Check out my about.me profile!
Go to About.me to get your own!
Have you added your URL to the major search engines yet? Go to Get Listed to manage them on each site. You can also add the URL by itself on the pages directly: Bing, Google, and Yahoo.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Tungle.me
Check out my latest cool tech find!!
[from their website]
Tungle what?
Tungle.me is a scheduling application that syncs with your existing calendar.
o Eliminate double-bookings, time zone mishaps and the back-and-forth of finding a time to meet
o Easily schedule meetings, inside or outside your organization
o Invite others to schedule with you, without having to sign up
...
I've been using this for about a week now and have scheduled a few appointments without the confusion of back and forth messages or playing phone tag. Check it out! Schedule an appointment with me to review your marketing plans, Business to Business advertising options within the South Sound, or to learn about the Business Examiner's newest offering.... Marketing Consulting: The power of a Marketing Manager for a fraction of the cost!
[from their website]
Tungle what?
Tungle.me is a scheduling application that syncs with your existing calendar.
o Eliminate double-bookings, time zone mishaps and the back-and-forth of finding a time to meet
o Easily schedule meetings, inside or outside your organization
o Invite others to schedule with you, without having to sign up
...
I've been using this for about a week now and have scheduled a few appointments without the confusion of back and forth messages or playing phone tag. Check it out! Schedule an appointment with me to review your marketing plans, Business to Business advertising options within the South Sound, or to learn about the Business Examiner's newest offering.... Marketing Consulting: The power of a Marketing Manager for a fraction of the cost!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Presentation to Association of Fundraising Professionals
If my organization isn't doing anything right now with social media, what would you recommend as our first step?
Depends on your level of comfort with all things technical. If you are comfortable setting up a page but haven't thought to do so, go for it. The easiest way to set it up is to search for a page you know exists, like "Association of Fundraising Professionals, South Sound Chapter" and scroll to the bottom and select create a page for my business. Then follow the steps to setting up a fan page. Which is not the same as a friend page.
For most businesses you should default your wall to show posts by page and others, so that people who do stop by to give you kudos will be easily viewed by others. You should also make sure your thumbnail means something, either a photo or logo aligned so it is not chopped off in an odd way.
What are your top 2 'must dos' and top 2 'must NOT dos' when it comes to social media?
Must do #1: BE SOCIAL. #2: Be engaging #3: Be interesting #4: Be Real
Must don't #1: Don't spam people by posting too often. #2: Don't post the same stuff over and over again. #3: Don't always post saying "you're in desperate need" post good stuff and informative stuff sometimes, it will make your "need" less ignorable if you aren't always asking for stuff.
What advice do have for keeping up with such a rapidly changing landscape? As soon as you figure out one strategy or new tool, something else new or better comes along!
At the very least have a presence, choose what works for best for you and ask others in your field what has worked for them. Follow people on Twitter that are similar and feed off of each other.
What tools do you recommend for 1) marketing our social media sites and 2) encouraging donations or members or awareness from “friends”?
1) I have heard great things about Facebook ads, they are inexpensive. Do the free stuff first. If you haven't gone to getlisted.org to update your information on the major search engines you are missing a big piece of online real estate. You can also ask people to share your page with others. If you send out email, newsletters, or have a website... your social media information should be included in that, make it as easy as possible for them to "like" you.
Is it worth dappling in social media if you do not have a person dedicated to monitoring and update on a regular basis? If the answer is yes, how do you recommend this be done in a “small shop”?
Yes, set up your phone to post updates and have your messages set up to only notify you if someone comments or messages you. that way you know when you need to sign in to respond to something and can post updates on the go, you can also email photos to your profile on the go.
I would also recommend you use personal accounts to connect on a more personal level... much more likely to get the buy in for help or donations if there is an actual person asking. But offer more than just a need for donations, someone that cannot donate money might be able to donate their time.
Why is social media important? Can we get away with NOT using it?
Social media is important because it makes you and your organization approachable and can cause your followers to "take ownership" of your success. If you engage them and make them understand what you're doing and why in a non-spammy way... you're onto something.
It's too easy to "not" do it... Jump in, people can still talk about you if you aren't there... it's better if you can be part of that conversation. Remember it's not the number of fans you have, but how loyal they are to helping your cause!
What are the best tools/sites you recommend using and what is their specific purpose?
Hootesuite is worth a look, as is tweet deck. they both can help with both Facebook and Twitter.
I would also set up a google alert for your organization or topic, that way when an article is written about you or something related... you can post that relevant info from a 3rd party to your account.
Some other information that might be helpful regarding fundraising:
DonorDrive Constituent, donation and event management software for non-profits. Includes reporting and exporting capability, e-mail marketing, message forums, and more. It makes you request a demo, so I don't have any more info for you.
http://www.socialbrite.org/2010/05/28/19-tools-for-fundraising-with-social-media/
http://mashable.com/?s=fundraising
Square Allows you to accept payments via the square reader from android or apple devices. No contract, no monthly fees, competitive rates, completely mobile.
Eventbrite Helps promote, share and grow your events. Free for free events. Small fee if there is a cost, there are options to have your attendee pay the fee and you can also set up a donation option if someone wants to donate instead or on top of your event.
Animoto Apply for a FREE Pro Account at Animoto, they help you create dynamic videos quickly and easily from your photos and short video clips.
Depends on your level of comfort with all things technical. If you are comfortable setting up a page but haven't thought to do so, go for it. The easiest way to set it up is to search for a page you know exists, like "Association of Fundraising Professionals, South Sound Chapter" and scroll to the bottom and select create a page for my business. Then follow the steps to setting up a fan page. Which is not the same as a friend page.
