a lil vid to go with today's earlier post…

Thank you Jan @ Wildflower Cottages for working with me~!

a lil vid to go with today’s earlier post…

Thank you Jan @ Wildflower Cottages for working with me~!

It's Don't Be A DB Saturday…You Are On Twitter, Right?

Well, it’s actually Sunday…whatever…

Yeow…where to begin? Well, Twitter is super easy to take part in…but there is a big ol’ lump of a curve to get around before you see any useful feedback. And that’s what kills most who try to use it…they don’t have the patience to make it through to the other side.

I AM NOT going to write some big long thesis on how to Tweet…I’m going to make this short and sweet. Think of this as a kick-start. To the head. Plus there are a zillion posts like this out there…although I’m sure none as pithy.

These are the six areas I’m going to fly through:

Joining
Building a Profile
Following
Making Contact
Twitter Language
Lists

First, a perspective: Twitter is like the world’s biggest chat room. Lots of folks, all talking at once. Your job, should you choose to take it, is to filter all of that crap…to make it useful for YOU. Twitter is a bit masturbatory with a sprinkling of voyeurism.

So. Join. Pick a handle that is around 10 characters long. Make it personal, NOT your business name. As close to your real name as possible. Add Profile photo…use your FACE not a logo. Smile dammit. Only the sixteen year olds are allowed to look pensive. (DO NOT start arguing with me that you are only on Twitter to advertise ((evil word)) your business so you want to emphasize your biz name. Bullshit. You are here to Network/Socialize…if you think otherwise leave NOW…You have failed miserably. No biscuit for you.)

Profile. Trick out a sweet background for yourself…make it personal…YES, you may use your biz logo (!), give info…look around…see what others are doing. Make it represent who and what you are. Bio. Short and sweet…and original. Try to be clever. I know it hurts. But do it. Web Site. Yes, you may put your direct to biz link here. But if it’s to a freakin’ sales pitch site, I’m going to come over to your house and punch you in the face. And so will everyone else in the Twitter universe…count on it.

Making Friends/Following. Find someone you know and like (important detail) and follow ALL of their friends. Or most, anyway. Go to Twellow and register. Do a search for your interest or location or whatever. ADD ALL of those people. Go to TweetML, register and search for a list you like the looks of…ADD ALL of those people. There…that’s a great start. If I look at your profile and I see that you aren’t following anyone, you know what I’m going to do? NOT follow you. Because you are basically telling me that you don’t care what I have to say…you just want me to listen to you. Boring.

Contact. Now shut up and start listening. Toss out a little personal info…’Hi, this is my first tweet~!’…’Holy cow, Tweeting is cool~!’…do not, under penalty of law, start out of the gate throwing links to your restaurant/boutique/gynocologist…try to be a person, okay? And no food posts. That will get you the huge ‘A’ stamped on your forehead. A=amateur. When you see something go by that strikes you…respond. This is where Twitter language comes in. We’ll get to that in a minute. Let’s stick with how to contact for now. So you respond. Give an opinion. Give thanks. Share. Remember you’re new to the party…so try not to be the big loud drunk who walks in and starts vomiting personal information. Not pretty.

Twitter Language. There are protocols to responding and sharing on Twitter. This could be a whole blog post in itself…I don’t have time for that. Soooo – do me a favor, Google ‘How to ReTweet’ and read this: 4 Way To Deliver Value to Your Tweets . And if your little eyes begin spinning in your head…just ask me, I’ll help. Just don’t be a DB, okay?

Lists. I love lists. Seriously. Love them. But for now…until you build a larger following/follower base…don’t worry about it. Just gaze on them from afar…knowing that one day you’re totally going to hit that.

There are other things…many other things I could talk to you about. But I think this is a good start.

