on my own and tweet it when appropriate/I want. Do not DM me tweet/retweet requests period.

The types of things I share: blog posts from followers if they pertain to subjects I tweet on, humorous things, quotes that inspire or provoke, news related to tech/social media/science/current events/music.

A. Do I know you? What have you done for me? I often do make recommendations to my followers but it is for those people I have formed at least some kind of relationship with via Twitter. Send me an @ reply to say hi, jump in a conversation, retweet me... something. Let me see how you are providing value of some kind to Twitter users - a reason why I should recommend you. Even then, don't ask me to recommend you. I will do it when I feel it's warranted.

A. Read my blog. I do not do #followfriday's. Well, rarely anyway and only with a very good reason. I do try and thank people who recommend me, but those are not recommendations.

A. Some days I get flooded with DMs. I try to answer as many as I can, but it's not always practical to get through them all. Please don't DM me a second time if you didn't get a response the first time. The best thing to do to get my attention is to tweet me publicly. Please don't tweet me asking me to respond to your DM.

For anything that is Twitter-related and answered either on my blog or on this page, I will be starting to refer people to this page. I am here to network, get a break from work, enjoy myself - just like most other Twitter users. I am not Twitter support. Don't take this as being harsh but realize that as a highly active Twitter user who also runs a large business, I have to draw the line somewhere. If you tweet me a question you cannot find the answer to versus DM, you may be helping others at the same time.

Please do not DM regarding business matters. Contact my staff at support at ListCast.com.

Qs & As - Business

I've been working primarily online for 2 decades. Over the years, I have owned numerous companies - ranging from shareware mail-order, audiobook publishing, email marketing, database design/management/conversion, website design, Internet marketing. I have conducted several thousand hours of public speaking/training on subjects including motivation, self-empowerment, direct sales, email marketing and business strategy. I have created and sold many companies. I created my first email newsletter in 1997 which grew to over 65,000 subscribers within a few months. I wrote my first e-book in 1998. In April 2009, I sold my 10,000th domain name. I have created over a half a dozen membership sites that each grossed in excess of $100,000 per year.

Clients I have provided services to over the years have included HighRankings.com, SearchEngineGuide.com, ProgrammersHeaven.com, Tom Peters Company, York International (now Johnson Controls), Harvard Business School Alumni, Porsche, Tivoli, IBM, Minutemaid, AssociatePrograms.com, Ernst & Young, QuePasa.com, Gelco, I2, American Standard, Internet Business Forum, MarketWatch Licensing Division, Barna.org, LifeNews.com and several thousand others in some capacity or other.

Services provided to clients have included: business strategy, marketing strategy, contest promotion, email marketing campaign creation & design, email marketing strategy, Twitter training/strategy, online advertising campaigns, joint venture program design, viral campaigns, community development, copywriting (primarily email campaigns), survey design for usability, domain research & acquisition, project management in many aspects and probably several other things I was at least adequate at. :)

Although I have over 100 active websites online providing services, my primary ones are Listcast.com (email newsletter management), EmailListCleaning.com (cleaning undeliverables from email lists) and Domainate.com (domain name sales/brokering/acquistion/training).

I've been interviewed/mentioned on CNN, Business Start-ups (Entrepreneur Magazine), NY Times, The Financial Post, BankRate.com, CBC, and several dozen other media sources from radio to television to print and online media. In 1998, my first website created generated over 100,000 visitors within the first 48 hours and was featured as a Yahoo pick of the day.

A. Subjects I speak on: email marketing, domains, Twitter, business systematization, and Internet marketing strategy.

I am very selective about the teleconferences I will be a guest at since generally direct compensation is not offered. Please contact my support team with as much relevant information as possible.

I only do paid speaking engagements and prefer to stay with private events for companies/organizations rather than ones open to the public. My fees are based on duration, prep work involved and the number of attendees. Travel and related expenses are additional. Please contact my support team to schedule an appointment with me to discuss your needs.

A. I am no longer offering one on one coaching or consulting. If you are doing business online already and would like to make more money while working fewer hours, you may want to see my group coaching program. It's very affordable and results-oriented.

A. Through Domainate.com, we offer brokerage services for premium domain names. We require an exclusive written agreement for a 60 to 120 day time period (depending on the nature of the domain(s)). Our fee is 20% of the net selling price. To submit your domain names for consideration, please complete the form at Domainate.com. Include any relevant information - the domain names, traffic/revenue for each and any information you feel is pertinent. It is helpful if you can include price expectations.

A. We have a large selection of domains available through Domainate.com. Please complete the form at Domainate.com providing information about what you are looking for.

If there is a domain name you are interested in acquiring and would like us to handle negotiations on your behalf, we handle this for a flat-fee. Again, please complete the form at Domainate.com providing information.

