Category Archives: Guest Post

Blogging, Guest Post, Sharisax Is Out There

Why Your Website Really Needs a Blog

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“Blogs provide a dimension to content that you can’t get from your website.”

. . . and that is only one of the insights in a great article I found online in a blog post by Michael Cohn, the Chief Technology Officer of CompuKol Communications. He has over 25 years of experience in IT and web technologies.

Michael is one of a team of writers who cover the gamut of Social Media and Internet Marketing issues on their blog CompuKol , which I read with great regularity.

This article has two primary audiences:

(1) Bloggers who like to read about how necessary they are to build online traffic

AND

(2) Businesses with websites that are NOT generating the kind of traffic and profits they had expected with an online site.


Blog vs Website: What’s the Difference?

Guest Post by Michael Cohn

Many people have websites (for their businesses as well as for personal use) and many people have blogs. The issue is whether people truly understand the difference between a website and a blog. They certainly are not the same thing. The following explains the basic differences between a blog and a website:

Blog

  • Content is regularly updated.
  • Not formal.
  • Interactive.
  • Informative and educational.
  • Interactivity about industry/customer issues.
  • Some people have a blog.

Website

  • Content is static.
  • Formal/professional.
  • Interactivity does not exist. There is only one-way communication.
  • Transactional.
  • Communication about products and/or services.
  • Almost everyone has a website. In fact, it is almost a requirement in business today.

A good way to think about a website is in terms of it being a virtual store that sells products and/or services. A website is the perfect forum to self-promote and advertise.

Promotion and buying and selling are exactly what people expect when they visit a website. When they are at the point of making a purchase of some kind, they go to a website that will satisfy their needs. They can either purchase something online directly from your website or they can use your website to find out exactly where your bricks and mortar store is located so that they can come and purchase products and/or services from you in person.

Once a customer has bought something from you, there is a very high likelihood that they will not return to your store again. It is also basically impossible to build relationships with your potential customers and existing customers on your website because the website is static. Once a person has purchased something from you, there is no potential for interactivity so the relationship will never have a chance to develop and grow.

Blog

A blog, however, is constantly supplying potential customers and existing customers with interesting and useful content, and the blog enables them to interact with the blogger. The discussions they have together can be potentially unending.

Not only can you and your customers have discussions, but they can also ask questions that you can answer. Blogs also provide a dimension to the content that you can’t get from your website content.

Through your consistent and regular blog content, you will eventually be regarded as a subject matter expert in your niche and people will turn to you for answers. This will promote more and more discussions.

What is really being done in this case is that relationships are being developed and strengthened. Some of the people with whom you interact on your blog will never become your customers. That is perfectly acceptable. They can interact with you as much as they like and do not have to worry about any pressure to buy anything.

A very important fact is that the people with whom you interact are getting to know you as a person, which includes your level of integrity, your passion for what you are doing and offering and your knowledge, knowledge that you impart to them.

Blogs have a lot of useful features that are very helpful in promoting interactivity. Blogs enable visitors to subscribe to them so they can receive updates on a very regular basis. They will always be informed when new content is added or there has been some update to the social media profiles of the people with whom they interact.

In order to really be effective, blogs should have new postings at least once or twice a week. Fresh, original content is very important. The content is exactly what attracts and retains people and many of those people will eventually become customers.

The true purpose of a blog is to provide helpful, valuable, informative and interesting content that helps other people and that they find interesting. A blog’s purpose is definitely not to advertise or to do a hard sell on anyone. If you try to use your blog in that way, you will be very disappointed with the results. You will not be able to build relationships with anyone and you most likely won’t sell very much.

People don’t buy from people whom they don’t trust. The only way that they will trust you is if they get to know you.

All in one

One approach that has proven very effective is building your website with blog software, such as WordPress. Blog software has the capability of providing you with both static web pages (pages) and blog pages (posts). Since both are necessary for the success of your online exposure, this allows you to design a web presence that contains a traditional website and a blog using one tool. Among the other benefits are:

  • One homogenous look and feel.
  • Ease of optimization for SEO.
  • Sharing of add-on plugins between the pages and posts.
  • Ease and speed of designing and developing the web presence.
  • Ease of maintenance and updating of content since the entire web infrastructure is based on a content management system (CMS).

Conclusion

Blogs and websites work in very different ways, serve very different purposes and produce different short-term results. However, they are both necessary to increase your online exposure and to strengthen your online business reputation. It is important to have both as part of your online presence. They function well together and undeniably, you will see positive results over the long term if they are a part of your business online.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. Please contact us at CompuKol Communications for further discussion on how we might be able to assist you and your team.

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Blogging, Guest Post, Sharisax Is Out There

Teaching with Blogs and Twitter — When “Student Help” Means the Students Are Helping: What are you likely to learn?

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My English students are practicing their writing skills on personal blogs for class assignments. A few of the students still “didn’t get it,” i.e. what was this blogging stuff all about?

So I asked them all to write a paragraph with this topic sentence:

“Blogs are a great way for people to build an online presence as an expert.”