Here are some great tips from Twitter pros:

Wired Magazine
“If you want more people to follow you on Twitter, give your real name on your account profile. Not everyone knows you by your username.”
- Scott Beale

“Every single Twitter post you write should be able to get you laid, ruin a relationship, or bring a tear to a blind man’s eye. “
- Joshua Allen

“Don’t answer, ‘What are you doing?’ Be funny. Be brief, leave your lunch unpublished. Ditto your late plane, incomplete sentences.”
- Jason Kottke

“Twitter is a community. It’s not all about you. Engage your peers by asking them questions. You don’t have to actually read the answers.”
- Micki Krimmel

“Frequently linking to yourself from Twitter is a terrific way to highlight your skills as an unlovable marketing knob. Go easy on the spam.”
- Merlin Mann

“Don’t try to impress-just be yourself. But go a little beyond your comfort zone; share something you’re hesitant about sharing.”
- Evan Williams

OH and if you want a reference: I won the Mashable (you better know who they are~!) Twitter Tips contest last year. Yeah, I rock.

You can find me on Twitter here: @EurekaJanet

It’s Don’t Be A DB Saturday…You Are On Twitter, Right?

Well, it’s actually Sunday…whatever…

Yeow…where to begin? Well, Twitter is super easy to take part in…but there is a big ol’ lump of a curve to get around before you see any useful feedback. And that’s what kills most who try to use it…they don’t have the patience to make it through to the other side.

I AM NOT going to write some big long thesis on how to Tweet…I’m going to make this short and sweet. Think of this as a kick-start. To the head. Plus there are a zillion posts like this out there…although I’m sure none as pithy.

These are the six areas I’m going to fly through:

Joining
Building a Profile
Following
Making Contact
Twitter Language
Lists

First, a perspective: Twitter is like the world’s biggest chat room. Lots of folks, all talking at once. Your job, should you choose to take it, is to filter all of that crap…to make it useful for YOU. Twitter is a bit masturbatory with a sprinkling of voyeurism.

So. Join. Pick a handle that is around 10 characters long. Make it personal, NOT your business name. As close to your real name as possible. Add Profile photo…use your FACE not a logo. Smile dammit. Only the sixteen year olds are allowed to look pensive. (DO NOT start arguing with me that you are only on Twitter to advertise ((evil word)) your business so you want to emphasize your biz name. Bullshit. You are here to Network/Socialize…if you think otherwise leave NOW…You have failed miserably. No biscuit for you.)

Profile. Trick out a sweet background for yourself…make it personal…YES, you may use your biz logo (!), give info…look around…see what others are doing. Make it represent who and what you are. Bio. Short and sweet…and original. Try to be clever. I know it hurts. But do it. Web Site. Yes, you may put your direct to biz link here. But if it’s to a freakin’ sales pitch site, I’m going to come over to your house and punch you in the face. And so will everyone else in the Twitter universe…count on it.

Making Friends/Following. Find someone you know and like (important detail) and follow ALL of their friends. Or most, anyway. Go to Twellow and register. Do a search for your interest or location or whatever. ADD ALL of those people. Go to TweetML, register and search for a list you like the looks of…ADD ALL of those people. There…that’s a great start. If I look at your profile and I see that you aren’t following anyone, you know what I’m going to do? NOT follow you. Because you are basically telling me that you don’t care what I have to say…you just want me to listen to you. Boring.

Contact. Now shut up and start listening. Toss out a little personal info…’Hi, this is my first tweet~!’…’Holy cow, Tweeting is cool~!’…do not, under penalty of law, start out of the gate throwing links to your restaurant/boutique/gynocologist…try to be a person, okay? And no food posts. That will get you the huge ‘A’ stamped on your forehead. A=amateur. When you see something go by that strikes you…respond. This is where Twitter language comes in. We’ll get to that in a minute. Let’s stick with how to contact for now. So you respond. Give an opinion. Give thanks. Share. Remember you’re new to the party…so try not to be the big loud drunk who walks in and starts vomiting personal information. Not pretty.

