Archive for the ‘Websites’ Category
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 |
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Photo by chbradshaw
When I was a kid I would walk 6 miles to school in snow that was up to
here (points to his shoulders).
I remember as a young girl my Grandfather telling me stories like this. And,
when he would say this to me I would be thinking, "Thank G-d I wasn’t born
in the "old days"…. I would have had to walk to school for miles
and miles in snow up passed my head!!"
But, you know what? I think we were all born "in the old days".
I believe we all rolled our eyes at our Grandparent’s stories and we were all
pleased that we weren’t born in the "old days" and that our lives
were easier than our elders…. and, yet in time we all will become elders.
It was just yesterday I was talking with my 11 year old about writing a report.
My son was explaining to me what is involved in the 6th grade when you have
to do research for writing a report. And, I heard myself say,
"When I was in the Junior High (yes, it’s true…. they didn’t call
it Middle School back then) and I was learning how to research and write reports
we didn’t have the internet to do our research. We had to do our research
in a Library. We used a Card Catalog to determine where to find information
regarding what we were doing a report on. The Card Catalog told us what Encyclopedia,
Book, Magazine, Newspaper or Microfiche to find it in. Research took much
longer than the report itself. All my research was written out on index cards,
which was then hand written out on paper, spell checked with a dictionary
and typed out with a typewriter. The typewritten report was then double checked
and all typographical errors cleaned up with white-out and manually fixed."
My son just rolled his eyes at me. It was just at that moment it occurred to
me that I am one of them!! I am a Story Teller from
the "Olden Days".
Just like everything else from then to now…. Education has changed. The World
Wide Web changed education in the 90’s. And, Web 2.0 and Social Media has
Changed Education with the new Millennium. We now have what I’d like to call
Education 2.0.
How Web 2.0 has changed Education
Education
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Education 2.0
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- Homework - The teacher wrote homework assignments
on the board. The student would copy the homework assignments into her
daily journal to remember when she got home.
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- Homework 2.0- The teacher still writes homework assignments
on the board.
- Student uses his Cell phone to text the homework assignment to
himself to remind him later.
- Student pulls up his homework assignments on the school website
when he gets home.
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- Parents - Parents check homework. Because it has
been a long time since the parent has learned these materials herself
she reads the chapter in the textbook or goes over the child’s subject
notes.
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- Studying -
- Students used their notes, text books and Study guides to study
for an upcoming test.
- Rewrite notes to help absorb the information.
- Fellow Students pass their notebooks around with classmates to
make sure they all have the correct notes.
- Study Groups.
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- Studying 2.0 - Teachers still provide Study Guides
and textbooks to study. However, students don’t have to share notes
taken in class on notebook paper.
- Student rewrites notes to help absorb the information. But, rewrites
their notes online using a social platform, so that classmates can
share the notes…see mynoteIT
- Students chat via Instant Message to study.
- Study via school chat rooms
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- Reports -
- Go to the Library to do research.
- Card Catalog to find out where they can locate the facts and information.
- Encyclopedias, Books, Magazines, Newspapers and Microfiche.
- Make notes on Index Cards.
- Hand write report and spell check using a Dictionary.
- Type report using a Typewriter or Word Processor (90’s).
- Putting together a report from research to end takes a very long
time…. students would know a month or more in advance.
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- Report 2.0 -
- Students can do their research at home.
- Students have access to a world of information at the fingertips
via the Web.
- Podcasts, Wikis, Blogs, Vlogs, Picture and Video Sharing.
- Students have tons of software to choose from to put together
their reports…. all software has spell check to easily check the
student’s spelling without the need for a dictionary.
- Putting together a report from research to end takes a fraction
of the time as it once did.
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- Oral Reports / Public Speaking -
- Research would be the same as above (look at Reports)
- Visuals that you would want to use for your oral report would
probably be hand made using poster board, markers, glue, and anything
else a student would need to make a point using visual stimulation.
Visuals would be time using imagination and materials.
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- Oral Reports 2.0 / Public Speaking 2.0 -
- Research would be the same as above (look at Report 2.0).
- Students could get their visuals using social Media and Web 2.0
as well.
- Flickr
- Google Image Search
- Students can enter exactly what kind of visual they are trying
to put together into search to find how to make it. For example,
if you are doing an oral report on the Solar System you might enter
"how
to make the solar system" into search. Here you will find
plenty of choices of projects on how to build a solar system perfect
to use as a visual for your oral report.
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- Tutoring - If the Student’s parents felt that she
was falling behind on her studies a parent would call the teacher or
Guidance Counselor so they could locate a Tutor to help study with the
Student at School or at home.
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- Tutoring 2.0 - Tutoring no longer has to be done
at school at all. It can completely be done at home in several manners.
Tutoring 2.0 can be done via:
- Instant Message with the Tutor
- School Website during a tutoring chat one on one with tutor or
tutor with an entire Study Group.
- Online with one of the many online
tutoring groups.
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- Cheating - Unfortunately, cheating was there then
and remains in education now.
- Write answers to Quiz / Test questions on hands, jeans or soles
of shoes.
- Get a copy of the Quiz / Test.
- Pass homework around to others to see.
- Get Cliff notes of a book (instead of reading the book) to study
for a test or to do a Report.
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- Cheating 2.0 - Cheating remains, but it goes to a
whole new level of cheating.
- Text Message answers to friends
- Pre-written reports and essays found online.
- Using music players to record information
- uploading information to memory sticks.
- Emailing homework assignments to fellow classmates.
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*I do not agree with cheating. It is listed here because whether we like it
or not…. some student’s cheat. I’m simply showing how cheating has changed with
the addition of Web 2.0.
My child rolls his eyes at me as I use to roll my eyes at my parents and grandparents.
I’m sure my children will experience the same thing with their children as well.
Technology has changed so much in the 30 some years I have been around…..
how much do you think it will change in the next 30?
