Once again I’m combining my love of dance with a great cause!  And this year they’re adding a blues room!

My friends and I are dancing  to raise money and awareness for cancer research City of Hope .

So please support us be grabbing your dancing shoes and joining us on the dance floor or please donate to team “Blues Fish”

• Last year the event raised $125,000!
• This year the goal is $200,000!
• As of today the Dance-a-thon has raised $40,542.
• Our team goal is to raise $7,000.
• My personal goal is to raise $1,000.

I’m asking everyone out there to donate whatever they can.  $5, $10, $25 etc.  Hell, maybe the cost of a cup of coffee every week for a month, you do the math.  Whatever you choose, please, please, please get the word out there!  Post on FaceBook, bookmark and RT on Twitter!!  Let’s put the power of social marketing to work and see how much we can raise in the next few weeks.

I really appreciate your support and I promise to post photos!  Maybe even video

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This is for those who have left us and those they leave behind…Please donate.

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Title: 24 Hour Cancer Dance-A-Thon  /Team “Blues Fish”
Location: Irvine, CA
Description: Dance-a-thon for City of Hope “Lindy Hope for Life”.  Please contribute what you can.
Start Date: 3-13-2010
Start Time: 11:00 am
End Date: 3-14-2009
End Time: 12:00 pm

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Have you ever sat down to your computer in the morning, looked up and it’s already past lunchtime?  And you still haven’t gotten around to half the things you know you were supposed to do?

Where did the time go?

With work at home businesses, telecommuting and general internet based tasks on the rise we need to be more efficient, disciplined and organized to get in a full productive day.

Here are some tips on how to manage your day that have worked for me.

1. Create a Daily Writing Routine

This is the difficult part and may require you to flex that discipline muscle a little more than you’re used to, especially when you are just getting started with your blog. Writing 3x a day, once a day or even once a week can get challenging over a long period of time.

But once you’ve established a daily writing routine it gets much easier, I promise.  Like anything else you do repeatedly, you get used to it. You will continue to blog because you want to and because you like it, but you will also get in the habit of doing it and will write no matter what.

2. Use a To-Do List

And/or a schedule. When you have a daily to-do list or schedule you will be able to manage your time much better. You know what you need to do, when you need to do it and so on. For example, have you noticed that if you only have 15 minutes to get several tasks done, they are more likely to get done in those 15 minutes than if you give yourself the entire day?

Once complete, cross off each item on your list to give you a sense of accomplishment.  Schedule in breaks to stretch, rest your eyes, eat and reinvigorate yourself.

3. Prioritize

This falls under time management as well. For example, If you only have 30 minutes, you should skip working on one task that will take you an hour to complete and get rid of smaller task on your to-do list instead. The list itself, though, will be useful to make sure you spend your time as efficiently as possible.

Some tasks may be time sensetive. You may have to deliver or post in the morning or call someone at a certain time while they’re still at work.  Take the time to look over your list to see what tasks need to be done first.

4. Shut Down Distractions

Although we all social marketing and part of it is work or work related, we also can get easily distracted!!  (I have at least 3 twitter accounts, business and personal)

My advice to you is close down stuff like Twitter, Facebook, Skype, AIM etc. Or if you have work to do on them, do the prioritzed task written on your list (yes, the one we wrote up in # 2)

If you just can’t bring yourself to closing Skype or AIM, at least set your status to “Message if important only” or simply just “Busy.” You just need to be able to set a point where you need to be very productive .

5. Take Notes

Keep a notepad with you and write any ideas or tasks you may think during the day. DO NOT drop everything to do that task!  If you jump from task to task you’ll lose focus and efficiency.  Add it to your list and prioritize it as to how important it is.

Just remember you need to finish whatever you are working on before you jump to the next task.

6. Outsource Stuff When You Can

This is probably the best time-saver ever! Always get help from people who are qualified in areas of expertise that you are not. Create an efficient TEAM. Spend a little if you have to.  I guarantee that this will save you time and money in the long run.  Stick to what you are good at.