Here is the paragraph that I liked so much I wanted to share it with my readers:

Expertise Is Just a Click Away

Guest Post by Natasha Hart-Wong

Blogs are a great way for people to build an online presence as an expert. When I don’t know how to do something, my first instinct is to ask someone who does know: I ask my husband computer problems. I go to my sister for pet and animal inquiries, and my stepmother always has the answer for any question about organic gardening. Blogging has that personal reference feel for any topic you can think of. So a simple internet search can yield experts in any field you have an interest in. If you feel you are an expert on something, then starting your own blog is a great way to share your expertise with the world.

*     *     *

With Social Media still in its Evolutionary Stages — especially where education is concerned, we teachers are creating new ways to communicate with our students . . . and learn from/with them.

My Freshman Composition students will be writing research papers using Twitter Search and Tweetdeck [to capture the Twitter Search Streams]. Natasha will be writing about Blogging for Business, and if you want to know more about the subject, click on the links she found and posted during our online class “discussion” #Laney1A:

Natasha’s First Tweets

  1. RT @sweta_s_patel: The most effective micro-blogging tools for your business http://ow.ly/2bsEU #Laney1A via TweetDeck

  2. http://bit.ly/acFSXF 10 Big Blogging benefits for small Business#Laney1a via TweetDeck

  3. RT @LittleXpert: Blogging Advice for Small Business http://bte.tc/aK9 #Laney1A via TweetDeck

  4. RT @infomediadotcom: Can blogging really help your business? The answer is… http://ow.ly/2bnwu #Laney1A via TweetDeck

  5. RT @nataliajones: Basics of business blogging http://ht.ly/2aV98 #bloggingtips #Laney1A via TweetDeck

  6. RT @Kevin__Chan: rt @copyblogger How to Find Thousands More Prospects for Your Business: http://bit.ly/coW8CF #Laney1A via TweetDeck

  7. RT @dkspeaks: 5 Business Blogging Tips | Freelance Blogging http://bit.ly/dfC3bx #Laney1A via TweetDeck

  8. RT @savvy_writer: Blogging for Business, Part I: http://tiny.cc/ybf0i #Laney1A via TweetDeck

  9. RT @visualpeople: regular blogging makes a difference:http://bit.ly/dsQ91y #Laney1A via TweetDeck

  10. RT @G0utham: WordPress Instant Online Money Making Theme http://bit.ly/anL6XV #Laney1A via TweetDeck

  11. RT @Acidhedz: Why Google Adsense Can Help Your Online Business Succeed http://bit.ly/cdag8Q #Laney1A via TweetDeck

  12. RT @JupiterCyclone: How to quickly and easily create a blog for your business http://bit.ly/cdUeJt #Laney1A via TweetDeck

  13. RT @LynnZettler: Good tips for blogging for businesses http://ow.ly/29F1k #Laney1A via TweetDeck

  14. RT @michael_n: Keep up your business blog: http://bit.ly/dwx8LZ #Laney1A via TweetDeck

  15. RT @ChadBooker03: Three Tips to Get You Started Blogging for Business http://bit.ly/9CBOVA #Laney1A

    Fellow teachers AND students, how have social media sites enriched your educational experiences?

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Facebook, Guest Post

Tips & Tabs for Your Facebook Fan Pages [“Basic” but advanced]

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Karen Clark is as charming as her smile, and I have learned a great deal from her as we both travel along Social Media Revolutionary Road.

One day Karen’s photo appeared prominently on my Facebook profile page, and the next day I met her face-to-face at a get-together for the speakers at the first SocialBiz2010 conference held in Petaluma last April.

Karen leads social media workshops for all levels of learners from beginner to advanced, and the following is an article just posted on her site. Being the friend she is, she has allowed me to re-post it for my readers to learn from, as well. And she invites you to go to MyBusinessPresence.com if you have any questions.

Advanced Facebook Fan Page Resources

Guest Post by Karen Clark

To customize unique tabs on your Facebook Fan Page, use the Static FBML Application:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/apps/application.php?id=4949752878&ref=ts

Under its logo click Add to Page then select your Fan Page.

Visit your Fan Page, and under your picture/logo click on Edit Page. From the list of items on the next panel, find the FBML-FBML section and click Edit. This will bring you to a blank box with the title FBML. Change the title to whatever you would like your new tab called, and then insert either FBML code or plain HTML code into the box. I have some basic HTML commands on this blog post.

To create multiple FBML tabs, while you are editing one of them, go to the bottom left and click Add Another FBML Tab, and you will be able to add up to 10 unique pages.

You can also use an HTML editor to create something the way you would like it to look. I personally use Dreamweaver website creation program, but that is typically too pricey and complicated for non-web designers. Try using something like this HTML editor. You may even  have something on your computer already. Just make sure that you are using plain text HTML.