Technorati Tags:web 2.0, social media, education, parenting, family, kids, children
Posted in Blogging, Social Media, Social Networking, Vlogging, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Basics, Websites | 21 Comments »
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 |
Photo by KoAn
I wrote a post on Collective-Thoughts yesterday, "What
if Social Media were a Disorder?" And, even though it was meant to
be a humorous post playing on the fact that many, myself included, are obsessed
with Social Media. I got to thinking that maybe for some it actually might be
thought of as a disease that they are afraid to catch. It was not that
long ago that I felt that Social Media was “The Leper”.
I remember a couple of years ago before I had accepted Social Media I was a
stubborn Webmaster. I enjoyed my silent World. I enjoyed having total control
over my Websites….. control over my business. I felt that keeping out other
opinions would be the best thing for me. After all, nothing good could come
from opening up the doors to communication between the world and me. I am a
control freak when it comes to my business. I think that I have been successful
in part because of my need for control. But, what I didn’t realize was that
much of my fear of Social Media was keeping me from more success.
There were two Big things I hated….. two things standing in the way between
me and Social Media.
- Change - I hate change. Adding a Blog to my websites meant
a lot of change. Change is very frightening for me because it
makes me feel a loss of Control…. which brings me to my next big problem
with accepting Social Media.
- Loss of Control - I am a total control feak. I felt that
adding conversations to my business was going to ruin everything I worked
so hard to achieve. I had a huge fear of negative feedback from customers,
negative comments from competitors and spam.
There were other fears (as
Rachel of BehindTheBuzz points out in her post), but these two were the
biggies for me. And, these two fears were not only holding me back from Social
Media, but from bigger success. I never imagined all I was missing until I took a good look
back on how far I’ve come since I entered its world. But, once I added a blog
to my Preschool Curriculum
eCommerce site (my 1st taste of social media) good things began to happen. Good
things like:
- Increased traffic
- Increase in incoming Links
- Moving up the Serps
- Branding of my Business name & Products
- Wonderful Conversations with People in my Niche.
- Increase in Friendships
- I enjoy what I do so much more
As a Webmaster I felt that as long as I didn’t allow Social Media in to my
Business then I could keep all other opinions (other than my own) out of my
business. But, the fact is that whether I liked it or not my readers, customers
and potential customers would be talking online about my products. These people
would be discussing my products online in Message Boards, Social Networks, Blogs,
etc…. whether I was participating or not. At least if I participated I could
respond to their comments whether good or bad. And, if I received Spam as comments
I would have a chance to monitor the comments before they went live. So, at least I felt that
ultimately I was still in control. And, this sense of control put me at ease.
I am not that great at taking constructive criticism, so the thought of negative
comments on the Preschool Products that I designed and created myself makes
me a bit nauseated. But, I’m dealing with it…. quite well actually. All comments
on my eCommerce site have of all been pretty positive and proactive. I have
actually enjoyed the interaction with my customers. I had forgotten how much
I had missed social interaction. I think that communication between myself and
customers have made my company more approachable and human. And, when the time
comes that I have to deal with a truly negative comment in the public eye I
will respond the best way I know how…. with honesty and sincerity.
Technorati Tags:social media, social media marketing, blogging, social networking, web 2.0, websites, webmasters
Posted in Blogging, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Websites | 9 Comments »
Sunday, January 6th, 2008 |
This past Friday Darren Rowse of ProBlogger
wrote a post, Using
StumbleUpon to Get on the Radar of Other Bloggers . In this post Darren
wrote how he had taken notice of me and my work due to my stumbling his posts
a few times. He mentioned in this post that he recognized me as a person who
had stumbled his work more than once and he landed up taking a closer look at
my StumbleUpon profile where he noticed my many sites and even subscribed to
this Blog’s feed.
Darren Rowse mentioning me on his blog has got to be a definite high point
in my Blogging career so far. However, after taking 24 hours to sit back and
just think about how wonderful it was to be mentioned by Darren on ProBlogger…..
something occurred to me. What if my StumbleUpon profile was different? What
if I hadn’t taken the time to add clickable links on my Profile? If I hadn’t
taken the time to make my StumbleUpon profile stand out would this amazing high
point in my Blogging career have past me by??!! Jeeze, the thought makes me
shudder.
So, I wanted to take a moment and post a few things that I did with my StumbleUpon
profile that might have made a difference between Darren taken notice of my
work or not.
Why my StumbleUpon Profile Might Have Stood Out to Darren
- Avatar - I chose the same Avatar that I use on all my other
Social Networking Sites. This way people would recognize me from one Social
Networking Site to the next. I used an image of myself, but many people use
other things such as their company’s logo, cartoon characters or any other
graphic that makes them stand out. For me, it was just a basic picture of
myself.
- Profile Name - Again, just like with the avatar, I chose
the same profile name for my StumbleUpon profile as I use on all of my other
Social Networking Sites…. TheNanny612. However, I have to say, TheNanny612
is not a very good Profile Name at all. It has nothing to do with what I do
for a living….. It is actually more of an Inside Family Joke that no one
would understand unless I explained it to them. But, now that people already
recognize me as TheNanny612 it wouldn’t be very prudent for me to change it
now. However, this might have worked in my favor as well… I haven’t run
into another Profile Name that is even similar. So, it probably does stand
out quite well.
- Profile Details - Choose a well thought out description
of yourself. It shouldn’t be very long as readers probably won’t stick around
very long. Get right to the point. Write your details well, spell correctly
and be descriptive.
- Clickable Links - Make sure that any website links that
you would like to mention on your Profile Details are clickable. Your StumbleUpon
profile is a great place to promote your sites. When people of the SU Community
arrive to your profile page and want to learn more about you the chances of
these readers checking out your website are so much greater if your links
are clickable. I’m not sure if Darren of ProBlogger would have copied and
pasted my link into a browser had I not made my links clickable. So, this
is very, very important.
This is what my StumbleUpon profile page would have looked like had I not
made the links clickable:
This is what my StumbleUpon profile page appears like now with all the links:
It’s really simple to make a link on your StumbleUpon profile clickable. Let’s
say you have a site called My Site and it was located at www.MySite.com. This
is how you would make that link clickable on your SU profile.
Go to your StumbleUpon’s profile page and Click on the Link that says, "Preferences".
Once this page opens up click on the link that says, "Public Profile".