Do you have any great tips on how to be more efficient? Please let us know!

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Since we first posted this story last holiday season, the acapella group, Straight No Chaser has become an amazing success!  They have a new holiday album out this year, “Christmas Cheer” which you can buy off their new website http://www.sncmusic.com/ as well as find tour dates in your area in 2010!  Check them out on the cover of Cosmo!  And like any good business, they have a blog, a twitter, facebook and myspace account!

Here’s the article and videos we published last year.  ENJOY!

_____________________________________________________

December 24, 2008

YouTube has video greeting cards! So once I again I get sucked in for the rest of the night!  One of the videos features an acapella group, Straight No Chaser.  And I LOVE acapella!  Especially at Christmas.  So in the spirit of the holidays, here’s a story of how social marketing and web 2.0 technology made these 10 guys an overnight success….Oh yeah, helps that they’re pretty talented too.


Here’s their quirky version of the 12 Days of Christmas.  Happy Holidays!!

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Ever wonder how your website is doing?   How many of your pages are indexed by Google, Yahoo, Bing?  Maybe more importantly how many incoming links are going to your site and from where?  Are there technical issues you can clean up that could effect your page ranking?  Does your website content match your keywords?

Just subscribe to our site and fill out our SEO form wait 5-7 business days and we’ll do the rest!

Here’s what you get…

Review, Report and Recommendations…

SEO Report Includes :

• Domain Information
• Keyword Ranking: Based on your chosen keywords
• Competition: Your main online competitors based on your keywords
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• Page Optimization Performance: various SEO metrics of your web pages
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Recommendations:

• Personal walk-through explanation of report results
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Delivery: within 5-7  business days

(If you are already subscribed to our blog, please email me if you would like to have a FREE SEO Assessment)

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What do you think of when you hear the words Twitter, Facebook, and other online social media websites? Do your eyes glaze over?  Do you think, “That’s just for young kids!” If so, you’re missing out on valuable and FREE marketing platforms that exist to promote your business.  Did I mention that it was FREE?

There are over 251 Million internet users in North America alone, over  1.6 Billion Worldwide!  So if you’re not on social media, you risk losing all those potential customers to the smart business folks who are utilizing social media marketing.

Here are Seven Points as to why social media must be used no matter what you are promoting:

Point 1: You Can’t Beat “FREE!”

The current most popular social media platforms being used for business are FREE: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. These are all sites that build relationships with a targeted audience in mind. It’s definitely more cost-effective than spending money on online advertising techniques such as Pay-Per-Click or banner ads.

Point 2: It’s A Small World After All!

It’s a global market out there! Why not take advantage of that? On Twitter you have the opportunity at any time of day or night to see real-time “tweets” from people in Japan, England, the U.S., India and many other countries.

Say you have a book that would appeal to anyone in the world who reads in English, why limit yourself to just promoting in the U.S.? Thanks to Amazon, people outside the U.S. can buy your book even if it is only available in U.S. stores.

Point 3: Targeted Marketing for a Targeted Audience.

Socia l media allows you to join groups of like-minded people with similar interests and goals. You can join groups as varied as  Web 2.0 Marketers to Foodies to Sci-Fi Geeks. Join the groups that would most benefit from your product or service, build your own community. This can pay off in increased sales for you.

Point 4: Use Social Media to Let Out Your Inner Guru!

If I’ve learned anything in the 20 years I’ve been in sales, it’s that people won’t buy anything from you unless they trust you first!  You could be selling a car that successfully runs on air, but if your client doesn’t feel comfortable with you…good luck!  If you share your knowledge with others online via your social media marketing groups, you can establish yourself as an expert, someone confident and in the know.

You may receive invitations for article interviews, guest writership, BlogTalkRadio show interviews or podcasts. This can lead to more free marketing plus more free exposure for your expertise.

Point 5: Birds of a Feather…

Once you have begun building your followers, start your own community of people who are in your niche of choice.  Share information, sources, tips, etc.  Swap leads and referrals.  Share your knowledge within your community.  These people can be your loyal fans and help spread the word to their friends and followers.

