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Content marketing can be an extremely complicated, time-consuming, and expensive proposition! So I came up with content options for the time-starved! Let’s face it. Content development can be a complicated, time-consuming, and expensive proposition! So I started thinking about this in the context of my friends and small business customers who simply can’t afford that kind of effort. It led to this idea: micro-content, or creating small bits of marketing content when you don’t have time to blog, create videos or spend all day on Facebook. Let’s examine ideas about using micro-content for your social media strategy, assuming you are testing the water and only have 15 minutes a day to devote to this activity. Hey, I’m up for a challenge! Preparation Like any marketing initiative, you must have a firm idea of your strategy, selling points, and target audience... Read more: http://bit.ly/LEiFKi
Via Martin Gysler
With the connection of AdWords to Google+ Pages via Social Extensions, Google is enticing advertisers to build a presence on the site. As expected, Google continues to advance its efforts to make Google+ a success as it further integrates the social platform into its core products to encourage adoption and increase activity. With the recent connection of AdWords to Google+ Pages via Social Extensions, Google is enticing AdWords advertisers to build a strong presence on the social site. By enabling Social Extensions, consumers will be able to see all recommendations a brand has received, whether they are viewing a paid ad, a search result or your Google+ Page. There are currently two types of Social Extensions: Personal and Basic. Personal shows you the number of people within your Google+ Circle who have +1’d your landing page or your Google+ Page, while Basic shows how many people across the web have +1’d your page. Read more: http://bit.ly/KUBskC
Via Martin Gysler
Note mg: You search a productivity tool in various categories, maybe you'll find it in this list: Categories Online Office Suites Online Calendars Online Documents Online RSS Readers Startpages Invoice Managers Time Tracking Services Goal Tracking Services Project Management Services To-do Lists Personal Organizers- calendars, to-do’s, etc. all rolled Sticky Notes GTD Tools Mind Mapping Tools Online Collaboration Tools Web-Based Operating Systems Misc. Productivity Applications Music
Read more: http://bit.ly/JbcWIL
Via Martin Gysler
4 new social media productivity tools reviewed and analyzed. Each can save you considerably time and hassle when you're producing or curating content. As Jay mentioned in his post yesterday, there’s a serious influx of information out there, plus an increasing urgency to get things done better and faster. It can be overwhelming to stay up on what’s happening in the world while also tending to your day job. Between our new newsletter, the One Social Thing, and the handy tools below, we hope to give you enough time- and sanity-saving techniques so you can go home at 5pm, be with your family, and even take up a hobby.
While a few of these tools can be used solely as a creative outlet, they can also serve as a way to harness creative energy that can be put toward your content marketing efforts so you can maintain a cohesive, high-quality, and consistent strategy.
Read more: http://bit.ly/IBydM1
Via Martin Gysler
This question should interest every entrepreneur and someone who is active in one way or another on social media. These different options will give you the necessary support. [note mg] Imagine that you’ve spent years building a business and growing a website. You launch a promotion to email a list of potential customers with exciting new opportunities to save lots of money by doing business with you. Did you email too many people, or did you email the wrong people? Did someone turn you in as a “spammer” to one of the many spammer blacklist organizations out there?
Everyone hates real spammers, and the last thing you want to do is get labeled as one. That’s one kind of blacklist. The other kind is worse – the search engine blacklist. That’s the one that is basically a death sentence for your site because Google and other search engines stop crawling your site or even listing it in search results. No blacklist is good to get, because ISP’s and many content filtering services access Internet blacklists to figure out not only what email to block, but also what websites to block or to mark as potentially dangerous.
How do you know you’re on the Google List or any other database of blacklisted sites? Read more: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/8-ways-find-google-list-blacklisted-sites/
Via Martin Gysler, ABroaderView
A comprehensive article on the subject and perfect for a Saturday or you've maybe a bit more time to read ... :) [note mg] Link building isn't really link building. It's relationship building. Links are just the proof of the relationship, as are the tweets, likes, sales… relationship building is link building. Your social graph is your linkerati. Tom Critchlow encapsulates this with one of these Distilled Pro Tips: Here's a few tactics and strategies to build and leverage relationships that lead to links, likes, sales and more. Outreach is for tomorrow. Relationships are for life. Let's go!... Read more: http://mz.cm/Hx9RWB
Via Martin Gysler
Project management seems like a classic chicken-and-egg career conundrum: How do you prove you’re adept at managing projects if you haven’t worked as a project manager? Beyond that, what does project management really entail, and how is it different from, you know, being a manager? And what tools do the pros actually use, since there seem to be a new one released every week?