This is where you are going to edit your Public Profile. You will see a box
below where it says, "Introduce yourself to Everyone".In this box
is where you are going to enter your Profile details.
In the spot of your details that you want to be a clickable link you use the following code (changing mysite to your site’s info): <a href="http://www.mysite.com/">my site</a>.
(Don’t be alarmed, the StumbleUpon system will automatically add a "No
Follow" to the coding.)
Click Save Profile and when others take a look at your profile the phrase
"my site" should look like: my
site.
There is an area on the edit Public Profile page that you can enter your website….
it will look like this:
However, oddly enough, your website’s link does not appear on the first page
of your StumbleUpon Profile. Your viewers will have to click on the tab that
says "About Her/Him". And, then they will come to a page that they
will see the link of your website.
This is an extra click that the viewers of StumbleUpon have to make to find
your website’s link. This is another reason why I decided to make clickable
links on my SU profile page.
- Multiple Website Links - When I first opened my StumbleUpon
account 6 months ago I had 8 Websites that I wanted to list on my StumbleUpon
profile page, but not only did it look funny… it looked almost Spammy as well.
I had a discussion with Todd Mintz of SEMPortland
who suggested that I purchase my name, Shana Albert, as a domain for other
reasons than StumbleUpon. His suggestion was a good one for so many reasons.
And, having the domain ShanaAlbert.com
worked out on my StumbleUpon profile as well. The ShanaAlbert website is a
simple static web page with all of my websites and blogs listed on that page.
With a simple click on the link on my SU profile page a reader will be sent
to my website that has images and links to all of my sites. This way my StumbleUpon
profile will not be inundated with outgoing links. I don’t want a reader to
feel overwhelmed when they are reading about me….. I just want them to get
a sense of what I’m passionate about. And, I believe that Darren got all of
that from a simple look at my StumbleUpon profile.
Technorati Tags:stumbleupon, social media, social media marketing, smm, tips, tutorials, social bookmarking, social networking, blogging, problogger
Posted in Blogging, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, StumbleUpon, Tips and Tutorials, Web 2.0 Basics, Websites | 27 Comments »
Friday, December 7th, 2007 |
Yesterday I wrote a Post on Collective-Thoughts, Wow,
Social Media is a lot like High School!! . It is a humorous look at how
Social Media has many similarities to High School. Both Social Media and High
Schools have Popular Crowds, Clubs, The Bad Boys, Rule Breakers, Goodie-Goodies,
Parties, Peer Pressure, and Gossip. I hope the readers enjoyed it as much as
I enjoyed writing it.
I’ve learned that using analogies is a great way to explain things that are
normally difficult to explain. There are many people on the net that find Social
Media and Web 2.0 very confusing. Analogies help explain something confusing
to an individual by comparing it with something they already understand. So,
here I have listed 12 articles that use cool analogies to explain different
aspects of Social Media.
Join the Conversation or Break
Into the Conversation? - Sean at Grin & Grumble compares Social Media
being a Pool and Bloggers being the different types of swimmers in the Pool
of Social Media.
The
“symphony” of social media - Dee Rambeau at CausePlanet.org
writes a creative analogy comparing a symphony orchestra with social media.
Why Corporations
Should Blog (Hint, it’s not SEO) - Josh Hallett at Hyku uses your love for
your significant other to prove a point.
Marc
Canter’s vision of the open social network - Chris at Particls Blog comparing
Facebook and other Social Networks are like Shopping Centers.
Fly-Fishing
Where the Fish Are - Ann Handley at Marketing Profs Daily Fix writes about
fishing using flies was not unlike marketing using the tools of social media.
Social
Media, the Pond Analogy and the Old Media Disconnect - sean at Scrollin’
On Dubs compares Marketing with the spreading of ripples in a glassy pond.
The
Ethics Of Social Bookmarking - xrayspecs at The Internet Marketing Neophyte
compares a new site to a piece of driftwood.
Social
Media Marketing is Similar to a Fishing Tournament - Mark Laymon at Collective-Thoughts
Bookmarking
Solutions: Quick Access vs. Long Term Storage - Jay White at Dumb Little
Man compares Social Bookmarking to paper filing systems.
Advertising
Tips (with Sex examples) - talisman.org explains what marketing is using
Pick-up Lines and the such.
Online
social networking, an extension to human evolution? Arun Radhakrishnan at
TechRepublic talks about the relation between social networking and human evolution.
The
Virtual world and the Real World - An Analogy - Karthik Vijayakumar at Water
Droplets compares The virtual world to the real world.
Technorati Tags:social media, social bookmarking, social networking, analogies, social media marketing
Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Humor, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Websites | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 |
Image by gutter
After reading a post regarding Women
having an easier time in Social Media yesterday I wasn’t ready for
my past insecurities to come flooding back to me. After all, Wingnut’s
post was just poking fun at an
issue that is certainly not new in the virtual world. But, I think the reason
it started to get to me more and more over the past 24 hours is because the
gender issue hit a sensitive spot for me.
Before the World Wide Web became my place of business I worked full time in
a very stressful, high paced business that was made up of more than 95% men.
I earned my spot there, but getting there and staying there was not an easy
one for me.
A bit of My Professional History
I started working for this business back in 1994…. I was just 23. I started
as a temporary with the hopes to gain a permanent position after 30 days. After
all, up to this point I got every job I had interviewed for. I am an over achiever
and a perfectionist. Not always a great combination for me as I tend to be very
hard on myself, but past employers seemed to have liked those traits.
The first month at this business went extremely well. I had a strong grasp
of my responsibilities, got along well with my colleagues, and my immediate
boss mentioned many times he was impressed with my work. But, what made me feel
that the permanent position was "in the bag" for me was when the President
of the Company pulled me in to his office to tell me that he was thrilled with
my work and that I was ready to be on my own. “Yes, this job is mine!!”
6 Months later and I was still a Temporary employee. Talk about frustrating!!
What the heck was I doing wrong? I couldn’t understand. After all, this
Company was spending a fortune to keep me as a temporary. Why wouldn’t
they just hire me full time? Well, it wasn’t long before I got my answer.