CAUTIONARY NOTE: One particular problem with many text editors (like Word – do not use it unless you can convert to plain text only) will use “smart quotes” or “curly quotes” which do not work in FBML tabs. FBML needs all quotation marks within the code to be completely straight. If you have HTML you are using that isn’t working – check your quotes!  Another thing to remember is that if you are using a web page creator, only copy and paste the code BETWEEN the <body> and </body> tags. Everything before and after and including those tags will cause your code to not work. If you have any trouble or need me to double check your code, let me know!

Most of the time you will need the file URL of any images you are using on your fan page. This will be http://www.something.com/images/whatever.jpg or something like that. If you have images you want to use on another web page of your own (do not lift off of others!) then you can usually right-click on the image, View Image to get the file URL or Copy Image Location, then paste that file URL.

PHOTOS: If you do not have access to the image already hosted on one of your sites, upload it to a site like Photobucket. Sign up for one of their free accounts, upload your image, and then find the Share Image section, which will give you either the embedding code which usually works, or the file URL.

EMAIL: If you would like to capture your Fans’ email addresses, you can create a new Static FBML page and copy/paste your email newsletter provider’s website html code and make it work. For mine, I use MailChimp.  There is a place to create a “Small Form for Website” which fits fine. Just make sure you check off the box that says to add a non-javascript form.

CONTACT: For a Contact Page where your fans can ask you a question or send you feedback that arrives by email, I use Freedback.  This is free if you do not mind your visitors having to see some ads, or you can pay a small fee to get a form ad-free. You will be given the html code to paste into an FBML tab.

REVENUE: If you would like to collect money for services or products on an FBML tab, you can do so using a free shopping cart that I have used for years. This is not actually a shopping cart system as it is a way to add code for an “add to cart” button wherever you would like one, and clicking on it leads to the mals-e page that you are able to customize. The transaction then takes place on the mals-e secure servers and integrates with either Paypal or a merchant account, or you can even tell them to send a check if you prefer. Some people have also been able to simply get Paypal buttons from Paypal and paste the code into their FBML pages but I use mals-e. It emails me when I have an order, and then I log in to get the credit card information, or it confirms that it has been paid through Paypal.

BLOG: Networked Blogs is my preferred application for importing your blog posts into your Fan Page or personal Profile page. You can sign up for it here.

TWITTER: To tie your Fan Page to your Twitter account. This will send anything you post to your Fan Page over to your Twitter account, truncating it to 140 characters including a link back to your Fan Page for them to read the rest.

INTEGRATION: And finally, to manage all of your online presence tasks, consider using an integration tool such as HootSuite. This allows you to access all of your accounts from one screen – Facebook Profile, Fan Pages, Twitter, Linked In – and monitor for replies. It also lets you monitor any keywords or search terms you wish, as well as schedule some non-conversational posts in advance. This is handy if you will be away from the computer or out of town.

*   *   *

Facebook Fan Page gurus: Any more tips for our readers?

FOR MORE BASIC FACEBOOK INFORMATION:

Do’s and Don’ts on Facebook to Preserve Your Online Reputation

How to put your Facebook Friends into Lists

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Guest Post, Sharisax Is Out There

Nook Goes After Baby Boomers with Extra Large Type . . . and lower price

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My BFF Sandy Davis has done it again. Recently she reported on her Electronic Book Reader research that paid off with All The Reasons To Choose Nook Over Kindle. Here’s the latest . . .

Nook News! For one thing: Prices are Down

Guest Post by Sandy Davis

Yesterday, Barnes and Noble made an exciting Nook announcement. There is a brand new version of Nook which uses wireless internet access only — instead of 3G and wi-fi. And the price is only $149!

It has all the same features as the 3G/wi-fi Nook except that in order to download books, you have to be on your home wireless network, a wi-fi hotspot or at a Barnes & Noble Store.

For those of you who don’t get out much and have constant wireless access, this could be a great choice for you!

I am very glad I have the 3G option because I can download books at work, on the beach (sand not recommended for Nook) or at my mom’s house where there is no wireless access.

C-Net calls it “The best e-reader for $149”, but of course there aren’t many around at that price! It’s a deal.

Barnes and Noble also announced a price reduction on the 3G/wi-fi Nook to $199. This is no doubt in response to Amazon’s lowering of the price on the Kindle this week to $189.  If you have been waiting for the prices to come down on e-readers, here is your big chance!

The software for Nook also got an update this week to version 1.4.0.

Three new features worth noting:

1. Extended AT&T Wi-Fi Hotspot support — FREE and seamless connection to AT&T’s entire nationwide Wi-Fi network including restaurants, hotels and additional locations, and wherever you see an AT&T Wi-Fi sign. Nook also looks for wi-fi first instead of connecting first to 3G.

2. New extra extra large font size for all us aging Baby Boomers!

3. Go-To Page feature allows users to go to a specific page in their eBook. This was the most requested user feature and it is great!