For most businesses you should default your wall to show posts by page and others, so that people who do stop by to give you kudos will be easily viewed by others. You should also make sure your thumbnail means something, either a photo or logo aligned so it is not chopped off in an odd way.
What are your top 2 'must dos' and top 2 'must NOT dos' when it comes to social media?
Must do #1: BE SOCIAL. #2: Be engaging #3: Be interesting #4: Be Real
Must don't #1: Don't spam people by posting too often. #2: Don't post the same stuff over and over again. #3: Don't always post saying "you're in desperate need" post good stuff and informative stuff sometimes, it will make your "need" less ignorable if you aren't always asking for stuff.
What advice do have for keeping up with such a rapidly changing landscape? As soon as you figure out one strategy or new tool, something else new or better comes along!
At the very least have a presence, choose what works for best for you and ask others in your field what has worked for them. Follow people on Twitter that are similar and feed off of each other.
What tools do you recommend for 1) marketing our social media sites and 2) encouraging donations or members or awareness from “friends”?
1) I have heard great things about Facebook ads, they are inexpensive. Do the free stuff first. If you haven't gone to getlisted.org to update your information on the major search engines you are missing a big piece of online real estate. You can also ask people to share your page with others. If you send out email, newsletters, or have a website... your social media information should be included in that, make it as easy as possible for them to "like" you.
Is it worth dappling in social media if you do not have a person dedicated to monitoring and update on a regular basis? If the answer is yes, how do you recommend this be done in a “small shop”?
Yes, set up your phone to post updates and have your messages set up to only notify you if someone comments or messages you. that way you know when you need to sign in to respond to something and can post updates on the go, you can also email photos to your profile on the go.
I would also recommend you use personal accounts to connect on a more personal level... much more likely to get the buy in for help or donations if there is an actual person asking. But offer more than just a need for donations, someone that cannot donate money might be able to donate their time.
Why is social media important? Can we get away with NOT using it?
Social media is important because it makes you and your organization approachable and can cause your followers to "take ownership" of your success. If you engage them and make them understand what you're doing and why in a non-spammy way... you're onto something.
It's too easy to "not" do it... Jump in, people can still talk about you if you aren't there... it's better if you can be part of that conversation. Remember it's not the number of fans you have, but how loyal they are to helping your cause!
What are the best tools/sites you recommend using and what is their specific purpose?
Hootesuite is worth a look, as is tweet deck. they both can help with both Facebook and Twitter.
I would also set up a google alert for your organization or topic, that way when an article is written about you or something related... you can post that relevant info from a 3rd party to your account.
Some other information that might be helpful regarding fundraising:
DonorDrive Constituent, donation and event management software for non-profits. Includes reporting and exporting capability, e-mail marketing, message forums, and more. It makes you request a demo, so I don't have any more info for you.
http://www.socialbrite.org/2010/05/28/19-tools-for-fundraising-with-social-media/
http://mashable.com/?s=fundraising
Square Allows you to accept payments via the square reader from android or apple devices. No contract, no monthly fees, competitive rates, completely mobile.
Eventbrite Helps promote, share and grow your events. Free for free events. Small fee if there is a cost, there are options to have your attendee pay the fee and you can also set up a donation option if someone wants to donate instead or on top of your event.
Animoto Apply for a FREE Pro Account at Animoto, they help you create dynamic videos quickly and easily from your photos and short video clips.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Online Tools: What You Might Be Missing
“Online Tools; What You Might Be Missing & How They Can Help Your Business”
Presented by Tessa Miller, Business Examiner
[Some of this is duplicated from when I spoke at the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber a few weeks back... this is for a presentation to the Tacoma chapter of Executive Women International]
My name is Tessa Miller.... and I'm a tech junkie! Which is perfect for my role as a marketing consultant at the Business Examiner. I mainly help with marketing plans and help implement them throughout various channels. But I really like to help people. Sometimes that can be a little overwhelming... for the person I'm talking to :)
I love to learn, I am the geeky kid that loved to tour the crayon factory along with Mr Rogers and his neighborhood. With that in mind, I'm going to attempt to keep this simple... plan to have 2 new things on your to-do list... anything else can be tackled later.... All of the information that I share today will be available to you, so don't try and write down EVERYTHING I say. Just pick 2 things that you can implement to either help increase your chances of getting in front of the people that are already searching for your service. Or... something that you can use to make your life a little easier.
So, you run a business.... now what? As a business owner trying to do what you're already good at, and manage to do the other things needed but maybe not fully understanding what that entails... where do you start?
One of my favorites and a great starting point is Getlisted.org
If you do nothing else... you need to go to this website and run a search of your business. All you have to do is put in your company name and zip code and it will tell you what search engines you have claimed and which ones you haven't. Claiming your listing means putting in your logo, photos, hours, parking, website... everything that tells a potential client about you and what you have to offer them. You can still do pay per click if it's a good fit for your company... but don't forget the free stuff FIRST.
If you have a lot of free time on your hands, you can go online to each search engine and update your info... Get Listed is a portal created by a couple of businessmen in Portland with the goal of helping small business owners harness all that is the internet... and allowing you to do so all in one place. Making sure you're information is submitted to all these search engines will increase the chances of your company showing up in organic search results.
Get Listed also offers a pretty cool university if you are wanting to learn more and network with other business owners.