Twitter Language. There are protocols to responding and sharing on Twitter. This could be a whole blog post in itself…I don’t have time for that. Soooo – do me a favor, Google ‘How to ReTweet’ and read this: 4 Way To Deliver Value to Your Tweets . And if your little eyes begin spinning in your head…just ask me, I’ll help. Just don’t be a DB, okay?

Lists. I love lists. Seriously. Love them. But for now…until you build a larger following/follower base…don’t worry about it. Just gaze on them from afar…knowing that one day you’re totally going to hit that.

There are other things…many other things I could talk to you about. But I think this is a good start.

Here are some great tips from Twitter pros:

Wired Magazine
“If you want more people to follow you on Twitter, give your real name on your account profile. Not everyone knows you by your username.”
- Scott Beale

“Every single Twitter post you write should be able to get you laid, ruin a relationship, or bring a tear to a blind man’s eye. “
- Joshua Allen

“Don’t answer, ‘What are you doing?’ Be funny. Be brief, leave your lunch unpublished. Ditto your late plane, incomplete sentences.”
- Jason Kottke

“Twitter is a community. It’s not all about you. Engage your peers by asking them questions. You don’t have to actually read the answers.”
- Micki Krimmel

“Frequently linking to yourself from Twitter is a terrific way to highlight your skills as an unlovable marketing knob. Go easy on the spam.”
- Merlin Mann

“Don’t try to impress-just be yourself. But go a little beyond your comfort zone; share something you’re hesitant about sharing.”
- Evan Williams

OH and if you want a reference: I won the Mashable (you better know who they are~!) Twitter Tips contest last year. Yeah, I rock.

You can find me on Twitter here: @EurekaJanet

How To Scrape With Integrity

In relation to a blog, Scraping is the act of taking someone’s blog post, highlighting it with personal commentary and adding it to your blog. In today’s world, scraping is very useful…and if done correctly can positively showcase both the Scrapee and the Scraper.

Face it, it’s not easy to constantly come up with new crap to write about. Especially if it’s related to a fast paced, quickly growing industry…like Social Media. So why would I make myself crazy trying to be the first kid on the block to broadcast the newest innovation…when crazy-smart John has already done it?

So, John writes great crap. And…I want to show you how super awesomely cool I am by posting his crap. Poof~! I add my sparkling wit and divine intelligence, see how cool I am?

Look at my last update. It was a Scrape of a piece from a great series being done by a guy named John (yep, I’m clever.) I’ve read/followed John Haydon’s stuff for some time now. I’ve never (I think) left a comment on his blog…but I’ve almost always given my head a shake after reading and declared, “Damn, he’s good.”

Because I was in desperate need of once again showing you how very clever I am, I did a little C&P with John’s latest, added my bits…and sent that puppy out.

Now, no way does my blog get as much traffic as John’s. But I do get a respectable amount…and my folks probably (guessing here) are not familiar with John. So I’ve benefited and he’s benefited. I have a lovely new blog post…and he gets lovely new readers.

See? No click through needed. No surprises. I’m not just giving you a mystery link and hoping that you’ll follow it. I’m showing you the goods…up front and personal.

Another plus? He and I connected. And that my friends is how you do the hokey- pokey.

One last note: make your Scrape a special event. Too many, too often will turn you into a big lazy drooling cretin. Seriously.

Hot Flash~!

It’s not too late~! For the last month John Haydon has led a wonderful series of techniques about applying social media tools to your business and marketing strategy.

He began this the first of January…so there are a few lessons to catch up on (but everything is accessible to save~!) Personally, I can’t think of a better way to spend a little time focusing on your plans for the future than kicking it with John. He is not a dry, crinkly browed, datatician. He is a man with passion, entertaining and brilliant. His specialties are Non-Profits and Blogs…but it is ALL relevant to business. Check it:

31 Day Challenge: Optimize Your Blog With Social Media

FROM John’s lips:

“You’ve read all the blog posts on how Twitter can help you grow your audience, or how to use Facebook to extend your blog’s community. And you’ve also come up with a few brilliant ideas of your own. But you don’t seem to ever have enough time to put these ideas into action. And the ideas you have put into action haven’t gotten you the results you hoped for.