I also found a great user guide for the Nook. It is called Using Nook by Jim Cheshire, a senior escalation engineer at Microsoft on the ASP.NET and IIS teams. Jim has worked on the FrontPage, Visual Basic, ASP, IIS, and ASP.NET teams at Microsoft for more than 10 years.  He has been entrenched in nook research and use since he first heard about the new device and has delved into every aspect of it, including hacking it. Even before getting his hands on one, he researched it and listened to the experts discuss its use. He was an early adopter, an avid reader, and a self-proclaimed nook expert.

Using Nook contains 15 chapters of tips, tutorials and information about how to get the most out of your Nook. The fist chapters rely largely on material from the manual, but the later chapters include information about locating third party books, hacking the Nook to download and extract the Android SDK, using NookLauncher, adding applications to your laucher and using Trook and Calibre. For those of you Nookies who want to really tweak and play with your Nook, this is the book for you! The digital version is available for $4.99 at barnesandnoble.com.

Disclaimer: I love the fact that Sandy loves her Nook, but neither of us has gotten it for free. So this is definitely an unsollicited Rave!

What do YOU think about the Nook?

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Blogging, Guest Post, Sharisax Is Out There

Will a FREE WordPress Theme Work for Your Blog?

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When my WordPress Meetup group discussed the new features of WordPress 3.0, I was gungho to get started. Not only did I download the upgrade, but I also decided to test out a new theme.

Good thing I “tested” it on a training blog . . . because OOOPS my new theme crashed my site.

Good thing Hostgator was able to restore everything.

But where to turn next? Actually, as I’ve written before, LinkedIn Answers are ideal to find an expert for just about everything I want to know.

Here was my question:


My LinkedIn Experts did not fail me. In fact Sallie Goetsch, who runs our WordPress Meetup group wrote such a great response that I asked to publish it as a Guest Post:

Three Checkpoints for New WP Themes

Guest Post by Sallie Goetsch

Themes do have to pass certain tests to get into the theme repository on WordPress.org–they need to be licensed under the GPL and be free from spam links and malware. So even if you find the theme elsewhere, it’s good to check to see whether it’s available from WordPress.org.

Second, check to see how recently the theme has been updated and what kind of support the developer is offering. (You can usually find this on the home page of the theme developer. There should be a link to this in the style.css file, which you can open in Notepad.) Theme updates are often released as blog posts, with comments from users that let you know about problems.

Run the Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) plugin. This checks your themes for suspicious links.

Themes from developer sites are likely to be more trustworthy than themes from spammy-looking sites with thousands of free themes. Many of those will be out of date and won’t work well with newer versions of WordPress, even if there’s no malicious code in them.

If the theme is a complex one with theme options and built-in functions like slideshows, check to see whether it relies on certain plugins, or might conflict with them. (And check to see whether those plugins work under your version of WordPress.)

There’s always some trial and error involved with themes, especially now with WP 3.0. If the theme passes the other tests, install it and see what happens. If it doesn’t work properly, deactivate and delete it, and try a different one.

If you have a favorite theme that doesn’t take advantage of all the new WP 3.0 features, there are several articles out there for theme developers on how to upgrade your theme.

Links:

If you ‘d like to read the rest of the great answers, please check out the other responses I’m adding to the Comment section.

And please feel free to add your own experiences and tips, as well.

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Guest Post, Sharisax Is Out There

Don’t Make These Webinar Blunders

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Lately WEBINARS have been Top of Mind for me:

In a Twitter conversation,  friend/colleague Karen Clark and I were discussing preferred webinar providers. Meanwhile, Anthony Russo, who monitors Twitter for keywords like webinar,  found us and joined the conversation:

“@MyBizPresence @sharisax I’d like to show you my company’s webinar platform when you do your eval. No downloads, cross platform, simple.”

I “listened” and made Anthony a new friend on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

So when I was on vacation in NYC — busy seeing Broadway shows, visiting museums, and eating out — I didn’t have time to blog and bemoaned the fact to my Facebook community. This time, Anthony heard me and offered to help out with this guest article:

The Two Webinar Problems You Want to Avoid

Guest Post by Anthony Russo

With the recent boom in webinars and video conferencing, presenters are conducting many surveys to find out what the attendees of these events find as the biggest hurdles and annoyances.

Far and away, the top two responses are getting into the meeting, and bad audio.

Let’s take them one at a time.

Getting into the meeting

This is all about simplicity. The days of your audience happily downloading and installing your chosen software are rapidly disappearing. In today’s web-based culture:

Instant Gratification + Accessibility RULES!

Don’t assume your attendees are all using PC’s. Also if any attendees must call their IT department or configure their computer specifically to join your meeting, you are starting with one strike against you.

Look for a web-based system to insure the widest acceptance of your message and the most open minds in your audience when they arrive. You do not want to present to a frustrated audience that just had to navigate a complicated technical procedure to listen to you. Web-based is now more and more expected. Ask Gmail, Salesforce, Facebook, etc. The experience of the technology should fall to the background and your message should be what they are attentive to.

Audio

Great audio makes for a great meeting.