Do any of you accept credit cards? All of them? Do you want to? Then meet Square. Square is changing the way payments are accepted. For no monthly fee & no rental cost for a processing machine, anyone can accept credit card payments. Really... Anyone. Anywhere.
But there is a catch... You do have to have an itouch, iphone, ipad or android device for it to work. However there is no need to write the customer out a receipt, as they input their email address and it privately sends it to them, it also keeps track of all payments both credit, and cash that have been ran through their system. and of course, being part of a mobile device, it's completely mobile. Which means you can sell your widgets ANYWHERE.
So, Accept payments. Everywhere. 2.75% + $.15 when card is present. 3.5% + $.15 when card is not present. That's it! squareup.com
Want to send out a quarterly newsletter? Be sure it has great content, looks professional and follows the anti-spam laws. My suggestion is to avoid monthly if you can... it locks you into a commitment you might not be able to fulfill and sending too often can bore your audience, play around with it and see what your audience wants. madmimi.com
Up your RSVP's and control your events with Eventbrite.com, they even help promote it for you!
Share between co-workers, your own various computers and smart phones. Dropbox.com allows you to share a link to specific documents which is helpful for creating hyperlinks in your newsletter to allow readers to click to download an applications and other information.
Edit and fill forms on PDF's
pdfescape.com
Do you troubleshoot with clients or team members? Send them a screenshot of what you are seeing and add notes, highlights, and arrows to explain what you need.jingproject.com
Do a search for "business tools" online which will likely bring up a Mashable article that I have scoured before and found many useful tools. Mashable is one of my favorite tech sources... so much so, I follow them on Facebook for frequent updates and am always finding new stuff to try out. This particular article had over 270 tools for things like: accounting, invoicing, scheduling, presentation software, customer service management, marketing & publicity management, newsletters, and even payroll... Anything you want, is likely already available online.... for FREE or low cost... Doing things the old fashioned, brick and mortar way... leaves you paying for a store and sales people to fulfill and manage your services. When you find cool things like this... always bookmark it. Or better yet, email them to yourself so you can search for it later.
That brings me to email options... if you don't have a gmail account you are seriously missing out... their new priority inbox is making my life easier and I love the search options and filters, which is why I email stuff to myself for future reference. I recently started having all of my work emails to my gmail account and I can now search through all of those emails and I am not bogging down our server or the memory on my computer.
Looking to save time? Assuming you already have a cell phone that has at least basic funtionality... be sure you have unlimited texting and use it. You can update twitter, facebook, get directions and information and manage your calendar... all from a text message, internet and fancy phone not required. To use Google SMS, just text the word "help" to 466453 (GOOGLE). I have it saved in my phone and often have people call me for directions only for me to text for the information and forward the replies to them.
Struggling to manage your calls and voicemails? Google Voice gives you one number, and you choose which phones ring for which callers. You can even transfer between phones seamlessly. If someone leaves you a message, google transcribes the message for you to read, and those messages can be emailed to anyone you want... and they are saved until you delete them. Sometimes the transcriptions are rather humerous, but the actual sound is right on.
Share calendars with each other to make scheduling easier or "join" public calendars to keep up to date on what's going on. If you're looking for a calendar to add, let me be your first... I have a networking calendar that has area chamber and networking events. I'm happy to share.
Google docs - even without word, excel, etc can view manage documents.
Google reader, find stuff you're interested in... and read it on your time.
Create alerts in Google to find when someone mentions your business or a new article is available on your industry, the info can be sent to either your email or to your reader.
Google Reader
Google url shortenter
Need an 800#? Rates vary but about, $5/month & $.07 /minute
kall8.com
Track your miles and receipts, via text or online/app.
xpenser.com
photoshop, but free.
gimp.org
illustrator... for free.
inkscape.org
Be sure to claim your listing on geo-location check-in sites. Offer a "prize for checking in on certain days or certain times or for number of check ins" This can help you spread awareness of your company, on Foursquare it will say offer nearby when someone checks in at another local business.
Foursquare.com
Gowalla.com
Scvngr.com
Where.com
Twitter [be funny, vulnerable, informative] Make sure you have a photo, and fully complete the profile info. If someone follows you.... unless they are a robot you should follow them back, can always create lists to manage if you want to only view certain feeds
Facebook [be social, don't overpost, be informative, be relevant, reach out and tag others in your status updates] Do not go to random fan pages and post your "ad" - if I'm friends with you and like the page your on posting on... it spams me and is uber annoying. Especially when you copy and paste to several pages within minutes. Default your page to the view your info, some fancy page or your wall: but tell it --> posts by me & others
Share events, url's, contact info... creat your own QR Code...
QR Code Generator http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/
If all else fails go forth and google. Google is my friend.... they have room for one more.
Presented by Tessa Miller, Business Examiner
[Some of this is duplicated from when I spoke at the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber a few weeks back... this is for a presentation to the Tacoma chapter of Executive Women International]
My name is Tessa Miller.... and I'm a tech junkie! Which is perfect for my role as a marketing consultant at the Business Examiner. I mainly help with marketing plans and help implement them throughout various channels. But I really like to help people. Sometimes that can be a little overwhelming... for the person I'm talking to :)
I love to learn, I am the geeky kid that loved to tour the crayon factory along with Mr Rogers and his neighborhood. With that in mind, I'm going to attempt to keep this simple... plan to have 2 new things on your to-do list... anything else can be tackled later.... All of the information that I share today will be available to you, so don't try and write down EVERYTHING I say. Just pick 2 things that you can implement to either help increase your chances of getting in front of the people that are already searching for your service. Or... something that you can use to make your life a little easier.