To better understand some of the managerial speak around project management, I spoke with a 20-year veteran of the field, Frank Ryle. He’s worked as an international project manager for Arup International, managed construction and operation of the first Cadbury Schweppes factory in Russia, and now trains and teaches project management. Ryle analogizes project management to a nine-hole golf metaphor in his book, Keeping Score: Project Management for the Pros, available now as an ebook and due out soon in paperback.
In a phone interview, Ryle was, well, frank, honest, and eager to clear the clouds of vagary away from a field he’s worked in for most of his adult life. Read more: http://bit.ly/zD44An
Via Martin Gysler
Practical advice to turn an average workday into an incredibly productive day. Occasionally you need to go the extra mile. Sometimes you need to complete a major project, tackle a task you’ve put off, or just knock out a ton of work in one day. Here’s the best way to turn a normal workday into an incredibly productive workday: 1. Let everyone know. Interruptions destroy focus and kill productivity. So are the guilt trips your family "sometimes unintentionally" lay on you. Let coworkers and family know you’re planning a “project day.” Tell key customers too. Announce you will be tied up on, say, Tuesday, and that you will respond to calls and emails on Thursday. Let people know who to contact in an emergency. Some will get with you before Tuesday, and the rest will make a mental note you’re not available. In either case, you’re covered. Read more: http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/7-steps-to-incredible-personal-productivity.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=button
Via Martin Gysler
The global market and the new online tools open new doors to all marketers in the world. To know how use it is a must and a chalenge for all marketers today and gives so many possibilities to break some limits. This post contain a very interesting approach about this subject [note Martin Gysler] The biggest change that has happened in the last fifteen years is the monumental growth in technology. This has played a huge role in changes for students, individuals and organizations. The most drastic change has happened within organizations, as they have had to adapt the entire organization to technological changes. Changes such as this can sometimes be quite a challenge, especially when things change at such a fast pace as the growth of technology within the past few years. Businesses and Business Managers can view these technology changes as obstacles or opportunities. These changes should be viewed as opportunities that will be both beneficial to current employees and the entire organization. Read more: http://anisesmithmarketing.com/2011/11/26/the-benefits-of-expanding-your-business-into-a-global-market/
Via Martin Gysler
A good business plan can be very important to obtain financial support from investors. This post will give you some insights to do well for your business. [note Martin Gysler] Dear Lifehacker,
I've got a great idea for a new business, but I want to make sure that I set it up right and I might need some financing help to get started. What do I need to include in the business plan? Is there an easy way to create one?
Thanks,
Self-Starter Dear SS,
It sounds like you've given your business idea a lot of thought. The business plan can definitely help you get started on the right foot. Whether or not you actually use the business plan to secure financing, writing down the business plan will force you to think through all aspects of your business, much like creating blueprints for building a house. Read more: http://lifehacker.com/5833967/how-do-i-create-a-business-plan?popular=true/
Via Martin Gysler
Social media is a source of endless discussion. With the advent of new tools and / or platforms every day, keep up has become a challenge. But some among the many are the undisputed leaders and decide largely on what will be the future. This slide presentation may give us interesting information on the trends and what might we expect in 2012 and beyond. [note Martin Gysler] Social networking is the #1 activity online. Even though Google gets the most visitors, Facebook is where most of us are spending our time. And it’s not just about Facebook anymore. We are spending a lot of time on LinkedIn, YouTube, Tumblr and Twitter. While there are some clear major players in the social space, the social media universe continues to expand and 2011 was a banner year for the idea of an "Interest Graph." In 2011, we saw Google launching Google+ and Pinterest grewing at an astounding rate. Facebook launched "Timeline" and "frictionless sharing" with partners like the much anticipated Spotify. Facebook also acquired design companies and the team behind Gowalla, showing the company’s intent to provide a consistent experience across devices and becoming a more prominent player in the mobile space. Read more: http://www.slideshare.net/socialnerdia/the-state-of-social-media-and-social-media-marketing-in-2012-10743590?from=ss_embed
Via Martin Gysler
Integrating social media services in your website design is vital if you want to make it easy for readers to share your content. While some users are happy with the social media buttons that come built into their design template, the majority of WordPress users install a plugin to automatically embed sharing links on their pages. Many of you will find that a plugin does exactly what you need; others not so much. Some are poorly coded, and most include services that you just don’t need. And while some great social media plugins are out there, they don’t integrate with every WordPress design. If you aren’t comfortable editing your WordPress templates, a plugin is probably the best solution. If you are comfortable making a few edits to your theme, then consider manually integrating social media so that you have more control over what services appear on your website.
Via Martin Gysler
What’s Game Good For?