Technology is not perfect, and your audience will understand this…to a point. They will be forgiving of jerky video or slow loading slides — or even the occasional odd technical mishap. One thing that is not forgivable though is bad audio. If they cannot hear the presentation, they are frustrated immediately.

The most common culprit is if VOIP audio is the only choice for your session. While convenient, the attendee must maintain a consistent connection to the event. Always offer an accompanying teleconference to your attendees where they can dial in on their phone if they experience problems with the VOIP audio.

The phone option is a necessity, not an option, when the webinar has a charge. A free event brings a much more tolerant attendee than someone who has paid for the privilege of hearing your message. With a paid event, you can figure in the cost of audio to the price of the event. I always warn my clients to be wary with a free webinar because when a large turnout of users dial in, this could mean a large audio bill for the event and they need to plan accordingly.

Keep in mind that technology is never going to be 100%. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling you snake oil. Your audience will be forgiving of most anything that might happen as long as they can get to the meeting and hear you clearly.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Here’s Anthony’s blog link Conferencing solutions meet simplicity

The Good, Bad & Ugly of Webinars by Fran Simon with a link to her webinar for absolute newbies.

Why I hate webinars by the General

Re-thinking webinars by Zak Pines

What’s been your webinar experience? Any more blunders to avoid? Any more articles to recommend?

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Guest Post, Sharisax Is Out There

Nook beats out Kindle for Superior Online Reading

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A few weeks ago, one of my networking groups gave us the table topic of Your Female Role Model. At the moment my mind went blank .  .  . but darn, I should have thought of my very very good friend Sandy Davis who was my next door neighbor in Springfield, MO.

I’ve got lots of stories how Sandy has inspired me, but the relevant one for this blog is how active she was online before most of us were even on email.

Sandy is an avid reader — in addition to her technical savvy — and just bought herself a NOOK. Needless to say, she thoroughly checks out every detail, and here are all the reasons she decided on the Barnes & Noble ebook reader.

Nook or Kindle? Kindle or Nook?

Guest Post by Sandy Davis

Yesterday, I finally made my choice, after having debated the issue since last October. I chose the Barnes and Noble Nook and I am so thrilled that I did!

Let me wax rhapsodic for a few moments on the joys of owning the Nook.

First of all, I did not make this decision lightly. $250 is a lot of money for a “toy.”

What finally pushed me to move ahead was the Barnes and Noble’s limited time offer (until July 3, 2010) of a free $50 gift card with the purchase of a Nook. I was able to use the gift card to purchase a case for the Nook, which is essential, and have money left over for some e-books. It is a great deal!

At the Barnes and Noble store, I was able to try out the Nook for the first time in person. I had previously tried out the Kindle since my boyfriend has one. After about 20 minutes of using the Nook there in the store, I was hooked.

When the money came together on Saturday (a trip to Coinstar—Gosh, I had a lot of loose change!) I was ready to buy my Nook.

By the time I went to bed that night: I had —

  • registered my Nook,
  • hooked the Nook up to my home DSL,
  • surfed the web,
  • downloaded some books
  • and was able to read in bed until I fell asleep.

In its case, the Nook has such a feel of a “real” book that a couple of times I have caught myself trying to turn the pages by hand!

Nook has several distinct advantages over the Kindle

Brick & Mortar support: First, it is supported by a nationwide chain of brick and mortar Barnes and Noble stores. Barnes and Noble offers the opportunity to read any book for one hour for free when you are in the store, and they also have special in-store material that can be downloaded for free, but only inside the store.

Trying out the Nook and holding cases: The chance to hold and use the Nook in person before buying was key to my decision to get one. It was also very valuable to be able to see and touch the various cases before buying. I had several in mind from looking on line before I went, but ended up choosing a less expensive “Alice paper look” case because it was sturdier and felt better than the two leather look cases I had been considering. One of the employees also told me they had had some problems with the snaps coming off on a few of the snap-type cases, so I was able to rule those out.

Unless you know someone with a Kindle, there is no way you can see it in person or check out the accessories before you buy.

Features for the avid reader: I am an avid reader and a person who purchases books rather than borrows them from the library. I know it’s not cost effective, but I like the ability to read or not read at my own pace without a deadline and to be able to pass on books to other people when I am done with them.  The Nook allows me to do both of these things with ease. It “remembers” exactly where you are in every book that you are reading, so you can pick up right where you left off.

Lending opportunities: Barnes and Noble also offers the opportunity for you to “lend” any book you purchase to someone else for 14 days. You simply send your friend an email telling them that you are lending them the book and they can download it to their Nook or to the Barnes and Noble e-reader for PC, (which is free to download) or smart phone. The Kindle does not offer any way to share the books you purchase.

Huge selection of titles: The Nook gives the reader access to many more reading choices than the Kindle. Because it supports so many formats (ePub, PDF, PDB, JPG, MP3, and Adobe DRM), you can read books from Google, Kobo Books (kobobooks.com) which is Borders’ e-book site as well as from Barnes and Noble on your Nook. All books for the Kindle must be purchased only through Amazon.com.