So, you run a business.... now what? As a business owner trying to do what you're already good at, and manage to do the other things needed but maybe not fully understanding what that entails... where do you start?
One of my favorites and a great starting point is Getlisted.org
If you do nothing else... you need to go to this website and run a search of your business. All you have to do is put in your company name and zip code and it will tell you what search engines you have claimed and which ones you haven't. Claiming your listing means putting in your logo, photos, hours, parking, website... everything that tells a potential client about you and what you have to offer them. You can still do pay per click if it's a good fit for your company... but don't forget the free stuff FIRST.
If you have a lot of free time on your hands, you can go online to each search engine and update your info... Get Listed is a portal created by a couple of businessmen in Portland with the goal of helping small business owners harness all that is the internet... and allowing you to do so all in one place. Making sure you're information is submitted to all these search engines will increase the chances of your company showing up in organic search results.
Get Listed also offers a pretty cool university if you are wanting to learn more and network with other business owners.
Do any of you accept credit cards? All of them? Do you want to? Then meet Square. Square is changing the way payments are accepted. For no monthly fee & no rental cost for a processing machine, anyone can accept credit card payments. Really... Anyone. Anywhere.
But there is a catch... You do have to have an itouch, iphone, ipad or android device for it to work. However there is no need to write the customer out a receipt, as they input their email address and it privately sends it to them, it also keeps track of all payments both credit, and cash that have been ran through their system. and of course, being part of a mobile device, it's completely mobile. Which means you can sell your widgets ANYWHERE.
So, Accept payments. Everywhere. 2.75% + $.15 when card is present. 3.5% + $.15 when card is not present. That's it! squareup.com
Want to send out a quarterly newsletter? Be sure it has great content, looks professional and follows the anti-spam laws. My suggestion is to avoid monthly if you can... it locks you into a commitment you might not be able to fulfill and sending too often can bore your audience, play around with it and see what your audience wants. madmimi.com
Up your RSVP's and control your events with Eventbrite.com, they even help promote it for you!
Share between co-workers, your own various computers and smart phones. Dropbox.com allows you to share a link to specific documents which is helpful for creating hyperlinks in your newsletter to allow readers to click to download an applications and other information.
Edit and fill forms on PDF's
pdfescape.com
Do you troubleshoot with clients or team members? Send them a screenshot of what you are seeing and add notes, highlights, and arrows to explain what you need.jingproject.com
Do a search for "business tools" online which will likely bring up a Mashable article that I have scoured before and found many useful tools. Mashable is one of my favorite tech sources... so much so, I follow them on Facebook for frequent updates and am always finding new stuff to try out. This particular article had over 270 tools for things like: accounting, invoicing, scheduling, presentation software, customer service management, marketing & publicity management, newsletters, and even payroll... Anything you want, is likely already available online.... for FREE or low cost... Doing things the old fashioned, brick and mortar way... leaves you paying for a store and sales people to fulfill and manage your services. When you find cool things like this... always bookmark it. Or better yet, email them to yourself so you can search for it later.
That brings me to email options... if you don't have a gmail account you are seriously missing out... their new priority inbox is making my life easier and I love the search options and filters, which is why I email stuff to myself for future reference. I recently started having all of my work emails to my gmail account and I can now search through all of those emails and I am not bogging down our server or the memory on my computer.
Looking to save time? Assuming you already have a cell phone that has at least basic funtionality... be sure you have unlimited texting and use it. You can update twitter, facebook, get directions and information and manage your calendar... all from a text message, internet and fancy phone not required. To use Google SMS, just text the word "help" to 466453 (GOOGLE). I have it saved in my phone and often have people call me for directions only for me to text for the information and forward the replies to them.
Struggling to manage your calls and voicemails? Google Voice gives you one number, and you choose which phones ring for which callers. You can even transfer between phones seamlessly. If someone leaves you a message, google transcribes the message for you to read, and those messages can be emailed to anyone you want... and they are saved until you delete them. Sometimes the transcriptions are rather humerous, but the actual sound is right on.
Share calendars with each other to make scheduling easier or "join" public calendars to keep up to date on what's going on. If you're looking for a calendar to add, let me be your first... I have a networking calendar that has area chamber and networking events. I'm happy to share.
Google docs - even without word, excel, etc can view manage documents.
Google reader, find stuff you're interested in... and read it on your time.
Create alerts in Google to find when someone mentions your business or a new article is available on your industry, the info can be sent to either your email or to your reader.
Google Reader
Google url shortenter
Need an 800#? Rates vary but about, $5/month & $.07 /minute
kall8.com
Track your miles and receipts, via text or online/app.
xpenser.com
photoshop, but free.
gimp.org
illustrator... for free.
inkscape.org
Be sure to claim your listing on geo-location check-in sites. Offer a "prize for checking in on certain days or certain times or for number of check ins" This can help you spread awareness of your company, on Foursquare it will say offer nearby when someone checks in at another local business.
Foursquare.com
Gowalla.com
Scvngr.com
Where.com
Twitter [be funny, vulnerable, informative] Make sure you have a photo, and fully complete the profile info. If someone follows you.... unless they are a robot you should follow them back, can always create lists to manage if you want to only view certain feeds
Facebook [be social, don't overpost, be informative, be relevant, reach out and tag others in your status updates] Do not go to random fan pages and post your "ad" - if I'm friends with you and like the page your on posting on... it spams me and is uber annoying. Especially when you copy and paste to several pages within minutes. Default your page to the view your info, some fancy page or your wall: but tell it --> posts by me & others
Share events, url's, contact info... creat your own QR Code...