The good news is that you’re not alone. I’ve been there, and I’ll be there again soon enough.

Together we can rock 31 days

A 31-day challenge for bloggers is nothing new. Grant Griffith did it with 31 Days To Kick Your Blog In The Butt and Darren Rowse did it with 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. But a good idea doesn’t have to be new to get results.

Kick your blog’s ass between January 1st and January 31st

The focus of “31 Day Challenge: Optimize Your Blog With Social Media” is this: How to use social media to increase your traffic, subscribers and fans. Some of what I’ll be writing about:

* Nurturing your blogs community
* How to optimize your most visited pages
* Using Facebook to promote your blog
* Using Twitter to promote your blog
* Getting your blog posts retweeted
* Using LinkedIn to promote your blog
* How to use automate without going to hell.
* Using other blog platforms, like Posterous and Tumblr

Get strategies from the blogging Mensa!

A few of my friends will be contributing to the series. Big time social media and blogging minds like Chris Garrett, Grant Griffiths, Michael Martine, Lewis Howes and Frank Barry.

You don’t have time to do it now?

When I saw Problogger’s 31-day challenge, the timing wasn’t right for me, but I wanted to at least save all 31 blog posts for when I did have time. So I subscribed via email to the challenge, and created a Gmail filter that put all 31 articles into a single folder. Since that time, I’ve implemented almost every single idea.”

Join “31 Day Challenge: Optimize Your Blog With Social Media”

* Who is John?

John Haydon advises non-profits and small businesses how to implement inbound marketing strategies with the social web.

He has been invited to speak about social media on Philanthopy.com, givezooks!, Techsoup.Org and NetworkforGood.com.

In his own words, he “helps business leaders get real results with the web by translating abstract marketing concepts and web 2.0 technologies into plain English.”

You can find John here:
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
FriendFeed

…it's Don't Be a DB Saturday…are you Blogging?

Dear Small Business Owner: Blog Much? You should. Blogging has been proven to be one of the Most important resources to a small business. It’s interactive, It’s entertaining and it’s FREE. Traditional web sites are losing viewers by the dozens (hundreds?) (thousands?) these days because the brave new world of on-line media demands Real Time information. The days of the ‘Brochure’ type site are dead. Very dead. Way dead.

My experience is that it was very difficult for me to ‘get started’. No Clue what to blog about. I struggled to be relevant…edgy…whatever. But found my groove by simply ‘doing’.

I blog about things that affect me personally. I blog about my stupid beasties. I blog about fun shit I find on-line. I blog about…ah, hell…I just blog.

I don’t write long technical narratives. I don’t hammer. I do let Janet show through. And Janet tends to hang out on the silly side of town…with the occasional visit to the Emotional Mall…and the Geeky Grocery.

Enough about that…this is my point: Get yourself a blog. Go to WordPress.com (free) or Blogger (free) or Typepad (free) and do it.

You’ll find a zillion and a half themes to choose from, or design your own. Help for getting started is EVERYWHERE. Heaps of folks who love sharing information and helping. (I heart them all~!)

Just to Prove that I’m not talking smack…here’s some crap to put in your brain because you’re just sitting around without any customers:

FREE themes:
Awesome Themes
I’m only listing the one…because you’ll get the idea…(I hope)…and like I said…a zillion exist. Google is your friend.

Fun little bit on writing skills: Boost Your Skills

My biz site. Not only do I list a buttload of blogs here, but also several RSS feeds and a link to my Delicious bookmarks. (WTF? Delicious Bookmarks?) Yes…you will find a list of EVERY bookmark I have saved (since my HD crashed a few months back): My Favo Crap

That’s it for now…please, It’s Don’t Be A DB Saturday…the only folks allowed to whine and moan about how this doesn’t work for them are those who have put in a massive effort, full of time and energy, and failed…them, maybe, they need to hire help.