I was called in to the office of the Sales Manager, who was also one of the
three owners of the Company. We started talking about my position at the Company
and he mentioned that the outcome of the project he was now giving me would
determine whether I got the Permanent position at the Company. It was then that
he told me that up until this point that he was the "thing" that has
held me back from the permanent position. Apparently, he had many conversations
with the other two owners and he would not agree to hiring me permanently until
I had proven myself. He didn’t think I could handle the job as I was a
young attractive woman. These were his words… not mine.
WHAT?! I was devastated. After all, I couldn’t change this.
I couldn’t take my knowledge and skills and fix this one. I am a woman…..
a SMART woman.
I couldn’t fix the gender issue, but the one thing I could do was try
even harder to impress him. I could prove to him that even a young lady could
keep up with this high paced, stressful business. And, that’s exactly
what I did.
11 Months from the month I started that job I finally got that permanent full
time position and I stayed there 8 years.
I left that place of business in 2001 and started working out of my home as
a Webmaster. Once I started my Webmaster business I rarely had interaction with
others in the professional sense. I was my own boss and the absence of human
interaction was a well needed change of pace.
Enter Social Media
As the Web World evolved my business as a Webmaster needed to evolve as well.
I needed to add
human interaction back into my Business. Enter Social Media.
I had no idea that when I started adding Social Media into my business activities
that the same
anxieties of working with others in my past professional life would come
back and haunt me.
This is not directly about Wingnut’s post…. I actually enjoyed his post.
The issue is my past insecurities of being a young female professional in a
man’s world. I earned my spot then and I will keep trying to earn my spot
in the Social Media world now as well.
Technorati Tags:social media, gender differences, web 2.0, insecurities, business, social networking
Posted in Social Media, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Websites | 14 Comments »
Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 |
If you are a Small Business Owner the thought of Social Media Marketing can be
very overwhelming. There are so many options out there for Social Media Marketing
that the already very busy Business Owner might shy away from Social Media all
together.
Since Social
Media is so important to see the true potential of your Web Business I want
to show you some some ways that a Small Business Owner can start getting their
feel wet to Social Media Marketing without taking a huge plunge.
Add Social Networking Buttons to your static Webpages
There is no reason that only Blogs should enjoy the benefits of Social Bookmarking
buttons. Static Websites can benefit from this social media marketing activity
as well. Social Bookmarking is a way that users can tag their favorite sites
with different keywords which help them to organize the content. Tags help others
find your content and to help search engines see your content.
Adding Social Bookmarking Buttons to a Web Page will make it very easy for
someone to bookmark an article or product from your website. When a page from
your website is bookmarked it makes it very easy for your webpage to be shared
with others on the web. Plus, it is another way for search engines find a link
to one of your webpages and spider your site.
Check
out these Social Bookmarks. Choose which Social Bookmarks fit your Website’s
content best.
Start Commenting on Blogs
Commenting on Blogs is a great way to get Incoming links to your Website. The
more links you have coming in to your Website not only brings in new potential
customers and clients, but it can also move you up in the search engines.
Making comments on Blogs is a great way to not only increase incoming links
to your website, but it is also a way to get the attention of the readers reading
the blog post and the blogger himself. If done correctly and often enough you
might even become a known expert in your field or niche. Check out Lifehacker’s
guide to weblog comments for lots of great Comment Tips.
Participate in Answer Sites
Participating in Answer Sites, such as Yahoo!
Answers and Answers.com,
is not only an excellent way to get links coming in to your site, but it is
another wonderful way to become known as an expert in your field. Make a point
to spend some time on one of the major answer sites and answer the questions
that you know you have the correct answers to. Place a link to your site in
your Profile and you will find not only will people look towards you for their
answers, but they might even become frequent visitors to your site. This form
of social media marketing is excellent if you are a service based small business.
Choose an Answer site that you want to work with and spend at least an hour
or two there each week to reap the true benefits of this type of Social Media
Marketing.
For more information check out Yahoo!
Answers, Answers.com,
Social Networking
Social Networking is a way of interacting with other people in a web community
setting. These web communities can be niche specific (professional,
dating, pets,
friends to name a very
few) or the communities can be very broad (StumbleUpon,
Digg, MySpace).
The whole point of any of these Social Networking Sites is to help form relationships
between people with a common interest from all over the world.
For a Small Business Owner utilizing a Professional Social Networking site,
such as LinkedIn, is
so important. With Professional Social Networking sites you will be able to
create your Business Profile which summarizes your professional accomplishments.
Within your Social Networking Community you will be able to locate clients,
find Business opportunities, search for jobs, discover connections, locate former
colleagues, clients, and partners and locate other professionals with the same
interests as you. It is very similar to Business Networking in your Local Community,
but you are not limited to location. You will be networking with professional
people from all over the world.
Check out some Other
Social Networks not Mentioned above.
Have Customers Review you Online
The major search engines have come a long way when it comes to local search.
Google supports searching by IP address. Which means that Google can target
according to the geographical locale of the searcher’s IP address. This
is great news for small businesses who make their living by selling items or
services to people in their community or surrounding communities. If Google
and the other major search engines have your Business in the local search engine
directory it could bring you to the top of the search engines in your area for
your keyphrase or niche.
To make sure that your business will appear in the local search for your area
make sure to go to the following links and submit your Business address, phone
number and other business information. Many people no longer use phone books
to locate local businesses, they use the Web to find them. Make sure they can
find you too. Click on the following links to Local Search Engines, Directories
and Yellow Pages and enter your Business’s information.
While you are adding your Business listing to the above Local Search Engines,
Directories and yellow pages do a bit more research to see which of these also
offer reviews. Once you have done that follow the simple steps below to have
your customers review your business.
- Go through the listings above to see which have review capability.
- On a Postcard or Index card simply ask your customers if they would like
to review your business. Make sure to include a link to one of the Local Search
Review sites on the card. You can even offer them a coupon or discount off
a future purchase for your review.
- Send these Review Cards out to your Customers.
Many of the above Search Engines, Directories and Yellow Pages will show your
reviews next to your Business Listing. If you have great reviews this could
bring you a lot of extra business.
