Smart Marketing Habits

A Perspective On Twitter

Anne Preston — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:25:28 +0000

Any hesitancy I had about my decision to get involved with using twitter as a way to be connected to those who I serve - has all disappeared.

I watched today as twitter messages streamed in -telling of the earthquake that happened today California. The messages came in just moments after folks were feeling their offices and homes shake. It was amazing to me - that I was witnessing the feelings and emotions of those I am connected to. 9 or so minutes later - across one of the TV’s in our office - came the notices of the earthquake. What was missing in the newscast was the experiential reports. The newsy version seemed flat - whereas the content in the tweets were multi-dimensional. They were extremely human. And I felt as one with them.

Now that I am truly converted from hesitancy to eagerness. I will make a post of some of the tips and tools I have been related to using twitter to make connections.

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Wordpress 2dot6 Transition

Anne Preston — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:46:04 +0000

WordPress a few days ago announed Wordpress 2.6 - and after watching the following video - my concerns about doing an upgrade right away - diminished. I can already see many productivity enhancements included in this version - making it easier and easier to minimize the time I spend working on blog posts.

Quite a few enhancements are included in this update

Enhancements for collaboration, previous post version options, restore earlier version.
A press this button - to capture quotes, text, images or embed video.
A place to add caption for images.
A theme preview - so you can see how things look - before you activate a theme
Also an option - to store images to your own computer. (Gears)
Plus a whole whack of smaller enhancements - plug ins, image galleries and avatar options.

Lot’s of good stuff in this enhancement.

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Virtual Assistants 2 - Social Media

Anne Preston — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:14:26 +0000

I got a great referral for a great virtual assistant for working with Web 2.0 Social Networking Applications from nancy @ Viva visability.com

www.websuccessdiva.com

Maria works with soho folks on social media success.

Here are some additional VA’s who work with Social Media Applications:

YellowHighlighterVA.com

VirtuallyYours925.com

amhbusinesssolutions.com

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Virtual Assistants

Mindmapping Software for Rolodexing

Anne Preston — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:37:29 +0000

Here is a colleague Sherman Hu Showing his personal mindmapping software to keep track of his life. Sherman is using the personal brain.

Brain is excellent for doing non-treed mind maps. Me personally, I am a daily user of MindManager - which helps me organize using a treeing format. But for my own personal learning of complex subjects I use a non-treed mind map.

If you want to watch an excellent use of non-treed mind mapping and you have 15minutes to spare- give this video a look (its in 5 sections of about 3minutes each)- and see how you could use this kind of brain approach - is could be an excellent format for story telling.

Learn more about The Brain Mind Mapping Software - you can go to their main website at www.TheBrain.com

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Helpful Blog and Website Technology from Blink Web

Anne Preston — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:20:35 +0000

Marketer: BlinkWeb

Product Link: www.blinkweb.com

What it Does: An easy way to create a professional looking website without knowing html, php, javascript, and all the other techie nonsense needed to put a website online. The intention is to create a website with BlinkWebs’ drag-drop features…

See Demo Here:

Cost: Free at the moment
read more | digg story

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Upload,Manage and Store Video

Anne Preston — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:12:52 +0000

ScreenCast.com by Techsmith
The Product Link: screencast.com

What It Does: Upload, Manage and Store video. Works very well with Camtasia Studio’s one of Techsmith’s other offerings

Take a Tour

Cost depend on the amount of monthly bandwidth you need. I used the beta version frequently - and today - I received the announcement they have now issued 1.0 and are offering a 60day Free trial.

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Camtasia Studio’s Latest Version

Trademark Search

Anne Preston — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:58:48 +0000

United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States

Canadian Trade-marks Database

Canada

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Giveaways and Free Product Promotions

Anne Preston — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:30:36 +0000

I was noticing the amount of free giveaway promos are increasing at an alarming rate. So much so that is a drag to keep up with them. I was searching the web this morning and found sites that are set up for tracking give away notifications. So, I will not track this information anymore - I will just click on the links:

The Giveaway Notifyer Blog http://thegoldengiveaway.blogspot.com/

The Giveaway Announcer http://www.giveawayannouncer.com/

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Freemind - an Open Source Mind Mapping Tool

Anne Preston — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:20:45 +0000

Free Mind - Open Source Mind Mapping Tool
The Product Link: Open Source Mind Map Software

What It Does: FreeMind is mind-mapping software. Mind Mapping software can be used as a productivity tool.