Rechargeable battery: Another distinct advantage of the Nook is that the battery is not only rechargeable, but is replaceable as well. The battery in the Kindle can be recharged, but it cannot be replaced.

For travelers: The Nook has an “airplane” mode that turns off the WiFi and 3G so that you can read on a plane. You can purchase and download e-books for the Nook anywhere in the United States. Outside of the US, you can still connect to WiFi to receive your updates and subscriptions, but you cannot purchase new books or subscriptions.

The Kindle has worldwide subscription service, although there is a surcharge for downloading books outside of the US. I plan to travel a lot with my Nook, but I figured that if I were going overseas, I could pre-load my Nook with everything I could possibly want, as it holds up to 1500 books and has room for unlimited expansion of its capacity by adding memory cards.

Simple to start up: It took about three hours to completely charge (which you have to do the first time you use it) but you can use it while it is charging on the a/c adaptor. I had used Barnes and Noble’s e-reader for the PC a few times, so I already had an online account set up and some books in my library.

Registering an account: If you do not have an account, you have to set one up online first at BarnesandNoble.com, but it is very simple to do. The hardest part of registering my Nook was typing in my user name and password on the small Nook keyboard. My passwords are very robust and it takes a lot of effort to switch back and forth from alpha to uppercase alpha to numeric on the keyboard. I kept accidentally hitting the “cancel” key below the “S” and having to start over which was frustrating! I finally got in by typing very slowly and carefully and checking each letter as I typed.

Agreement with AT&T: Once I got registered, the 3G connection downloaded my library. Barnes and Noble has an agreement with AT&T to use their 3G network for the Nook. There is no monthly fee for this and there is no plan to charge in the future, according to two Barnes and Noble employees that I talked to.

Web browsing: The Nook also has the ability to connect to any WiFi hot spot or to your own home wireless router. It was easy for me to type in the name of my home network and the password and be able to surf the web with the Nook’s browser. The web browser feature is in Beta testing, so I’m sure there will be enhancements. It is not meant to replace a computer or even a smart phone, but you can check email or look something up on the net if you need to, which is a nice feature.

No backlit screen: This morning when I woke up, I downloaded the Sunday New York Times for $.99 and will be enjoying the pleasure of a leisurely read of the best Sunday paper available without even having to go outside! And speaking of going outside, the screen on the Nook is not backlit, so you can take it outside and read and see the screen even in direct sunlight.  You need light to read, just like a “real” book, so if you want to read in the dark, you will need a small book light which you can attach to the case.

Book “case”: The case I purchased gives the Nook a “real book” feel in size and weight. It is made of specially treated canvas that gives the feel of hard back book cover. The Nook sits securely inside the case and there is even a pocket on the inside to hold a note or a business card.

USB cable: The Nook comes with a USB cable that allows you to charge it with your computer and an a/c adapter that attaches to the USB plug on the cable. You can charge the Nook by attaching the cable to the USB port on your laptop, but you cannot use the Nook while it is charging via USB. When the Nook is hooked to the PC, you can access the Nook drive like any other peripheral device through My Computer to add pictures, screensavers and e-books that you download from sources other than Barnes and Noble.

I would highly recommend the Nook for anyone who is an avid reader. I can already see that it will give me a lot of reading enjoyment and will become as indispensible as my laptop.

Have you tried the Nook . . . and had as great an experience? Or are you still a Kindle fan?

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Guest Post, Sharisax Is Out There

Nearby Businesses Take Note: FOURSQUARE Brings Loyal Fans

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How many downloaded apps are on your SmartPhone . . . that you don’t use . . . because you don’t know how?

I’ve got lots, but I wasn’t going to let Foursquare languish, especially since I need it as I adventure through the “villages” of New York City.

So when my LinkedIn/Facebook connection  Eric Hinman asked to “friend me” on Foursquare, I jumped at the chance to have an authority tell me AND my readers How to Use Foursquare.

Foursquare is a highly popular location-based social media tool brought to you in a real-life game format. —Eric Hinman, Iphone App Developer/Marketer

How to have fun and make the most of FOURSQUARE

Guest Post byEric Hinman

In its basic form, Foursquare shows you venues including stores, restaurants and hotels that are around you — although sometimes it can be quite off in distances and nearby establishments.

The location-based app also allows users to leave “tips” for places (similar to Yelp). It also add things to do; for example, others can see the best entrees on the menu according to other foursquare users.

When downloaded on your phone,  the app allows you to check-in to venues you visit as well as see where and when your friends have checked-in.

  • Finding friends is easy using Facebook Connect, entering your Twitter name, or even searching your address book on your phone if you’ve downloaded the app.
  • You can also share these check-ins on Facebook & Twitter.
  • The more you check in, the better your chances of winning foursquare badges and even the prestigious mayorship.

The true game aspect comes into play in the leader board that is refreshed each Sunday. It shows where you rank amongst your friends in points:

  1. The more times you check in the more points you receive.
  2. The more new places you venture off to, the more points you will be rewarded, and the more badges you will receive.
  3. The “game” can become quite addicting! If you check into a venue more than anyone else, you will be crowned the mayor of that venue.