Twitter
If the thought of starting a Blog seems frightening at this point, but you
wanted to participate in something that lets you stay in touch with your customers
or clients… maybe Twitter is for you.
You don’t have to be a wiz at writing to use Twitter as you will only have
140 characters to get your point across. But with a bit of Networking on Twitter
to find the right followers it might be the perfect place to announce sales,
new products, or services. For more information on using Twitter as a Marketing
Tool check out The
Big Juicy Twitter Guide. Here Caroline offers you detailed information on
how to use Twitter.
All of these Social Media Marketing Ideas are a wonderful way to get your business
name out there, increase your incoming links, and increase traffic and sales.
All of these Social Media Activities take some work. However, if your time is
limited or you feel apprehensive about jumping head first into all the Social
Media Activities that are out there, just try one of them and see how it goes.
Get a taste of it. If you find you enjoyed it and it brought you increased traffic
and/or sales maybe add another Social Media activity. You can do as little or
as much as you would like. No need to feel intimidated by Social Media…. do
it at your own pace.
Technorati Tags:social media, social media marketing, social networking, social bookmarking, small business
Posted in SEM, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Twitter, Websites | 17 Comments »
Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 |
Social Media is an important part of my daily routine. Since I started adding
Social Media to my Daily Schedule I’ve seen an increase in daily traffic,
incoming links, sales on my Preschool
Curriculum eCommerce site and I’ve met the most amazing, brilliant
people that enjoy the same interests as I do.
It sounds wonderful, right? Well, up until last Friday I would have said an
energetic, “YES!!” Now, I’m not so sure.
Last Friday I was comparing what my goals were for that week and what I actually
accomplished. I was horrified to see that I fell short on many of my goals for
that week. For me, that rarely happens. I am ridiculously structured. I need
to be… I run a business out of my home while taking care of three children.
Schedules and "To-Do" Lists are what helps keep my crazy busy life
a bit more sane. So, when I saw my list having tons of items not crossed off
I was determined to see where all of my time was going. This is what I came
up with:
The following times aren’t exact, but gives you a rough idea of the
time I spend doing particular daily duties.
7:30 am
- Get up and start getting my 5 year old ready for School and make sure my
11 year old is awake and getting himself ready for school.
8:30 am
- Feed 4 year old Breakfast.
- Check email
- Print off ABC Home Preschool orders for the last 24 hours
- Process all Credit Card transactions
- Email Customers with their ship dates.
9:30 am
- Use my Feed Reader to check out the new Posts on my Favorite Blogs
- Stumble
and Sphinn posts appropriately.
- Comment on any Posts that I feel I can contribute to.
- Bookmark posts to come back
to later.
10:30 am
- Check out what’s new on Sphinn. Sphinn items I find interesting
- Stumble and/or Bookmark items I find interesting from Sphinn.
- Comment on Sphinn items.
- Check what’s new on FaceBook.
Respond to FaceBook messages and Notifications.
11:30 am
- Quick Stop at MyBlogLog
to see who stopped by my Profile
- Reply to Messages
- Quick Thank-you emails for Stopping by.
- Check what pages StumbleUpon friends sent me to check out…. Respond to
each.
12:30 pm
- Lunch for 4 year old and myself.
- Work-out and Shower.
2:30 pm
- Finish Writing a Post for one of my Blogs
4:00 - 9:00 pm
- Dinner, Homework and Family Time (Trust me, this time is not a break….
I’m sure you Mommies and Daddies know what I’m talking about.)
9:00 pm
- Begin online research on the next days post.
- Make Notes on the direction I want to go with post and any outbound
links I want to use
10:30 pm
- Process orders for ABC Home Preschool
- Package Orders for tomorrow’s shipment
12:00 am
- Go through Feed Reader once again
- Make Posts and Comments on other Blogs
- Sphinn / Stumble Posts
- Go thru Sphinn once again
- Stumble a bit
- Twitter
- Try to finish catching up on emails
Bedtime is between 1 am and 3 am. Lately it is closer to 3 am.
Keep in mind a few things about the above generalized schedule:
- Nowhere did I mention any interaction or quality time with my children.
I have a 4 year old who spends his days with me. So, the work I mentioned
above is done around my time with him during the day.
- I mentioned nothing about extracurricular activities for my children which
happens at least 3 times a week in which I also attend.
- In addition to this blog I have many
other sites that I work on.
- On a daily basis I speak and / or chat with the people I network with online. This
must be squeezed into my daily schedule.
- Daily tweaks and article writing for my static websites
The above schedule was just to give you a very rough idea of how my basic work
day goes. And, how much time, at a minimum, I work on Social Media. My plate
was full before Social Media entered my life. Today my plate is over flowing.
I love Social Media I just need to learn how to manage my time with it better.
If I attempt to keep going at this pace with a schedule like this I’m
sure Social Media will take my life. I am determined to come up with a Time
Management Plan for Social Media that works for me. As it is something that
is not only working for my business, but that I love very much.
During my research in the past couple of days I came across three wonderful
posts that offer some time management skills when it comes to Social Media.
- My
Half Hour Social Networking Plan - In this three part series Kevin Palmer
gives us the details of his 30 minute Social Networking Plan. Kevine breaks
his plan down into three posts 1. The
First Ten Minutes 2.
The Second Ten Minutes 3. The
Final Ten Minutes
- The
10-Minute Daily Guide to Building Your Social Media Profile - Ben Yoskovitz
offers some of his amazing Time Management Tips for Social Networking.
- 7
Ways to Own Social Media Before it Owns You - Brian
Wallace explains that Instead of suffering from social media overload,
look at a few other disciplines and tips for help.
So, please…. please Help Me!! Social Media is trying to take my life….
Do you have any suggestions? I would love to hear them.
Technorati Tags:social media, time management, social networking
Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Time Management, Twitter, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Basics, Websites | 21 Comments »
Thursday, November 1st, 2007 |
In my last post I discussed how you can increase
traffic to your Website with a Blog. In today’s follow-up post I will
show you the next step to this…. finding a Blog Platform to fit your
needs.
There are many Blog Platforms out there. Some of them are free to download
and others have a fee. You will need to research the different platforms to
see which will meet your needs.