QR Code Generator http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/
If all else fails go forth and google. Google is my friend.... they have room for one more.
15 Applications No Online Business Can Live Without
[Doing some research to see if I can find more cool tech stuff that will make my life easier. This is a pretty good list.]
If you’re running an online business, and probably even if you aren’t, there are some online tools that you need to know about. Not all of these tools are a necessity for every business, but no matter what you’re in, there are sure to be tools below that you know you should be using.
The applications on this list didn’t get here because they look pretty. They got here because millions of freelancers have tried, tested, and swear by them. Do your business a favor and make sure you know about the applications listed here.
If you’re running an online business, and probably even if you aren’t, there are some online tools that you need to know about. Not all of these tools are a necessity for every business, but no matter what you’re in, there are sure to be tools below that you know you should be using.
The applications on this list didn’t get here because they look pretty. They got here because millions of freelancers have tried, tested, and swear by them. Do your business a favor and make sure you know about the applications listed here.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Build a Facebook fan base by adding value
I love this article! Many businesses forget the "social" part of SOCIAL media!
[By Emily Molitor on October 11, 2010 via SmartBlog on Social Media]
During Friday’s Facebook Success Summit session, “How to build and manage a loyal Facebook fan base,” Amy Porterfield and Cindy King focused on one key tenet of Facebook marketing: adding value. King and Porterfield, two of Social Media Examiner’s three page moderators, have helped the company gain more than 18,000 fans in just over six months.
Building and managing a Facebook fan base from nothing means you need to offer your customers consistent value that they are not already getting through other means. While promotional offers can be a good source of material once you have an established fan page, King and Porterfield suggest posting only true content for the first 30 days.
Once you have your page up and running, King and Porterfield say, they have a few key suggestions to drive engagement: Click here to view the rest of Emily's article.
[By Emily Molitor on October 11, 2010 via SmartBlog on Social Media]
During Friday’s Facebook Success Summit session, “How to build and manage a loyal Facebook fan base,” Amy Porterfield and Cindy King focused on one key tenet of Facebook marketing: adding value. King and Porterfield, two of Social Media Examiner’s three page moderators, have helped the company gain more than 18,000 fans in just over six months.
Building and managing a Facebook fan base from nothing means you need to offer your customers consistent value that they are not already getting through other means. While promotional offers can be a good source of material once you have an established fan page, King and Porterfield suggest posting only true content for the first 30 days.
Once you have your page up and running, King and Porterfield say, they have a few key suggestions to drive engagement: Click here to view the rest of Emily's article.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Google's URL shortener goes public!
Woo Hoo! Loving me some google!
Goo.gl Goes Public
The phrase "Google it" is getting a whole new meaning today; the search giant has just released its goo.gl URL shortener to the public and created a standalone website so that anyone can use Google to shorten and track the URLs they share via social media sites and e-mail.
Goo.gl initially debuted last December as a feature integrated into other Google () products. Google's newly public URL shortener competes with a myriad of other popular services, Bit.ly () being the most notable of the bunch.
The company claims that its shortener boasts stability, security and speed. The former two are especially important as several other services have been plagued by both downtime and malicious parties masking deceptive links. Goo.gl features automatic spam detection, and "near 100% uptime since our initial launch," according to the company's announcement.
For the full story, go here:
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Online Tools: What you might be missing.
I presented at the Tacoma - Pierce County Chamber of Commerce today.... trying to help businesses embrace technology.
I'm a tech junkie!
My goal today is to give you a few new things on your to-do list that will help increase your chances of getting in front of the people that are already searching for your service. Or... at the very least something that you can use to make your life a little easier.
You do what you do, well... which is likely why you started your business. Because you had a passion and the desire to make something out of your talents. Not because you are good at marketing, accounting, and all things technical.
I am a team member at the Business Examiner, my role is helping businesses with their marketing – which is, what you could call "my day job" ... I also own a construction company, mainly managing the marketing and trying to keep Blue Apple in front of potential clients.... and in the mix of all that... I have a family including two small kids, so I get the frustration of balancing a work life and a home life, and trying to do so on a tiny budget.... but, there is a way.
Before starting our construction company. I learned a lot about the do's and don't of advertising and what struggles business owners go through when I worked at Yellowbook. Over the 5 years I was there, and even now, I see business owners shelling out their hard earned money on things that are available online for free or for a very low cost. Drives me nuts!
So, as a business owner trying to do what you do well and manage to do everything else on top of that... where do you start? First. Know when to ask for help.
Ask friends and business associates what their favorite tools are, I've found several this way. One of my favorites and what I tell people to start with first is. Getlisted.org
If you do nothing else... you need to go to this website and run a search of your business. All you have to do is put in your company name and zip code and it will tell you what search engines you have claimed and which ones you haven't. It is also a portal to access all the search engines and update your info [on google, yelp, bing, yahoo, Best of the Web, & Hot Frog]
Claiming your listing means putting in your logo, photos, hours, parking, website... everything that tells a potential client about you and what you have to offer them. You can still do pay per click if it's a good fit for your company... but don't forget the free stuff FIRST.
Google wants to have current relevant information available when someone searches for you... if the searcher knows who you are and looks online specifically for you and can't find you... the search engine is the one that looks bad. If you have a lot of free time on your hands, you can go online to each search engine and update your info... Get Listed is a portal created by a couple of businessmen in Portland with the goal of helping small business owners harness “all that is the internet”... and allowing you to do so all in one place, and somehow they do it without charging.
