Oct 28
2009
This is a must-read for all you future and current bloggers! In the blog I’d Rather Be Writing, Tom Johnson gives the top 20 usability tips for your blog.
Here’s the short list:
1. Pick a topic for your blog. Makes (more…)
May 12
2009
Friday is quickly approaching, and we are super excited to have our Blogging Success Forum! Below are the bios of our two panelists. I’m sure this will be a popular class, so please make sure to save the date: This Friday, May 15th, from 10-11am PST / 1-2pm EST.
Rick Burnes is Inbound Marketing Manager at HubSpot, a leader in marketing software for small- and medium-sized businesses. He is the editor of HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Blog, which is consistently featured on the AdAge Power 150 top media marketing blogs. In addition to his work on the blog, Rick develops videos, research, case studies and webinars on new approaches to online marketing. Prior to HubSpot, Rick was co-founder of Faneuil Media, a startup that provided inbound marketing solutions for local businesses. From 2001-2004 Rick worked at NYTimes.com, where he managed the launch of new sections, including search and theater. He started at The Times two months before 9/11 and spent his first year working on the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Nation Challenged section. He has also worked at Google, The Moscow Times and The New Bedford Standard Times. Rick is active on Twitter and occasionally posts on his personal blog. He resides in Cambridge, MA.
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Roger Matus is a well-known commentator on the use of email, IM, and messaging technologies. He was CEO and founder of the email archiving company, InBoxer, which he recently sold to Safecore, Inc. At Safecore, Roger is now the Executive Vice President. He has been in the software business for about 25 years, and worked on the development of an email product back in 1983. Since February 2007, he has been the author of the blog Death By Email, which Roger says was essential to growth and successful sale of his company.
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Cindi Schmitzer is the married mother of four who lives in Sparta, New Jersey. She is the co-owner of LTDchix, a company who created a line of funny tees targeted specifically toward moms. She grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and attended Penn State University where she received a bachelor’s degree in accounting. She eventually married and has moved around quite a bit with her husband’s job. In fact, they brought their four kids home to four different addresses. Her and her business partner founded LTDchix about three years ago. In the past few months, they have started a blog relating to their business. On the blog, they share funny tales about motherhood and news about their business. The blog web address for LTDchix is www.blog.ltdchix.com.
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Apr 29
2009
We went over the basic steps to working with a blog, such as:
1. Understanding what a blog is: an informative, opinionated, ‘human’ look at a company/business or person. As a coach, this will be the way that your potential clients will get to know the ‘real’ you – not just the one you show for your sales copy. Why do we want to show this human side of a life or business coach? Well, what is the first rule of sales: we buy from people that we know, like and trust – and a blog allows us to build that!
2. Blog styles: we discussed Blogger, Typepad, Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org
3. Get involved: before you start your blog, however, you should read and participate in some that are interesting to you, or are in your industry. Make sure to choose ones that are active and popular. In order to find a few blogs that you like, search Technorati. Oh – and the answer between Authority and Ranking is that they’re basically the same: to build authority or ranking within Technorati you need to build links from other blogs to yours. Be aware that links will ‘clear out’ from Technorati if they’re older than 6 months.
4. Have a plan and get started! Your blog should be part of your over-all marketing plan – so before you get started with designing or adding content to your blog, it’s a good idea to have a clear idea of where it’s going.
This week, we’ll be reviewing how to update your blog – design wise and adding multi-media. If you would like to learn how-to customize your Wordpress.com website / blog, click here to be sure to sign-up for our May 1st class!
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Apr 17
2009
Ken Davenport: Recently hailed as the “P.T. Barnum of Off-Broadway” by the New York Times for his unique 21st century marketing strategies, Ken Davenport is becoming widely recognized as one of the most innovative theatre producers today. Ken’s visionary tech-savvy was also recently featured on a national commercial for Apple’s iPhone and he was named one of Crain’s “Forty Under 40” in 2008 as a result of his fresh ideas and unprecedented success. Ken’s impressive Broadway and Off-Broadway production slate includes Speed the Plow, Will Ferrell’s You’re Welcome America, Blithe Spirit, Altar Boyz, The Awesome 80s Prom and My First Time. He is also the creator of broadwayspace.com, a new social networking site for the Broadway community and TheProducersPerspective.com, his popular blog where he gives his opinion on everything relating to Broadway and beyond.