Some of the Blogging Platforms out there that are self-hosted, developer hosted,
and Proprietary software (charged a fee for the use of the software). In this
post I will be listing free Self Hosted Blog Platforms and the features to
each platform. This way you can go through the Blogging Software links and information
and choose the blog software that best meets your needs.
I have to admit that the only blog platform I have used is WordPress. It
fit my needs beautifully and I had no need to look any further. However, that
doesn’t mean that it will fit yours.
25 26 Free Self Hosted Blog Platforms
WordPress
- I use WordPress for
all of my Blogs. I love it!! It has everything I need. There are many Wordpress
Templates, Plug-ins and Widgets to make my Blog run perfectly. Wordpress is
the only Blogging Platform I have ever used. I never had a reason to try anything
else. I am listing other Blogging Platforms for you to take a look at to see
which platform will fit your needs best. I can not speak for the other Blogging
Platforms as I have not tried them, but that doesn’t mean that they
won’t fit your needs better than WordPress.
Features
- Full standards compliance
- No rebuilding
- WordPress Pages
- WordPress Links
- WordPress Themes
- Cross-blog communication tool
- Full List of Features
b2evolution
- b2evolution includes
all the features of traditional blog tools, and extends them with evolved
features such as file & photo management, advanced skinning, multiple
blogs support as well as detailed user permissions…
Not to mention third party plug-ins!
Features
- Advanced browsing (paged, calendar, categories, search…)
- Extended & multipaged posts
- Image/file upload & management
- Multiple and sub-categories
- Draft and quick publishing
- RSS & Atom feeds
- Full
List of Features
Typo
- Typo is a lean
engine that makes blogging easy. Typo’s main attributes are ease of
use, usability, beauty and excellent support of web standards. Typo is open
source software, which means you can take it, use it and modify it for free;
because we think freedom is priceless.
Features
- Instant publishing, no rebuilding necessary
- Comments
- Built in spam protection
- Textile and Markdown and Smartypants support
- Ping / Trackback
- Categories / Tags
- Full List of Features
SimpleLog
- SimpleLog is a Ruby
on Rails weblog application that helps you focus on writing above all else.
SimpleLog has all the features you want in a weblogging applicaton wrapped
in an efficiently designed interface that eliminates clutter. By focusing
on simplicity and usability, SimpleLog allows you to spend your time writing,
rather than managing a convoluted CMS.
Features
- Package-based, hierarchical inheritance of debug levels and trace flags
- Set debug levels using level numbers or names
- Special handling of exceptions, object arrays, byte arrays and char
arrays
- API support for logging primitives
- Ability to turn tracing on and off independent of the debug level
- Convenience methods to reduce the amount of code needed to log
- Documentation that’s complete but brief, embedded in the configuration
file
- Full List
of Features
PyBlosxom
- PyBlosxom
is a lightweight file-based weblog system. It originally started out as a
Python clone of Blosxom but has since evolved into a beast of its own. PyBlosxom
focuses on three things: simplicity, extensibility, and community.
Features
- simplicity - PyBlosxom uses the file system for all
its data storage. Because of this you can use whatever editor you want
to use to create, update, and manipulate entries.
- extensibility - PyBlosxom has a plugin framework allowing
you to build plugins in Python to augment and change PyBlosxom’s default
behavior.
- community - There are hundreds of PyBlosxom users out
there all of whom have different needs. PyBlosxom is used on a variety
of operating systems in a variety of environments. The pyblosxom users
list shares their experiences, plugins, and expertise.
Serendipity
- Serendipity is a PHP-powered
weblog application which gives the user an easy way to maintain an online
diary, weblog or even a complete homepage. While the default package is designed
for the casual blogger, Serendipity offers a flexible, expandable and easy-to-use
framework with the power for professional applications.
Features
- Simple
- Robust Editing Interface
- Threaded comments, Nested categories and posting to multiple categories
- Anti-Spam / Comment moderation
- Dynamic
- Full List of Features
Pivot
- Pivot is a web-based
tool to help you maintain dynamic sites, like weblogs or online journals.
Pivot is released under the GPL so it is completely free to use. It is written
in PHP, and does not require additional libraries or databases to function.
Features
- Sophisticated Categories/Weblogs system, so you can maintain several
weblogs and publish your entries how you like
- Template based. Fully adaptable to your wishes
- Built in simple search tool
- Keeps simple statistics of how your visitors came to your site
- Easy to upload and include pictures with your log-entries
- Allows for making thumbnails of uploaded images
- Comment system that remembers your visitors
- Full
List of Features
Nucleus
- Nucleus is a PHP/SQL
blogging tool which resides on your webserver. Includes multiple blog capabilities,
and RSS syndication. With Nucleus, you can set up one or more weblogs. If
you want to, you can even show the contents of multiple weblogs on the same
page.
By downloading the Nucleus Core package, you’ll already have access to a great
set of features. By dropping in plugins, you can extend the feature set even
more.
Features
- Maintenance of one or more weblogs/news-sites
- Multiple Authors
- Within a weblog, you can set up one or more categories.
- Built-in commenting system
- Full
List of Features
Subtext
- Subtext is a personal
blog publishing platform that focuses on usability, elegance, and simplicity.
If you’ve ever caught yourself throwing your hands in the air and declaring
that you’re going to write your own blogging engine, then Subtext is
for you.
Features
- XHTML and CSS compliant
- Search engine-friendly permalink structure via friendly URLs
- TrackBack and Pingback
- Hosts multiple blogs on a single installation
- MetaWeblog API support
- Full
List of Features
FlatPress
- FlatPress is
an open-source standard-compliant multi-lingual extensible blogging engine
which does not require a database to work.
You don’t need MySQL because FlatPress stores all of its content on
text files.
Features
- Standard-compliant (XHTML valid)
- Plugin support
- Easy to customize with themes
- Free and Open Source
- Text Files
- Multiple Categorization
- Archiving
- Links / Blogroll
Drupal
- Drupal is equipped with
a powerful blend of features, Drupal supports a variety of websites ranging
from personal weblogs to large community-driven websites.