Making sure you're information is submitted to all these search engines will increase the chances of your company showing up in organic search results. Getlisted.org also offers a pretty cool university if you are wanting to learn more and network with other business owners.
Now, to some people "the internet" is very scary... with that said, I know HTML and can build and play with websites all day long... but it doesn't mean I have the time. So finding tools to do these things that are simple to use strangely make me giddy... did I mention that I REALLY love FREE!
So imagine my glee when I got an email, literally, yesterday letting me know that my square reader has been shipped and will arrive in 1-2 weeks... What is square you ask? Square is changing the way payments are accepted. For no monthly fee and no rental cost for a processing machine, anyone can accept credit card payments. Really... Anyone. Anywhere.
What's the catch? You do have to have an i-touch, i-phone, or android device for it to work. However there is no need to write the customer out a receipt, as they input their email address and it privately sends it to them, it also keeps track of all payments both credit, and cash that have been ran through their system. and of course, being part of a mobile device, it's completely mobile. Which means you can sell your widgets ANYWHERE.
So, Accept payments. Everywhere. 2.75% + $.15 when card is present. 3.5% + $.15 when card is not present. That's it! squareup.com
Preparing for today, I did a search for "business tools" which brought up a Mashable article that I have scoured before and found many useful tools. Mashable is one of my favorite tech sources... so much so, I follow them on Facebook for frequent updates and am always finding new stuff to try out. This particular article had over 270 tools for things like: accounting, invoicing, scheduling, presentation software, customer service management, marketing & publicity management, newsletters, and even payroll.
Anything you want, is likely already available online.... for FREE or low cost... Doing things the old fashioned, brick and mortar way... leaves you paying for a store and sales people to fulfill and manage your services. When you find cool things like this... always bookmark them. Or better yet, email them to yourself so you can search for it later.
That brings me to email options... If you don't have a gmail account you are seriously missing out. Their new priority inbox is making my life easier and I love the search options and filters, which is why I email stuff to myself for future reference. I recently started having all of my work emails to my gmail account and I can now search through all of those emails and I am not bogging down our server or the memory on my computer.
Looking to save time? Assuming you already have a cell phone that has at least basic funtionality... be sure you have unlimited texting and start using it. You can update twitter, facebook, get directions and information and manage your calendar... all from a text message. Internet and fancy phone not required.
To use Google SMS, just text the word "help" to 466453 (GOOGLE). Pretty much anything you can “google” on a computer, you can also find via text message. I have it saved in my phone and often have people call me for directions only for me to text for the information and forward the replies to them.
Struggling to manage your calls and voicemails? google.com/voice gives you one number, and you choose which phones ring for which callers. You can even transfer between phones seamlessly. If someone leaves you a message, google transcribes the message for you to read, and those messages can be emailed to anyone you want... and they are saved until you delete them.
Share calendars with each other to make scheduling easier or "join" public calendars to keep up to date on what's going on. If you're looking for a calendar to add, let me be your first... I have a networking calendar that has area chamber and networking events. I'm happy to share.
Networking calendar for Pierce County...
(This is a work in progress... if you know of something not on this list, let me know. So far I have started with the areas that I focus on which is Tacoma and Puyallup, however I would like to have many options available so I can look at it and add items to my actual calendar as needed.)
You can copy and paste this into any feed reader.
http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/f1g83a6af6n8ljbenh982vh27o%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic
You can copy and paste this into any calendar product that supports the iCal format.
http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/f1g83a6af6n8ljbenh982vh27o%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
Please use the following address to access your calendar in any web browser.
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=f1g83a6af6n8ljbenh982vh27o%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FLos_Angeles
Google docs, allows for sharing documents and is accessible through any computer.... just log into your Google account. This worked really well when I was having problems with word opening up on my computer at home. I was still able to manage documents that people sent me, since I could open them and make changes through Google.
Google reader, find stuff you're interested in, and read it on your time. This is a great way to follow the BE Daily if you feel like your email is bogged down these days.
Create alerts in Google to find when someone mentions your business or a new article is available on your industry, the info can be sent to either your email or to your reader.
Do you troubleshoot with clients or team members? Send them a screenshot of what you are seeing and add notes, highlights, and arrows to explain what you need.
Want to send out a quarterly newsletter? Be sure it has great content, looks professional and follows the anti-spam laws. My suggestion is to avoid monthly if you can... it locks you into a commitment you might not be able to fulfill and sending too often can bore your audience, play around with it and see what your audience wants.
Share between co-workers, your own various computers and smart phones. Allows you to share a link to specific documents which is helpful for creating hyperlinks in your newsletter to allow readers to click to download an applications and other information.
Need an 800#? Rates vary but about, $5/month & $.07 /minute
Up your RSVP's and control your events with Eventbrite, they even help promote it for you!
Track your miles and receipts, via text or online/app.
Engage your audience. Allows you to ask a questions and your audience texts in their response for online polling during a presentation.
Edit and fill forms on PDF's
Lifehacker wrote a very useful post today about converting documents online. To convert a document simply attach the file and send it to any of the following email addresses.
1. iPhone@pdfonline.com—Converts any attached Microsoft Visio or Word file (including the 2007/.docx kind) to PDF files, and supports multiple file attachments. Ignore the "iphone" in the address, as it works from any device or computer, but only supports files up to 1 MB in size.
2. pdf@koolwire.com—Converts Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint files to PDFs. Like the other Koolwire addresses below, it accepts files up to 10 MB in size.
3. doc@koolwire.com—Convert PDFs to Word or Rich Text Format files.