Keep track of projects, tasks, links to files, keeping track of small notes, brain storming tool, using colours to differeniate, an organizational tool. Aid to help with right-brain creativity.

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Intention Statements - Free Software Tool to Program Your Mind

Anne Preston — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:36:31 +0000

The Marketer: Michael Masterman

The Marketing Blurb:" never-before-released computer program that will enable you to literally change life-long habits through something known as programmed rehearsal ."

The Product Link: Motivator

What it does: If you are into "Law of Attraction techniques" this is a fun little tool. Just program in your intention statements after you download the free software - and then notice how it helps will awareness focus on what you intend for yourself.

So, got some marketing related intention statements you would like to rehearse or focus on? This might be a great tool for you.

Find out what top marketers belief about them selves, about marketing, about their markets - and model those beliefs through practicing them. This is a super tool for this.

I have had it downloaded for 1 day - and already see the benefits. One of the stock statements is an intention to sit up straight. I love it and find myself doing it more.

Wordpress

Using Speed Dial Tools - Get it Done Faster!

Anne Preston — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:54:09 +0000

Jim Edward’s multi-media blog this morning had a wonderful post on some cool new Firefox plug ins that really help with productivity. One in particular caught my eye and my energy: It’s called Speed Dia l . I got super excited on this one - because - this plug in - combined with a program I already use now - RoboForm makes moving around from site to site - a snap.

The best part of this - is that I can now - run a sequence of checking emails, membership sites, and blogs in an order from my Speed Dial page. It’s quick, it’s efficient - and more than anything else - it gives me a visual map of where I am going to.

T he Product: Speed Dial for Firefox 2.0

The Marketing Blurb: "With Speed Dial, you can easily access your most used websites"

The Product Link: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4810

My Experience: Super Duper!

Wordpress

Blog Training Course - Multi-Media Version

Anne Preston — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:43:24 +0000

The Marketer: Mark Joyner

The Marketing Blurb: "I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog"

What it is: A multi-media blogging training course

What it does: Supplies blogging techniques, how to drive traffic to your blog and how to monetize your blog

Product Link: http://www.simpleology.com/training/blogging/

My Experience: Mark Joyner is giving free access to this "Blogging for Fun and Profit" course in exchange for folks mentioning in their blogs - An interesting concept in the way it gets folks to take action towards success. For anyone who doesn’t know Mark - He has some very effective course ware called Simpleology that helps folks to take more effective action towards their goals. In this case, Mark is asking folks to evaluate the product for free - in exchange for links to their product squeeze page. At first glance - this seems like a new-to-me tactic to help them increase page ranking - back links etc. The way Mark is doing this - might indeed be a very good way to create some "viral action" on this blogging training course.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

Here are the details they ask you to post on your blog in exchange for the course:

I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

The best blogging techniques.
How to get traffic to your blog.
How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

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Virtual Assistants

Anne Preston — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:51:35 +0000

It’s good to be clear on what you are looking for in a virtual assistant before hiring one. For example, there is a distinction between looking for a VA that can be an extension of your brand and one that is doing strictly admin tasks and working on information technology tasks. They have different skill sets. You will also find that a lot of VA’s specialize in a couple different areas.

Here are some online sources of Virtual Assistants:

www.getfriday.com -Overseas assistance - lower cost
www.ivaa.org - virtual Assistant Networking Association
www.virtualassitanceu.com - you can submit a request for proposal and receive info from many different VA’s in training.
www.vacertification.com

Google " Virtual Assistant Training" and you will get a few options - and your biggest assistance would to be to ask for a referral from someone. The very best way to find an excellent VA is to ask for and get referrals.

Expect to pay 30-60/hr and to commit to a retainer for Virtual Assistants.