Foursquare now has a dashboard that allows businesses to reward mayors with special deals & discounts– Starbucks being their most prolific business partner to date.

Start exploring your city, earning badges, and being rewarded when you become the Mayor of your favorite haunt!

BTW, I “checked in” at the Empire State Building and took the above night shot of NYC with my Droid.

Why not add your most interesting Foursquare Tips and Experiences.

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Guest Post, LinkedIn, Sharisax Is Out There

Which Side of Digital Divide Will Your Company Be On in 2 Years?

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Social Media Academy is an online learning experience for an online world, and I was fortunate to have recently completed their leadership training for social media consultants — where many of the classes were conducted by one of my first mentors SMACAD CEO Axel Schultze.

SMACAD sponsors a LinkedIn group, and member Morris Pentel asked:

What do you think the role of social media will be in 2 years time?

Here was Morris’s answer to his own question:

“Customer Partnerships rather than Customer Management will become the new way to deal with customers moving forward as we start to recognize the power that customers have.”

Axel responded with a not-quite-so-optimistic answer, which he has allowed me to use as a Guest Post.

Lack of Relevant Curriculum Will Hamper Majority of Today’s Business Students — and the companies that hire them

by Axel Schultze

As a customer experience fanatic, I understand Social Media to be the single most powerful mechanism to improve customer experience. But social media is not something you “install” and then have it.

Unfortunately, I see the “social divide” widening in two years.

Social Graph Factor

It takes approximately six months to establish a decent social graph. Within those six months many people will give up, make mistakes, and start all over in another six months. In other words, somebody who starts in the social web today can be savvy and have a valuable social graph by end of the year.

Organization Factor

The democratization of knowledge is another current dilemma. The established experts make way to whoever communicates fastest, loudest and with the largest number of followers (not twitter followers, but followers of their direction).

  • Today more people say “You have to grow the number of followers” than those who say “Focus on relevant people in your network.”
  • More people say “Social Media is the new marketing channel” than those who say “Social Media is most successful as a cross-functional customer engagement model.”

The challenge is to identify the most successful way for an organization to create a sustainable success model.

Role Model Factor

In the past, if a company installed CRM, SAP, Local Area Networks, the company or their vendor heavily advertised that fact.

Not so in Social Media. Social Media is a powerful competitive advantage and those who figured it out won’t advertise it. The majority of leadership teams are followers — following the market leader.

But if the market leaders do not promote what they do, the followers will fall back more than ever before.

Educational Factor

The vast majority of business education still teaches traditional techniques. Many of the instructors are business consultants who were pretty successful 10+ years ago and are now teaching their success model to others.

There are only a microscopically small number of business-relevant social media training institutes or consultants with both — sound business experience AND a profound social media background. Look at the major sales training institutes: You won’t find them in the social web; some even require their trainers to NOT use social media at all.

As such – the “social divide” will widen and the distance between market leaders and followers will get bigger in the next two years. In most industries the market leaders are heavily engaged in the social web while their B-Class competitors are still busy wondering if “the economy is coming back.”

Which side of the Digital Divide do you want to be on, and what will you be doing about it?

Social Media Academy’s next Leadership Class begins June 9.

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Guest Post, LinkedIn, Sharisax Is Out There

8 Tips to Get Astounding Results from LinkedIn

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Social Media Marketing Mavens is one of my favorite LinkedIn groups because the discussion topics always seem to provide opportunities for me to learn new tactics, tools, and techniques for Social Media Marketing.

. . . just one more reason why LinkedIn is such a phenomenal place to “live” and learn. So when I read Victoria Ipri’s advice on helping LinkedIn members maximize their participation and increase their bottom lines, I knew I needed to share her suggestions with my readers.

Confident Copywriter Victoria Ipri “is the epitome of the type of professional you hope to connect with on LinkedIn and in all of your business dealings. She is generous, helpful, and a dynamic writer. She gives freely of her time and expertise and asks little in return.” — from her first LinkedIn recommendation

No Business from LinkedIn? Here’s What May Be Wrong

by Victoria Ipri

So you’ve been on LI for months and you haven’t gotten one shred of business…except maybe a few inquiries here and there that didn’t pan out; a couple nibbles from companies that were wrong for you; and those endless MLM offers you won’t even consider.

That leaves you wondering what all the fuss is about. Who are all these people who claim they have gotten new, profitable business on LinkedIn?

Bad news: It’s not LinkedIn. It’s you.

To drive business on LinkedIn, you need an action plan and a system, just like any other business strategy. You’re only going to get back what you put in. Without a plan, you’ll waste a lot of time being sociable, with no real business to show for it.

This is the biggest complaint I hear about social media marketing…it takes a lot of time and results never seem to materialize.

I agree, it is time-consuming. But when done correctly (which means planning SMM into your day, maximizing that time, and maintaining a narrow focus), the results can be astounding.