4. mp3@koolwire.com—Convert WAV files to MP3s.
5. wav@koolwire.com—Convert MP3s to WAV files.
Converted documents will be sent back to you!
Like Photoshop? Gimp is similar, but free.
Like Illustrator? Ink Scape is similar, but free.
Be sure to claim your listing on geo-location check-in sites. Offer a "prize for checking in on certain days or certain times or for number of check ins" This can help you spread awareness of your company, on Foursquare it will say offer nearby when someone checks in at another local business. If you are not on these sites, you are missing a HUGE marketing opportunity, people are checking into nearby businesses whether you use this or not. If you reward them… they will come!
Twitter (be funny, vulnerable, informative) Make sure you have a photo, and fully complete the profile info. I learned how to be engaging on twitter from David Morris, the CEO of Dillanos Coffee Roasters, you should follow him @coffeemaverick he’s an amazing business owner and you WILL learn a lot from him…. And he has great energy!
Facebook (be social, don't overpost, be informative, be relevant) Reach out and tag others in your status updates, engage with others more often than you promote yourself.
Share events, url's, contact info... create your own QR Code...
QR Code Generator http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/
Now that I have thoroughly overwhelmed... my job here is done. I am, however, available to you on a consultation basis... one of the cool new features available to you through the Business Examiner, as always the South Sound Business Information Resource.
If all else fails go forth and “google”. Google is my friend.... I hear they have room for one more.
[This was created for a presentation that I did for the Tacoma – Pierce County Chamber of Commerce. If you have questions or want to see what else I have in my head… follow me on twitter @nowtherearetwo or call me on my cell 253-226-4515 I’m always available to point you in the right direction if you’re not sure which way is up.]
If you have other tech things you enjoy... share them in the comments!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Surgery in 2-3 weeks
This is Riley a few weeks ago, her cyst is much more noticeable when her hair is wet. I sent Dr Young a text saying her cyst is definitely bigger and wondering if we should go back to neuro. Later in the week sent him this picture... he said, it has gotten bigger! (today was the appointment, see below)
Just goofing around, girls were piling on me last week, but this picture shows Riley's cyst pretty well even with her hair dry. It's typically not very noticeable when her hair isn't wet.
This was today at the neurologists office. Keeping her busy until Dr Morris came in. Below is the information I posted on Facebook to update everyone.
-----
Since the lump on her head where her soft spot is keeps getting bigger the neurologist, who last saw her in November, has decided that we should go ahead and remove the cyst. Keeping it in risks possible further damage to her skull from the lump constantly being there and whatever pressure that creates and causes the bone to ... See Moreeither wear away or not develop correctly.
All the research I have done, and I showed him my print outs today, point toward a "congenital epidermoid cyst over the anterior fontanelle". It is described as a rare lesion usually manifested at birth, surgery is mandatory and recurrence is rare.
They will have to put her under, of course, and put a tube down her throat for breathing as her face will be completely covered and masked off.
They will have to cut her hair on top of her head... bummer about that, but shouldn't be a scar other than wherever she parts her hair as the incision be 1-2 inches back going side to side.
They will remove the cyst and inspect the area to check on the skull. Dr Morris may secure a thin titanium mesh screen with screws to her skull if it appears that her skull is too thin or not fully formed where the cyst sits, he'll determine that when he gets in there.
The cyst will be sent to pathology just for good measure, they have already ruled out cancer etc... although I suppose anything is possible. From what I have seen it is likely a sac of fluid or something like that.
He said if surgery is morning she would likely go home that night.... evening she would probably stay overnight.
I'll keep everyone posted as we learn the date of surgery and of course when it is done and how things go.
I'm sure I'll be a nervous wreck for the surgery day, but other than that we're doing well. When Hayden saw Riley after our appointment she said "Riley bump all gone?" she clearly doesn't understand what going to the doctor for Riley's bump meant... seems that she thought it would be gone this go around. She is a super good sister and will likely be very protective when Riley is done with surgery and is all bandaged up.
So, really this is good news and I am anxious to get it scheduled and mostly to get her recovered and hopeful that the cyst hasn't done too much visual "damage" to her skull that might be visible and cause her to be self conscious as she gets older.
Here is an update/video on my YouTube page.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Stickers for going potty...
I gave her a replacement sticker.... And she promptly ate it!? Weirdo.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Oh, no!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
bump on head
I feel like i am reading a letter that was written by me... same problem, and lack of information about bump on baby's head...
http://www.askdrwarren.com/qa010319.htm#q4
Bump Near Fontanel
Our three-month old daughter has a persistent bump on top of her anterior soft-spot. My wife noticed it early on and brought up her concern with our family doctor at our daughter's two-month checkup. Stating that he had not seen this before, he referred us to a pediatrician about an hour and a half away. This peditrician examined our daughter and found her to be in excellent health. He and his colleagues also performed an ultrasound and found the brain to be developing normally and also ascertained that the "bump" was not attached to the brain. None of these doctors had seen anything like this before, but did not feel that it was cause for any great alarm. They told us to watch this closely and to have an MRI performed if there was a significant change in the size of the bump.
We have read up on what this could possibly be in books like Dr. Spock's. He said that a sunken in anterior fontanel is often indicative of dehydration, while a persistently bulging fontanel may indicate pressure of some sort. Our daughter gives no indication that there is discomfort of any sort. She is breast-fed only, mom does not and has never smoked, drank, etc. She sleeps thru the night for 7-9 hours, feeds and normally goes back to sleep for another 2-3 hours. Afternoons are fine, evenings are a bit tougher, but nothing out of the ordinary. Touching the bump does not seem to cause her discomfort of any sort.