Point 6: Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?

The face of business is rapidly shifting!! In the virtual world of social media marketing, our would be competitors in the off-line world are collaborating to provide products and services to their combined clients/customers.  Marketing is changing from competitive to collaborative.

And consumers are very responsive to these cross-promotions, affiliate programs, joint ventures – especially when another expert is introduced by a first expert they already know, like and trust.

You and your affiliate partner can each benefit from the other person’s clientele list, greatly expanding your customer base.

Point 7: Your Life in Real Time, Anytime in No Time at All!

Updating these sites to let your peeps know where you will be appearing, what you will be speaking about, what products you are endorsing, etc takes seconds!  There are even online applications that allow you to update several of your sites at one time or schedule your updates in advance!

So once you take that leap of faith into social media marketing and start building your own communities, you’ll find that it’s not as imposing or confusing as you had thought.  In fact it’s a great tool to promote your products and services! In the very near future we will look back at our pre-social media marketing days and wonder how we ever did without it!

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End Times

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“For free access to this article and more, you must be a registered member of NYTimes.com.”

With the newspapers competing with 24 hour news tv and up to the minute news blogs, the question “are newspapers heading towards extinction?” is widely discussed. This is just one example of how these companies are capturing readers’ emails in hopes of keeping them as loyal customers as well as finding new ones. If the papers employ these social marketing tactics, using Twitter, advertising on Facebook, collecting registered readers, do you think they will stay afloat? Or do you thing that they will eventually become obsolete?



As I’m sitting and writing this, my friend Gwynn (who works for KCET-Public TV and is working on her laptop as well) suggested these stories to reference the newspaper vs online news debate. Ha! Social Networking at work! Pass it on!



“Dying By a Thousand Papercuts” A journalist’s lament of the quiet death of the LA Newspaper Industry.

“Final Edition” A look at thriving small online news companies.

“Tomorrow’s Online News Today” A look at the fate of California news sources and some up and coming ones to keep an eye on.

Personally I’m torn. I have fond memories of lazy Sunday afternoons with the Sunday crossword puzzle, coffee and a bagel. Reading the comics or just getting ink on my fingertips after going through the whole paper. But an online version saves paper, printing and delivery costs. It’s easier to share articles and news with friends. And I can get instant news anytime of the day.

Please let me know what you think about the fate of newspapers!

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1. Subscribe2 – Notifies an email list when new entries are posted.  Auto responder that creates a drip campaign that keeps you in touch with your customers by giving them valueable information.
2. Share This – Let your visitors share a post/page with others. Supports e-mail and posting to social bookmarking sites.  This is the key to viral marketing!
3. Simple CAPTCHA - “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.”  A simple captcha system for comment system to prevent spam.
4. Next GEN Gallery/Slide Show – Lets your visitors view your image gallery in the form of a slide show.
5. Exclude Pages from Navigation - Provides a checkbox on the editing page which you can check to exclude pages from the primary navigation.
6. Google XML Sitemaps – This plugin will generate a sitemaps.org compatible sitemap of your WordPress blog which is supported by Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and YAHOO.
7. All in One SEO Pack- Out-of-the-box SEO for your Wordpress blog
8. FAQ-Tastic – Create and manage your FAQ’s
9. Wp-Contact form - An easily configured contact form
10. Forum - Allows your readers to create their own profile on your site and interact with one another through a forum venue

Wow!  So I could go on and on and even then by tomorrow someone will have created a new application that can be integrated into your site.  But not to slight anyone here’s some other tools put in your internet arsenal:

Tools that link you to Twitter, Digg and other social network sites.  Plugins that dispaly Recent Comments, Archives, Categories, Event Calendar and Polls.  Create Registration Forms, follow Google Analytics, employ a Shopping Cart, use Free Chat, allow Members Only on your site.

So many tools, so little time!  Hope this gets your creative juices flowing!  Keep thinking about all the fun ways you can entertain and inform your customers!  And If I didn’t mention any of your favorites (and I’m sure I have)…sorry in advance.  But feel free to add them to the list!