Here are a couple of Virtual Assistants I have been referred to:’
Virtual Accurracy
http://www.victoriabusinesssolutions.com/
www.assistu.com
deborahc@vascorp.com or her phone number is 905-474-0955.
Peggy Murrah. peggy@onepagewebdesign.com

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Virtual Assistants 2 - Social Media

117 Work From Home Gifts

Anne Preston — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 20:25:36 +0000

The Marketer: Henry Gold, Steve Yakim, Heri Rosyadi, Claudia Moncalvo Beltran

The Marketing Blurb: “Get Access to 77 + High Quality Products worth over 15,895.97 for Free”

The Giveaway Dates: Nov 2007 - 12Dec2007 (Gifts must be downloaded by 12Dec2007)

The Link: 117 WorkatHome Gifts

What it is: Give a way - with back end offers for each of the free give away products

My experience: If you want your freebies, some of which are original products in this promo, you need to “opt-in to each one to get them. You will also be offered OTO (back end offers which you are free to decline) You have the option to browse and just request those that most interest you and you have the option of staying subscribed to the marketers list - or unsubscribe at anytime. If you are organized in your email system - these give aways can be an effective way to pick up tools of need. I did notice a couple of the links are already broken - so I would definately get your gifts soon.

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Read Blogs of Interest with A News Feed Reader

Anne Preston — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:28:04 +0000

The Marketer: Google

The Marketing Blurb: "The great thing about Reader, is it lets you follow sites more effeciently than you could just by visiting them directly"

What it is: A free feed (rss) reader

What it does: provides a central reading place for all the newsfeeds you are interested in. A nice drag and drop function lets you easily organize folders and move feeds between folders and well as re-order thing sup and down your list. One of the nice functions of this reader is that there is no software to install

Product link: Google Reader

My Experience: I have used NewsGator and for longest time now Bloglines for my online feed reader. What is different about Google’s reader frankly is that it seems easier to read - and anything that makes my life easier - I am all over it.

Wordpress

Business Card Printing for Small Business

Anne Preston — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:31:28 +0000

The Marketer: VistaPrint

The Marketing Blurb: "VistaPrint is the easy design and print solution chosen by more than 11 million people worldwide."

What it Does: Anything from Business cards, Corporate Identity items, promotional pieces, return address labels and stamps etc.

The Product Link: VistaPrint

My Experience: If you have been around a while - you’ve probably seen the ads from VistaPrint for 250 free cards and that has prompted you to take a look at some of their templates - and if you are like me - you have probably wanted something more unique and creative.

Something that not many folks know is that you have the option of putting your own business card design in to the online system - and have your cards, brochures or whatever printed. You can do it all yourself if you have a good handle on good design, graphics and branding - or better still - outsource it and then when you get the file back from the designer you can upload it into vista print. Just give your designer the VistaPrint template to work from.

The process is easy to do - easy to follow and at the end you get a very professional product. For example with the business cards, great card stock, coating, cutting and colours make for a great image supported by these cards.

I like to remember that if folks are like me - the save business cards - I have a collection of them from the 80’s that I still refer too.

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Success Story of an Effective Product Launch including some Tips and Shortcuts

Anne Preston — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:50:18 +0000

The Marketer: Alex Jeffreys

The Marketing Blurb: " Alex found a way to build a six figure online business in less than a year through consistent and persistent action.

What it is: A free 118 page e-book, down loadable

What it does: This e-book gives a nice overview of an effective product launch after you have created your product : creating buzz, contacting JV partners and affiliates, creating a solid marketing funnel - and more importantly a story of the post launch phase (7days + ) after your launch - and through story telling - including some of the money-costing mistakes Alex made and some of the structures of the ways he kept track and built an effective list of Joint Venture Partners.

My Experience: One of the biggest gifts of this product is that Alex takes the time to show you how to set up a Joint Venture list including how to set up excel as a tracking system. This e-book is worth picking up and reading - some of the ideas here are priceless. Alex does make some one-time-offers as you go thru the process to obtain the free e-book - but the e-book is free.
The Product Link : Post Launch Profits

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Link Directories

Anne Preston — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 09:12:05 +0000

Getting your website or blog listed in high quality web directories can be a time consuming task. There are organizations that will do this for you such as PageRankSubmit.com as well as some others - or if you are like me, you might be interested to to know that you can get direct, targeted traffic and one way links from directories by directly submitting to them. Doing this exercise may improve your search engine rankings and Google PageRank. I am just beginnin this process - and here are some of the directories that I am submitting to:

Clarib Web Directory
Info-Listings
BetterWebDirectory
JamJaa
Illumirate
Free Website Directory
DirectoryVault
Link Nom

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Have a Tool or Resource You Would Like To Share? in exchange for a Link?