Features
- Collaborative Book
- Friendly URLs
- Online help
- Personalization
- Role based permission system
- Polls
- Templating
- Full List of Features
Geeklog
- Geeklog is a PHP/MySQL
based application for managing dynamic web content.
"Out of the box", it is a blog engine, or a CMS (portal system)
with support for users, comments, trackbacks, multiple syndication formats,
spam protection, and all the other vital features of such a system.
Features
- Free and Open Source
- Multi-User Support
- MySQL Datastorage
- Commercial Support
- Archiving
- Links / Blogroll
- Multi-paged posts
Mephisto
- Mephisto is a web
publishing system. It’s a blog engine with some simple CMS-ish concepts
(sections, pages), a very flexible templating system, and an aggressive caching
scheme that takes advantage of your web server’s best traits.
Features
- Beautiful admin interface
- Slick Asset Management
- Flexible Liquid templating system
- ATOM feeds
- some tagging, some ajax, yadda yadda.
- Full
List of Features
Pebble
- Pebble is a
lightweight, open source, Java EE blogging tool. It’s small, fast and feature-rich
with unrivalled ease of installation and use. Blog content is stored as XML
files on disk and served up dynamically, so there’s no need to install a database.
All maintenance and administration can be performed through your web browser,
making Pebble ideal for anybody who is constantly on the move or doesn’t have
direct access to their host.
Features
- Posting and management of content through your web browser, including
rich text editor support.
- Blogger and MetaWeblog API interface included for posting content via
compatible tools.
- Categorisation of content into multiple hierarchical categories.
- Tagging of content and a generation of a tagcloud.
- RSS enclosures for distrbuting files or podcasting.
- Simple content publication workflow.
- Pinging websites via XML-RPC when new blog entries are added.
- Publication of static content alongside your blog entries.
- Full List of
Features
LifeType
- LifeType is an open-source
blogging platform with support for multiple blogs and users in a single installation.
Features
- User Friendly Interface
- Integrated Media Management
- Choose your Style
- Built-in anti-spam Filter
- Multiple Users per Blog
- Full
List of Features
dasBlog
- dasBlog is an open
source blogging platform for ASP.NET 2.0
Features
- Ability to pre- and post-date entries
- Automatic Referral and Trackback blacklist update
- Logging and display of Comment IP addresses and resolved Hostnames for
Admins
- Admin access auditing
- Improved RSS Comments support for SharpReader and RSS Bandit
- Theme templates are now cached in memory
- Support for running under ASP.NET 2.0
- Permalinks based on Title and Date optional: 2005/06/06/title.aspx
- Works with Windows Live Writer out of the box
- Full List
of Features
Elgg
- Elgg is an open-source social
networking platform. It offers blogging, networking, community, collecting
of news using feeds aggregation and file sharing features. Everything can
be shared among users with access controls and everything can be cataloged
by tags as well.
Features
- Blogging
- Social networking
- File repositories for individuals and communities
- Podcast support
- Full access controls
- Supports tagging
- Full RSS support
- Full List of
Features
BoastMachine
- BoastMachine is an
open source, state of the art publishing platform written from scratch, that
makes your web publishing experience so fun and easy as never before! From
the fully automated installation to advanced content management featuresto
spam fighting, boastMachine provides you with all that you would ever need!
Features
- Lightweight, yet full-featured and easy to use
- Powerful content management system
- Dynamic search engine friendly pages
- Various permission levels for posts
- Supports multiple blogs, authors, user levels and profiles
- Readymade language, theme and smiley packs
- Built-in spam-figthing capabilities
- Powerful backup/restore system
- Written in PHP and backed by MySQL
- FREE and Open Source (GPL)
- Full
List of Features
DotClear
- DotClear is a
French blog package distributed as free software under GNU General Public
License. DotClear has had large Success in France and Belgium. DotClear has
the ability to write posts using either XHTML or wiki syntax, as well as being
multi-user with multiple levels of access.
Features
- RSS and Atom feeds
- Multi-user levels
- Multilingual interface
- Use of MySQL and PHP 4.1+
- Use of CSS
- Full
List of Features
LiveJournal
- LiveJournal lets
you express yourself, share your life, and connect with friends online. You
can use LiveJournal in many different ways: as a private journal, a blog,
a discussion forum, a social network, and more.
Features
- Numerous Pre-made Designs for Your Journal
- Post Rich Media to Your Journal
- Tag and Categorize Your Entries
- Manage Comments in Your Journal
- Full
List of Features
Textpattern
- Textpattern is a flexible,
elegant and easy-to-use content management system. Textpattern is a web application
designed to help overcome hurdles to publishing online, and to simplify the
production of well-structured, standards-compliant web pages.
Features
- Quick conversion of plain text to valid XHTML with Textile
- Quickly search old articles by keyword
- Up-to-the-minute visitor/referrer logs
- Browser-based template and CSS editing
- Unlimited site sections
- Unlimited article, link, file and image categories
- Full List of Features
blojsom
- blojsom
is a Java-based, full-featured, multi-blog, multi-user software package.
Features
- Plugins and Event/Listeners
- Syndication Formats
- Templates and Themes
- Remote Editing
- Full
List of Features
NanoBlogger
- NanoBlogger
is a small weblog engine written in Bash for the command line. It uses common
UNIX tools, such as cat, grep and sed to create static HTML content. It’s
free to use and modify under the GNU General Public License.
Features
- intuitive command line interface
- highly configurable and script-able
- easy drafting, editing and management of entries
- archiving by category, year, month, day, and entry
- pagination
- permanent and navigational links
- templates and CSS style sheets for full control over layout
- placeholders for easy template manipulation
- support for multiple weblogs
- Full
List of Features
BlogEngine.Net
- BlogEngine.NET
is an open source .NET blogging project that was born out of desire for a
better blog platform. A blog platform with less complexity, easy customization,
and one that takes advantage of the latest .NET features.
Features
BBlog
- bBlog is a powerful,
elegant personal publishing system written in PHP and released as free, Open
Source software under the GPL. It is a flexible but simple way to blog that
works for blogging beginners, and can grow into a more advanced user’s needs.