It’s kind of like cleaning your house. You start out enthusiastically enough. Two hours later, though, you haven’t moved from the bedroom. You end up sidetracked, going through closets and drawers and…“ooohhh! What’s this? My high school love letters!”

Before you know it, you’ve walked so far down Memory Lane you’ll need to catch the bus back to the corner of Main & Reality.

8 Steps to Optimizing Your LI Connections

1. See the future: How much new business can you comfortably handle? Be realistic. One new client a month is 12 for the year. Not bad.


2. Choose a target market and do not stray from this focus.


3. Join groups for those markets and actively participate in a meaningful way.


4. Educate yourself on effective LI search…there are ways to search and find specific information about specific people.


5. Stand out: Be active! Be proactive! Be visible! Get out there and get involved. Create a highly compelling profile; not a resume rehash.


6. Answer questions to highlight your subject expertise.


7. Accept connections and request connections. People want to connect with you!


8. Talk to people. I mean, really talk. Show an interest, look for ways to help each other…seeking connections isn’t only about having lots of connections!


Remember…this is social media marketing. You wouldn’t walk into your neighbor’s BBQ, announce your arrival, then sit in your neighbor’s favorite chair and start dominating the conversation, would you? The beauty of social media marketing is the opportunity to use natural, social strategies of communicating, connecting and collaborating to build your online visibility and attract the attention of companies you really want to work with.

What LI strategies have worked well for you?

Check out my article on Tweaking Your LinkedIn Profile for Maximum ROI

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Guest Post, Sharisax Is Out There

If Webinars are the Way to Go, Here’s How to Do Them

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Should you be doing Webinars? That was the question I asked last week in a Q & A on LinkedIn — and then put some of the answers into a blog post.

Then the answers kept on coming, including one from Zak Pines, COO of Avitage — a content strategy and creation firm. Zak’s specialties include Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Solutions, Marketing Automation, Lead Nurturing, and Content Marketing.

Zak suggested that I use some information from his recent article for “Chapter Two” of my look at webinars. But I didn’t want to leave anything out, so Zak agreed to let me use his information for a Guest Post.

7 ways to take your webinars to the next level

by Zak Pines

Webinars are a key component to generate compelling,  relevant content to feed your lead generation, lead nurturing and content marketing programs.

We see all too often, however, that companies take a “show up and throw up” approach to webinars, and therefore are only scratching the surface in terms of capitalizing on the opportunity.

Webinars should not be a random act of marketing or a point production, but rather fall within a webinar strategy with consistent execution and production.

1) Pre-produce the webinar:

Pre-producing the webinar greatly improves the webinar experience for both viewers and presenters. When pre-producing the webinar, the webinar will still be presented as if it’s live (it has just been pre-recorded and edited), followed by a live Q&A.  The pre-production allows for removal of any extraneous segments, and multiple takes for the presenters as necessary to deliver their messages most effectively.

This also serves to greatly reduce stress on the presenters, and has the added benefit of helping to manage the all-too-common scheduling conflicts. We’ve had two cases in the past week where presenters could not attend their webinars at the last minute (one due to a client emergency and one due to travel issues), and this was a non-issue as the webinar was already produced.

Pre-producing the webinar also greatly simplifies and enables many of the additional points to follow.

2) Create a 90-second trailer:

This can be an easy edit job from your pre-produced content. Think “movie trailer” as a way to draw in an audience – a link that can be easily posted to Twitter, YouTube and social media.

3) Create an executive version:

Edit down the webinar to create a 6-9 minute executive version. Executives are likely in your target audience but most won’t have the time to view an entire webinar. You want someone from their team to view the webinar and have something of value to pass-along. A link to a 6-minute executive summary has much more pass-along value than the full webinar, and greatly increases the chance that your webinar becomes viral.

4) Create a chapter-indexed, edited archive:

The webinar archive should not have extraneous waiting music — go straight to the webinar content for your audience. The archive should also be chapter-indexed so that viewers can easily return and locate relevant segments, and viewers that did not view the original webinar can browse the webinar archive with the best user experience.

5) Create transcripts of the webinar:

Transcribe your webinar. You can then post the transcript itself within web pages as part of your webinar archive, which will have a substantial impact on search engine indexing of your keywords.

Webinar transcripts are also a key resource for writers if you are seeding articles before or after the webinar.

6) Create a microsite after the webinar:

Don’t view your webinar as a point event -– it is an ongoing magnet for you to engage prospects. The aforementioned webinar archive, trailer, executive version and transcripts should all be housed on a microsite to further engage with viewers, give them an easy pass-along step and give you content to engage non-viewers. And if you have marketing automation in place you will be able to track the ongoing impact of your microsite at the company or individual level.

7) Edit key snippets to enable sales and nurturing:

Lastly, extract key snippets from the webinar into vignettes (flash modules) and slides that can be incorporated into sales enablement and nurturing programs. The key is to maximize your return on the webinar well beyond the webinar itself.

Has your organization used any of these techniques. What has been your experience?

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