Anne Preston — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:36:32 +0000

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What kind of Resources are You Looking For - That You Haven’t Been Able to Find?

Anne Preston — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:35:48 +0000

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Audio/Video Recording CD/DVD Manufacturing

Anne Preston — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:08:26 +0000

The Marketer: Kunaki.com

The Marketing blurb: "Your time to market is faster and easier. You can design, configure and manufacture in one day"

The Product Link: http://www.Kunaki.com

What it does: CD/DVD Manufacturing

You design and configure your product (case, disc, inserts, cover art, contents) with their publishing software. The software renders a precise 3-D replica of your product and lets you modify and review different possibilities. The software compiles your product’s content, packaging, art-work into a single digital file and uploads it directly to Kunaki."

The work they product is retail quality: full colour, glossing, fully assembled, cellophane-wrapped, retail ready products with free upc bar codes.

There are no minimums, commitments or contracts, no set up fees, mastering or surprise charges.
It’s fast - real fast

You can order what you want, when you need it
You can also have them accept credit card orders on your behalf - and ship product directly to your customers.

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Camtasia Studio’s Latest Version

Anne Preston — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 08:00:11 +0000

The Marketer: Techsmith

The Marketing Blurb: "Camtasia is the complete professional solution for recording, editing and sharing high-quality screen videos. It’s easy-to-use, affordable, and is the quickest and most effective way for you to communicate."

The Product Link: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/pcpls.asp

What it does: Screen capture - to video.

My Experience: I have been using Camtasia Studio since version 4 - and now I own version 5 - I am happy with it - and enjoy the extra features now included with version 5. I would recommend the upgrade.

Previously, CamStudio was an option for those wanting to do screen capture - with an open source product. Camtasia Studio - is much more user-friendly.

Wordpress

Upload,Manage and Store Video

Fill in your Log-name and Passwords with Ease

Anne Preston — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 01:34:35 +0000

T he Marketer: Siber Systems Inc

The Marketing Blurb: "Roboform is the top-rated Password Manager and Web Form Filler that completely automates password entering and form filling"

The Product Link: RoboForm

What it Does: You remember 1 password - and RoboForm remembers the rest. It saves time - it goes to a website and logs you in automatically, stores your passwords encrypted on your computer, it will generate passwords that hackers can’t guess, it fills passwords only on matching websites - so you won’t get caught by phishing sites.

My Experience: I have been using RoboForm now for about 3 months. I must say this is one of the best productivity tools I have picked up on in months and boy is it easy to use.

Keeping track of membership sites, papal accounts, list serves, shopping, domains, web logs and all the other sites I belong to - started to become a bit of a hassle. So much so, that I started to notice I wasn’t joining in on things just because I didn’t want to have to keep track of 1 more sign in code.

Then along came RoboForm

I am truly amazed about how much easier It is to check all of my accounts now. What used to take me 1/2 hr to do - now takes 10 minutes - and I find I moving a lot quicker from site to site now.

I went for the pro-version, although there is a free version available for download.

If you are like me and you have a lot of passwords and log-in names - this product would be one of my highest recommended tools for a busy small business owner.

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RSS Hugger Gets a Hug for Ease of Use

Anne Preston — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 00:24:08 +0000

The Marketer: Collin LaHay

The Marketing Blurb: " - rssHugger is a new (Nov 2007)( website developed to help bloggers promote their blogs, and to help visitors discover new blogs that write about subjects that the readers are interested in" "RssHugger will be the first ever quality, spam free, and viral rss directory strictly for bloggers"

Hosted, (currently free in exchange for a review of their new site ) or 20.00 for 10 Years.

The Product Link: http://rsshugger.com

What it Does: Has you be part of a viral rss directory that is strictly for bloggers - makes it interesting to find - folks that are blogging about the same things you are.

My Experience: As a bit of an experiment - I decided to give the sign up process for this a try. Surprisingly - things are super easy to set up. It took me all of 5 minutes, and in my days filled with time wasted trying to figure out programs and systems - this was a breath of fresh air!"

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Outsourcing - scripts, php Graphics

Anne Preston — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 22:00:35 +0000

In addition Elance.com

There is also a site called scriptlance.com where you can outsource your coding and scripting needs.