Before we can talk about applying game mechanics to anything, we need to understand what a game actually us. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a game as “a form or spell of play or sport, esp. a competitive one played according to rules and decided by skill, strength or luck.”
That’s pretty hard to digest as a something you can say to a decision maker! However, if we break it down further we can start to get at some core ideas that should help. Play and sport are all activities or tasks. Played is not a strong word in the corporate world. It conjures images of nerds playing quake after hours on the corporate network. So instead, how about we use completed. Rules Can Be Starting Points Next, rules. We all have rules, but it is not something you hear people talking about in businesses. Instead, we could say parameters or guidelines. All projects have parameters or guidelines... Read more: http://osakabentures.com/2012/01/gamification-motivation-and-engagement/
Via Martin Gysler
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Whether you love Google or love to hate Google, you have to admit one thing. Google offers a lot of free tools to use with the convenience of being able to access them with one login. Marketers in particular should take advantage of these tools to get more out of their search engine and social media marketing experience. The following are some of the top Google tools marketers should embrace from A to (almost) Z! 1. Google AdSense Ever created a niche website for linking purposes, affiliate marketing, content development, or another reason that never panned out? If the website gets even a moderate amount of traffic, and you have no other use for it for the time being, why not earn a little income off of it using Google AdSense? By simply placing some ad code in the header, content, and sidebar of the website, you can earn some passive income. The amount you earn will depend on the topic of the website and the amount of visitors it receives. Read more: http://bit.ly/LyxGvt
Via Martin Gysler
Even if this list is from 2011, you'll find a lot of interesting tools for today. [note mg] If you want to know what’s happening in the social web you need monitoring tools. Before you get out your credit card and start to spend money try out some of the free social media monitoring services. This way you get a taste of what is available and if you need paid services. I have collected 48 free social media monitoring tools. In the Group A are the services that I use regularly or seem interesting to check out immediately. The Group B is an alphabetical list of tools for you to play with. Here we go:... Read more: http://bit.ly/IDzrqr
Via Martin Gysler
Maybe you want create your own infographic, here 10 tools to support you to do it. [note mg] Information graphics, visual representations of data known as infographics, keep the web going these days. Web users, with their diminishing attention spans, are inexorably drawn to these shiny, brightly coloured messages with small, relevant, clearly-displayed nuggets of information. They’re straight to the point, usually factually interesting and often give you a wake-up call as to what those statistics really mean. Who can resist a colourful, thoughtful venn diagram anyway? In terms of blogging success, infographics are far more likely to be shared than your average blog post. This means more eyeballs on your important information, more people rallying for your cause, more backlinks and more visits to your blog. In short, a quality infographic done well could be what your blog needs right now. Read more: http://bit.ly/K0s4LL
Via Martin Gysler
Find out how Ifttt can help simplify your social media marketing. Connect your online accounts to create triggered events with if this, then that feature. Are you looking to simplify management of your social activities? If so, then Ifttt is for you. Don’t be put off by Ifttt’s crazy name. This is one handy tool that you should definitely know about. Ifttt stands for “If this, then that,” which is a very basic way of explaining the site’s whole premise. With very little effort on your part, Ifttt will connect your online accounts and services to create triggered events. After setting a trigger from one service, you can create a task to be activated automatically when the trigger goes off.
Via Martin Gysler
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are great for building your brand -- but how do you find new customers? That's seems be the question from everyone in business! [note mg] We all know social media is an important tool for brand awareness and customer acquisition — but how exactly are you supposed to convert random Twitter and Facebook users into real-life customers? Well, that depends. Different brands have different challenges when it comes to customer acquisition: “If you’re our customer, you’ve signed up for a year-long service, unlike the Starbucks of the world, where you can be a customer by coming in for a cup of coffee one day,” says Lisa D’Aromando, social media community manager at Equinox. Whether you’re a clothing shop, a restaurant or a subscription service, you must tailor your strategy so that it makes sense for your brand. That said, there are a few universal ways to help your company attract new faces on the social web... Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/03/29/customer-acquisition-social/
Via Martin Gysler
Convert files like images, video, documents, audio and more to other formats with this free and fast online converter. This free online file converter lets you convert media easy and fast from one format to another. We support a lot of different source formats, just try. If you can't find the conversion you need, please let us know and write us an e-mail. We probably can help you...