Features
- Fast, easy installation gets you up and running in minutes
- Complete control of look and feel of your blog
- Easier customization through Smarty templating
- Modular architecture makes it easy to drop in a new plugin developed
by our active development community
- Threaded comments
- Advanced trackbacks, Blogrolling, XML/RPC, spam protection
- Comprehensive support for web standards
- Uses PHP/MySQL
- Full List of Features
Movable Type
- Movable Type is
a professional publishing platform developed by California-based Six Apart.
Features
- A completely reinvented user interface
- Built in reports on blog activity
- Integrated asset manager for uploading, reusing, and finding files like
photos, audio, and video
- Blog-style presentation of your recent content is easy to skim and lets
you know how your blogs are doing
- Customize MT’s entire user interface using the same MT template language
that publishes your blog
- Full List of Features
Technorati Tags:blog platforms, software, wordpress, blogging
Posted in Blogging, Tips and Tutorials, Web 2.0, Websites | 8 Comments »
Monday, October 29th, 2007 |
If you have an established Website, but are wondering how to increase traffic
to your site without spending a lot of cash, my answer for you is to add a Blog.
Here are 5 Reasons why adding a Blog to an Established Website
can increase traffic and Sales.
- Updated Content
- If you update the content of your website frequently it will keep the
Search Engines coming back to your site to spider it. Adding a Blog to
your already established website is a great way to do this. Adding a fresh
post to your blog no less than weekly will do the trick.
- Viewers love fresh content. If your viewers keep checking on your website
and it hasn’t changed since their last visit they might stop coming
back to you. Add fresh content and your viewers will come back to your
site to keep up to date.
- RSS Feeds –A RSS feed is a way to notify your blog
subscribers of any updates to your blog. There are 100’s of RSS Feed
Directories on the Web. Make sure to submit your Blog to these Feed
Directories, so that readers interested in your Blog’s topic can
easily subscribe. Every time you update your Blog your subscribers will be
informed and they will come to your site to check it out.
- Links
- Use your Blog to link to your Website’s internal pages. Simply,
referring to your Website’s pages and products in your Blog posts
will add internal links to your Website. The more links you have coming
into your Website the higher you will appear in the search engines.
- Consistent posts that are well written will bring on links from other
blogs and websites linking to your posts. I already mentioned how wonderful
links are for bringing you higher in the search engines, but having your
link on other blogs that are related to your blog’s topic also brings
viewers to your blog that are already interested in your field’s topic.
Each reader that comes into your blog is another possible subscriber and/or
sale.
- Be an Expert - A Blog can help establish you as a known
expert in your field. Writing professional and consistent posts about a given
topic will keep readers coming back to you to get the answers they are looking
for.
- Blog Comments - Comment sections on Blogs opens up the
communication between you and the readers. Due to the fact that your readers
can make comments on your Blog and you can respond to these comments makes
your business appear more approachable and personal. Comments from you and
other readers keeps your customers/readers coming back to check on the comments
to see what is being said.
|
|
Bottom line, adding fresh content to any Website makes the
Search Engines very happy and keeps them coming back to you to spider your
site. Feeding the search engines with unique content moves you up in the
search engines and helps visitors locate you. When Visitors can find you
there is an increase in sales and feed subscribers. Do you see where I’m
going with this? If you are looking to increase traffic to your
established website?….. Add a Blog!! |
Look for a post coming shortly on how easy it is to add a Blog to your Established
Website.
Technorati Tags:increase traffic, website, blogging, web 2.0
Posted in Blogging, Social Media, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Basics, Websites | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 |
I became a Webmaster in 2001. For nearly 7 years I have been designing and
maintaining websites quite successfully. In 2006 I started reading about Blogs
all over the Internet. I was aware that they were obviously some kind of website,
but I didn’t understand what made Bogs different from Websites. I have always
had a huge fear of something new coming along and eliminating my websites or
at least pushing my websites far enough down the serps to make my Websites unfound
by potential viewers. I went on a mission to find out what exactly Blogs were.
So, for those of you unaware as to the difference between a Traditional Website
and a Blog…. this post is for you.
Difference Between a Website and a Blog
Websites
|
Blogs
|
- Static - For the most part websites stay the same.
|
- Current - Updated several times a week if not more
often.
|
- Must have a bit of technical knowledge in coding
or a Webmaster at the bare minimum.
|
- No coding knowledge necessary. There are many choices
of Blog Software out there to choose from that eliminates the need for
coding knowledge.
|
- All your concentration does not go into the content, but part is spent
worrying about the coding and html.
|
- Because you don’t need to know coding to run a Blog your entire
focus can be on the content.
|
- Website pages are broken up by Static Pages and Categories….
Products, prices, articles, pictures, etc…
|
- Blogs are written more like a journal that is broken
up by dates. Usually the most recent entry is on top.
|
- When a Website is updated there is usually no feature that
automatically notifies your readers of the update. Yes, you
can put together a Newsletter, but that is generally something that
is manually put together
|
- Blogs are usually setup with a RSS feed for viewers
to subscribe to. This RSS feed will notify your readers when you have
updated your Blog with a new post. This will keep your viewers coming
back for more.
|
- Waiting period for Search Engine Spiders to spider your website.
|
- Blogs can be easily setup to ping Blog Directories and search
engines when you add a new post or update your Blog. This is
one of the best features of a blog….This means your posts will appear
in Search Engines very, very quickly. Usually within minutes.
|
- Static Websites do not track conversations between Webmasters
and Readers.
|
- Many ways to notice communication between bloggers and readers.
- Comments – Readers can post their comments
and Blogger and other Readers can respond.
- Trackbacks - When another blogger mentions a
particular post and adds a link to that post a brief excerpt will
appear in your post’s comment section to let you and your
readers know that they could follow another blogger’s view
point of your post.
- PermaLink - When another blogger or website links
to a specific post they will use the post’s specific page
link…. This page link is called a PermaLink. This is a great
way for link building on your internal pages of your blog.
|
Technorati Tags:blogs, websites, blogging, web 2.0
Posted in Blogging, Social Media, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Basics, Websites | 3 Comments »