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In the many discussions I’ve had with various entrepreneurs, I have realized several things:

1) Almost everyone is by now aware that the face of internet marketing and the role of the business website is changing.  No longer is the static online brochure optimizing their chances of creating new business.  They find words like “tweeting“, “SEO“, “Web 2.0“, “viral and social marketing” creeping into their vocabulary.

2) Most have come to the realization that a force larger than themselves is calling them to “doing something about it”.   Yet they are daunted, even terrified by the overwhelming task that lies ahead.

3) Then there are those who outwardly, downright refuse to do dive into that nebulous world, but secretly know that they too will eventually succumb to Facebook, LinkedIn and God forbid…Twitter.

4) But what they are all beginning to realize to some degree or other is just how huge a shift this technology is creating.  I shift that will not only change the face of the markets they are in, but how they conduct business and even what that business can and will become!  Remember what it was like before mobile devices?  Bigger than that!


So where do we start? When I sit down with new clients I ask the following questions:

• Do you have a website?  Is it interactive?
  • Can you blog and routinely update your site?
  • Does it capture emails?
  • Does it have built-in autoresponders? (i.e. everytime you update your site, an email is automatically sent to notify your subscribers)
  • Can you easily embed video, audio, photography?
• What is your passion? Your message?
• What is your product or service?
• Can it be translated to digital content?

These days if you’re runnning a business, not to overstate the obvious, but you need a website, landing page, squeeze page, some sort of online presence that screams “I’m legitimate!”  And not just any ol’ website, it really needs to be professional looking and include the following content:

• Your Mission, Passion, Goals!
• Personal stamp, who you are, your personality.
• Free, Informative, Quality Content!
• Call to action, Call to action and Call to action!

Once we can pinpoint these things we can work our way backwards and begin to strategize how to approach the role and functionality of your website.  First, we think about content and the best vehicle for online delivery.

Now remember, it’s a whole new world online!  It’s the realm of YouTube and the instant news feed!  We have to start thinking outside  the box.  Ok, well what the heck does that actually MEAN??  One of my favorite things to do with my clients is to brainstorm about all the cool fun ways they can use Web 2.0 technology to promote themselves!

Singer/Songwriter: I remember discussing Web 2.0 with a woman who wanted to virally market her next music CD.  Her biggest arguement against blogging and updating her website was that she absolutely did not, under any circumstances have the TIME!  She didn’t want to write every day, every week or even every month.  She only wanted to write music and practice.  She hadn’t realized that if she simply recorded a video log (vlog) once or twice every week of herself practicing and post it on her site!  Not only would her fans eat it up, they would most likely want to share it with their friends as well!  She could use her site to get her fans reactions before the CD is produced.

Home Hospice: This couple has a regional business outside of Seattle and they wanted their site to become more interactive to bring more people to their business in that area.  Then the wife says she HATES writing and was just no good at it. But she LOVES talking to her clients and their families!  We started playing around with the idea of a vlog, recording the oral histories of their clients!  So many wonderful stories and rich history to share!  This also opens up possibilities from a regional to a worldwide arena!

Video is a powerful tool! Sharing videos is one of the fastest ways to market yourself to the greatest amount of people in the least amount of time!  Remember Susan Boyle from “Britain’s Got Talent”?  As of today, from April 11, 2009 she has over 64,559,968 views on YouTube!!  That still kinda blows my mind!

We need to think differently about our online content.  Whether it’s video, written blogs, photos, audio recordings etc, ask yourself…What do I do in my daily life that can easily be recorded and shared if posted it on my site?  What related events do I attend that I could report on?  What products or books do I use or read that my customers would appreciate a professional review?

In my next blog I will highlight some of my favorite WordPress interactive tools that you can use in your site to help promote your business!

Thanks for visiting!  Please let me know if you would like to hear more about any particular subject.  Otherwise feel free to subscribe to the site to stay updated on the latest posts.  Or for a free website consultation you can email me at jenn@webhead20.com.

Take care!

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