Via Martin Gysler
An excellent article on how to strategically generate more traffic for your blog by targeting the right audiences for your content. Very useful for businesses who want to capitalize blogging as a tool for driving up more profits. It took me 101 days to hit 1,012 subscribers. I did it by using a very simple strategy that was free from overwhelm and stress. Most bloggers never get past the 1,000 subscriber mark, or create a profitable online business, not because they aren’t good, but because they are afraid to use the most effective tools available. I worked hard during those 101 days, but I loved every second of it. Looking back, I can still see where I made mistakes, but making mistakes is not the problem, not taking action is. If you can consistently take action, you will achieve your goals. And the way to consistently have the fuel to take action is to find and follow your passion. We all have something like this inside of us. If you can find a topic you could die for, you’re on the right track. If someone had a gun to your head and you had to choose one topic to write about for the next few years, what would you choose? Read more: http://www.wakeupcloud.com/blog-subscribers/
Via Martin Gysler
You're an online entrepreneur, this blog post is for you! Here you'll find a bundle of useful resources and tools to improve your productivity... amazing! [note mg] Every day more and more entrepreneurs are building successful businesses using the internet. There is an abundance of opportunity online and depending on the venture, there is often less cost and risk involved when compared with traditional businesses. There is also a wealth of resources available to help the online entrepreneur to run a business more effectively and more profitably, and we list many of those resources here. Feel free to leave a comment with your feedback and your recommendations of other resources. Communications / VoIP Data Backup Invoicing Financial Management and Accounting Time Management and Project Management Contact Manager Hiring Freelancers Online Reputation Management Tools Accepting Payment Shopping Carts Social Networking Finding Funding CPC Revenue CPM Revenue Read more: http://www.blogtrepreneur.com/2008/03/10/resources-for-online-entrepreneurs/
Via Martin Gysler
The most of time we speak about the "why" and "how" you should start a blog, in this post it's, for one time, different. Blogging is increasingly popular, but that doesn't mean it's right for your small business. Here are 10 reasons you might want to hold off on. [note Martin Gysler] If it wasn't before, blogging is certainly the "it" marketing vehicle of the moment. A study of more than 3,000 marketers done by Social Media Examiner last year showed 68 percent of small businesses use blog posts already as part of their social-media strategy. After all, if you're going to be tweeting and updating your status on LinkedIn and all, it's helpful if you can link back to some tasty piece of content on your site. Blogging makes that easy to do. But that doesn't mean blogging is right for your small business, as the blog Reputation Capital pointed out earlier this week. Here are a few reasons you might want to hold off on blogging at your business: Read more: http://bit.ly/Ax1Hho
Via Martin Gysler
Last month I shared 40+ networks that you could consider depending on your niche or interests. As part of my commitment to this community, I shared that I will expand on this list througout 2012. So here is the first addition to that build! The topic- Curation!I thought I would focus on curation because a) I have a favorite site and b) there has been a lot of “press” on Pinterest as a curation tool and as a result I thought the timing was right. However before I list the sites lets talk curation. What is social media curation? Today, with the exponential growth of social networks and blogs, it can be overwhelming searching for information on the internet. As a result, the act of filtering, selecting, reviewing and providing commentary with a perspective on an article, or collection of articles, have become increasingly important. This is known as social media curation. Recently, I had posed the question : What is a social media curator” on Linkedin. Read more: http://socialmediapearls.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/40-social-media-curation-sites-and-tools/
Via Shirley Williams (appearoo.com/ShirleyWilliams), Martin Gysler
SEO is the magic word that is often the difference between a business that is concluded or who is lost to another company that is better positioned in search tools like Google, Yahoo, and so on. Check out what the top SEO Experts in the industry think about links as opposed to tweets! This is also a great list of the top SEO Experts. The top SEO experts give us their views on these three issues: Question #1: Because of the way people share content today, do you think the impact on rankings links have will start to decrease? Question #2: Do you think tweets and other social shares will ever have the kind of impact on rankings that links have today? Question #3: Would you rather have a link to a blog post from an authoritative blog, or would you rather have the post tweeted by a highly authoritative figure?
Via Martin Gysler
This is the first in our series of articles that looks at leadership capacity and its impact on organizational growth and transformation. The full series will be available for download as a white paper once it is completed. Leadership capacity is more than simply skill development; it’s about performance, growth, transformation and change. For the purpose of our discussion in this series of articles, let’s define it as; “Leadership Capacity is the skilful use of leadership attributes for the growth and development of ourselves, our colleagues and our organization”. Great leaders not only understand how to engage and inspire their teams to get the best results — they understand the need to create participatory and collaborative processes that develop the abilities of the next generation of leaders. Leadership lays the groundwork for success Successful companies do not happen by accident. They are the result of building effective leadership capacity and an awareness and willingness to take the necessary steps in identify internal talent and nurture them into the leaders of tomorrow. Read more: http://www.customerthink.com/blog/is_your_leadership_limiting_your_organizations_ability_to_grow
Via Martin Gysler
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