And view this while you’re at it, it’s flipping awesome~!

…it’s Don’t Be a DB Saturday…are you Blogging?

Dear Small Business Owner: Blog Much? You should. Blogging has been proven to be one of the Most important resources to a small business. It’s interactive, It’s entertaining and it’s FREE. Traditional web sites are losing viewers by the dozens (hundreds?) (thousands?) these days because the brave new world of on-line media demands Real Time information. The days of the ‘Brochure’ type site are dead. Very dead. Way dead.

My experience is that it was very difficult for me to ‘get started’. No Clue what to blog about. I struggled to be relevant…edgy…whatever. But found my groove by simply ‘doing’.

I blog about things that affect me personally. I blog about my stupid beasties. I blog about fun shit I find on-line. I blog about…ah, hell…I just blog.

I don’t write long technical narratives. I don’t hammer. I do let Janet show through. And Janet tends to hang out on the silly side of town…with the occasional visit to the Emotional Mall…and the Geeky Grocery.

Enough about that…this is my point: Get yourself a blog. Go to WordPress.com (free) or Blogger (free) or Typepad (free) and do it.

You’ll find a zillion and a half themes to choose from, or design your own. Help for getting started is EVERYWHERE. Heaps of folks who love sharing information and helping. (I heart them all~!)

Just to Prove that I’m not talking smack…here’s some crap to put in your brain because you’re just sitting around without any customers:

FREE themes:
Awesome Themes
I’m only listing the one…because you’ll get the idea…(I hope)…and like I said…a zillion exist. Google is your friend.

Fun little bit on writing skills: Boost Your Skills

My biz site. Not only do I list a buttload of blogs here, but also several RSS feeds and a link to my Delicious bookmarks. (WTF? Delicious Bookmarks?) Yes…you will find a list of EVERY bookmark I have saved (since my HD crashed a few months back): My Favo Crap

That’s it for now…please, It’s Don’t Be A DB Saturday…the only folks allowed to whine and moan about how this doesn’t work for them are those who have put in a massive effort, full of time and energy, and failed…them, maybe, they need to hire help.

And view this while you’re at it, it’s flipping awesome~!

Mail Fail

I just received one of the saddest things in the mail that I have received in a very long time. The USPS just delivered a tri-fold brochure in an envelope, stamped at 44 cents.

What makes this sad?

First, it’s from a Non-profit.

Second, third, fourth, etc? How much did this cost? Slick four color tri-fold? Set-up cost? Lay-out cost? Man-power? Cost of envelope w/ preprinted logo? I’m guessing that I hold about $2.50 worth of garbage information in my hand. From a non-profit. Do you see the problem?

If not, let me help.

I would begin with the basics of physical waste, but I’ll just look at monetary waste.

Money for a non-profit comes from donors and grants. Charitable donors are the most likely of all who give to own a computer. Email. Google. You get it. These are FREE resources. So $2.50 of my donation is wasted on a mail-out. That does not please me. Nor does it incline me to make further donations to an organization that is uneducated concerning the myriad of free on-line resources with which to distribute information. If they are wasting my money this way…how else are they wasting it?

Actually, as I sit here thinking about it…I’m raising the estimated cost to at least $5.00 per. Why? Paper cost – making, shipping, distribution. Ink cost – making, shipping, distribution. Postal transport cost. Okay…make that $10.00. Wow. I could buy a book for that amount.

But the saddest thing of all? I love this organization. And they should know better.

Meet-Up January 2010

On January 12th, 2010, three of the largest social media/marketing/PR groups in Northwest Arkansas came together to share information and make new friends. These three groups are the Social Media Club of Northwest Arkansas, Network Community of Northwest Arkansas and The MACC Initiative.

During this event, money was raised for Breast Cancer and Diabetes awareness and research assistance.Meet-Up