We are trying not to be overly-worried but, on the other hand, we do not wish to foolishly dismiss something that may be serious.
Any assistance you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
-Mr. & Mrs. H
Dear Mr. & Mrs. H: I am trying to visualize what you are describing when you talk about the bump in your daughter's fontanel, but from your description I cannot tell if you are talking about something attached to or part of the bone, a bulging of the fontanel, or something sticking out of the fontanel. If so many doctors have examined your daughter and can't tell you what it is, it is obviously not ordinary. I would consider consulting a pediatric neurosurgeon for an opinion or having the MRI done to see if the nature of the bump can be clearly delineated.
Sincerely,
Dr. Warren
We have not had an abundance of doctors look at R, and are most concerned because we are in South Dakota. These doctors simply do not see the volume of babies which more urban doctors would. One doctor thought it to be a blood vessel, another thought it was a "crinkle" of the outer layer of the brain. Not sure what I think of these postulations. We asked another online doctor what they thought as well and they suggested it may be a cyst.
Do these clarifications help you to relate to something you may have seen in your years of practice? Your assistance is much appreciated.
-Mr. & Mrs. H
Dear Mr. & Mrs. H: If the lump is not part of the baby's skull and not connected to the brain or brain lining, it could be a cyst, hemangioma, lymphangioma, or lipoma. The small size (your subject line said pea-sized) is consistent with a cyst. The question is whether or not it has been established beyond a shadow of a doubt it is not connected to the brain or brain membranes since it is at the fontanel. If there is a connection to underlying tissue through the fontanel, it could also be an encephalocoele. I think, since the doctors who have seen it have been puzzled rather than giving you some definitive reassurance you need to find an answer. Therefore, I suggest my original advice which was to see a pediatric neurosurgeon and/or have an MRI of the head.
Sincerely,
Dr. Warren
We first-timers tend to try to steer clear of the "over-reaction" stereotype that seems to cling to new parents, even if you do not feel that you are that way. People seem to like to play to stereotypes. And yet, in such cases, it seems that one would prefer to err on the side of over-reacting and finding nothing rather than waiting for "image" sake and finding something too late which could have been treated if discovered earlier.
Thank you for letting me sound this out while writing to you. Having done so, I do not feel that I want to wait 2-3 weeks to find out what we are dealing with here. If you believe such a time frame to be acceptable for the possibilities you mentioned in your email, I would be more comfortable with this time frame. I do not know what the anomalies are which you mentioned. They probably sound worse than they are.
-Mr. & Mrs. H
Dear Mr. & Mrs. H: I can understand your being anxious, especially since your doctors appear to be puzzled; however, your daughter sounds healthy and her condition is stable, so I doubt there is any urgency to be seen before two to three weeks.
Sincerely,
Dr. Warren
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
First incident with make up
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Hayden at the dentist
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Monday, October 12, 2009
a new toy is exciting to a 2 year old!
it's time for art!!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
first day of daycare...
Sunday, September 27, 2009
current
I don't find myself updating much these days... facebook has become my blog of choice... will still post on this blog when i find time.
hayden is 2 and her vocabulary is growing right in front of your eyes. just a few days ago, she was still saying coo-coo instead of cookie.... now she says cookie. we saw our friends bryan and debbie at the fair the other day and bryan and bobby and hayden went over to the cow chip booth to get a cookie, bobby asked hayden what it was and she said cookie... bobby was heart broken... not sure why this was the trigger. he said he was sad because it was so cute and she is growing up so fast. she is working on the whole potty training thing, driving bobby crazy... she is constantly saying that she needs to go or needs a new diaper and she is dry. we took the kids to point defiance zoo a few weeks ago, they have a great play area... hayden loved it!!
riley had a mri on friday to try and figure out why her soft spot is raised. the ctscan a few weeks ago didn't show what dr young needs to know to be comfortable that she is ok. at this point, brain tumor is ruled out... her behavior has been normal so we aren't thinking that there will be any issues, but the road to figuring it out is rough. we had to pin her down to get the iv in for sedation.... very hard, she was screaming her head off and there was nothing we could do... but really, could you blame her?? results expected on monday. riley is rolling over both ways, no teeth just yet... but she's drooling lots so i think it's around the corner.
hayden is 2 and her vocabulary is growing right in front of your eyes. just a few days ago, she was still saying coo-coo instead of cookie.... now she says cookie. we saw our friends bryan and debbie at the fair the other day and bryan and bobby and hayden went over to the cow chip booth to get a cookie, bobby asked hayden what it was and she said cookie... bobby was heart broken... not sure why this was the trigger. he said he was sad because it was so cute and she is growing up so fast. she is working on the whole potty training thing, driving bobby crazy... she is constantly saying that she needs to go or needs a new diaper and she is dry. we took the kids to point defiance zoo a few weeks ago, they have a great play area... hayden loved it!!
riley had a mri on friday to try and figure out why her soft spot is raised. the ctscan a few weeks ago didn't show what dr young needs to know to be comfortable that she is ok. at this point, brain tumor is ruled out... her behavior has been normal so we aren't thinking that there will be any issues, but the road to figuring it out is rough. we had to pin her down to get the iv in for sedation.... very hard, she was screaming her head off and there was nothing we could do... but really, could you blame her?? results expected on monday. riley is rolling over both ways, no teeth just yet... but she's drooling lots so i think it's around the corner.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
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oh, how time flies by....