Q. I'm interested in acquiring domains to generate targeted traffic to my site

A. We offer a flat-rate service where we will research domains that could potentially drive traffic to your site. We will research available-to-register domain names and also registered ones which we feel may be worth acquiring from a cost perspective. This service is $1,500 and has a 3 to 5 business day turnaround under normal circumstances. Complete the form at Domainate.com to enquire about this service.

Why this service is valuable - best demonstrated through example. We have a client we discovered was averaging $100 on PPC per month spending for a specific search term. Although the domain matching this keyword was taken, they were able to acquire it for $2,000. With a couple of hours of work creating a landing page on that domain name, they are now able to capture double the traffic they had been on PPC advertising on that term. Their expected payback period is less than 10 months.

A. On top of having an extensive portfolio of our own domain names, we also have a very limited service of available to register domain names with decent search volume. We provide you with a list of domains that are exclusively yours to research for 2 weeks. (Of course, others may register the domain names.) There is a nominal fee for each domain name on these reports. There is a minimum buy-in of $500. Please complete the form at Domainate.com to let us know if you are interested.

Q. I'm interested in getting started in domain investing. Do you have any pointers?

A. Domain investing is a very risky business. The market is also very splintered between how others in the industry decide to acquire domains versus end users. Before getting your first domain name, I suggest spending time at the two major domain forums: NamePros and DNForum. When doing so, realize that the majority of people active at these forums are not making money and most of those who are are making money are doing it by finding deals and selling to other domainers. Check out industry publications such as DNJournal and reputable blogs. If you have significant start-up capital, I'd recommend attending one of the industry conferences such as DomainFest or TRAFFIC before you get started.

Qs & As - Personal

A. I'm from Montreal, Canada. I've lived most of the last 10 years an hour from the city.

A. Read my tweets! Chocolate(Ghirardelli is the best), Sushi, Coffee, Music (all kinds - although I am not partial to rap, hiphop and country), Pellegrino, my 4 cats (Tony, Pina, Sasha and Frisky) and loads more :)

A. You mean there's something aside from Twitter? I love working out but don't do it as consistently as I should. Running, HIIT, CrossFit, weights and Zumba. For recreation, I've also gotten back into rollerskating. I love boating/being on the water. Not as hot being "in" water. I'm adventurous and have done crazy things like spent most of a year in England, took a few month road trip driving from Montreal to San Diego, have gone skydiving... would love to one day have a sailboat/yacht but location is an issue for that. I want to learn how to play golf. I have a pool table, but need to remind myself I enjoy it and play more often. I have a fully equipped home gym. I love to travel and have done so extensively but there are still many places I want to visit :) I'm also fiercely competitive when it comes to games. I'm a Nintendo chick & have had every console except DS. Love racing games.

I read a good deal - both fiction and non-fiction. I tend to read a bunch of books by a single author at one time or on a specific subject rather than jumping on what is new. I don't read books about Internet business. I kick off every year reading Sun Tzu's Art of War. Each time I read it, I learn new things. The Little Prince is my favorite book of all time. I am open-minded when it comes to fiction but cheesy romance novels have never been my thing. I'm currently reading Ayn Rand's Anthem. I have a library with several thousand books. In 2009, I've only bought a handful of physical books - I've been going digital with my iPod Touch.

Music - some of my current/old favorites: Depeche Mode, The Cure, Muse, U2, Matchbox Twenty, Portishead, White Stripes, Gorillaz and loads more. It depends on what I am in the mood for. You can get an idea of the diversity of my tastes by checking my Blip.fm blips.

Movies - some of my favorites: Fight Club, Memento, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, The Killing Fields, Mambo Italiano, The Wedding Singer, The 24th Day, Saving Face, The Notebook, Crank, 12 Angry Men, Being John Malcovich, Edmond, Hard Candy, The Princess Bride, Hostage, Saw I&III, Shrek 2.

TV - True Blood, Californication, Entourage, Fringe, Scrubs (when I remember), House, Hung, DEXTER!!!!, Gossip Girl (yes, really!), Melrose Place. Older stuff: Arrested Development, Dream On, Queer as Folk, Meadowlands, Seinfeld til the envelope scene, My So Called Life, Get Real, The L Word.

I believe that we are not the owners of planet Earth. We do not have the right to do what we want. We should treating the environment, other living beings and, of course, other people with respect. I love animals and am against animal cruelty. I am not a vegan although I wish I was.

I believe in justice and doing the right thing even though doing the right thing is not always easy.

I believe not in simply tolerance but acceptance of those who are different from us in some way.

I believe that a lack of tolerance for others and their opinions/beliefs is the greatest divider.

I was raised Roman Catholic but consider myself to be a Humanist first and foremost.

Welcome!

Where to Find Me:

Contacting Me

Qs & As - Twitter

Qs & As - Business

Qs & As - Personal

The answer to anything not covered above is 42.