Website: http://www.davenporttheatrical.com/
Ning website: http://www.broadwayspace.com/
Twitter ID: http://twitter.com/kendavenport
Sarah Benner is a Sr. Marketing Manager at VerticalResponse heading up the Retention Marketing team. She manages a team responsible for all customer communications (including social media and community), customer retention, product education/training and other customer programs. She has over 8 years of marketing communications and product marketing experience working at companies like Siebel Systems and CNET Networks.
Sarah holds a Bachelor’s degree from University of Washington and a Master’s degree from Emerson College.
VerticalResponse: www.verticalresponse.com
Ning website: http://vrlounge.ning.com/forum
Twitter ID: http://twitter.com/VR4SmallBiz
Andrea Anderson and business partner, Barbara Hemphill, author of the Taming the Paper Tiger book series, believe a Productive Environment is a Profitable Environment. They share this vision with their 100+ Productivity Trainer Authorized Consultants around the world through online training and mentorship programs. These programs emphasize Barbara Hemphill’s proprietary processes and methodology for helping clients create and sustain a Productive Environment–”an intentional setting in which everything around you supports who you are and the goals you’re striving to achieve”. Their newest project, the iProductive Environment Platform (iPEP) is the only program that helps clients find their physical files (in filing cabinets and bookshelves) and their electronic files, in one search. Andrea and Barbara enjoy living in NC while serving clients around the world.
Paper Tiger Productivity Institute
Website: www.PaperTigerInstitute.com
Ning website: www.OrganizersPowerUp.ning.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/andrea_ptpi
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Apr 14
2009
Do you currently have a Ning.com community website, but aren’t sure how to really customize it? This class will be reviewing all the in’s and out’s of the ‘manage’ page that comes with your Ning network. Learn how to add Google Analytics, New pages, Customize the look and feel, optimize for searchability within Ning.com, and how to invite and manage members.
I’ve included a free download of my personal notes to help you remember what icon on the ‘Manage’ page let’s you do what. Click HERE to download my notes!
This week we’ll have a 3-panel of successful Ning network creators – be sure to be on that call!
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Mar 26
2009
I am so excited for Friday! I hope you’ve cleared out any appointments for 10-11am PST/1-2pm EST because you do not want to miss this panel of Twitter experts. Our first guest is Amy Martin, ‘The Phoenix Suns Girl’ who helped ‘The Real Shaq’, and several others get on Twitter! We also have some business and life coaches, as well as professional speakers that will be discussing how they’ve used Twitter to build their business – read below for their bios and Twitter IDs! If you haven’t already, please sign-up at http://helpinghandsforcoaches.com/live-teleclasses/ .
Amy Martin:
Most recently, Amy spent three seasons with the Phoenix Suns developing their Digital Media platform and integrating new and existing marketing partner brands within all Suns digital channels. Such digital touch points include, mobile marketing programs, official social networking forums, virtual websites and official team property sites.
Amy’s area of expertise involves layering social media strategies to create one cohesive digital brand universe. She has developed a proprietary formula to mix traditional digital measurement with social media metrics. Her most recent example of social media success is the growth of Shaquille O’Neal’s digital brand via Twitter implementing strategies such as “Random Acts of Shaqness” and “ShaqDay”.
Digital Royalty, Amy’s new business venture, focuses on digital integration and social media strategies to help brands and athletes build their digital universe through the following methods:
· Creating a digital roadmap which guides brands to establish an integrated network of traditional digital and social media touch points – all working together in digital symphony.
· Exposing and evolving brand personalities, digitally. Educating brands on the balancing act of being social with human qualities while wearing the ever-necessary brand management hat.
· Converging traditional and digital media to leverage the brand’s Return on Influence (ROI) and maintain one comprehensive marketing strategy.
Prior to founding Digital Royalty and working for the Phoenix Suns, Amy was an account supervisor at a full service ad agency working with clients such as the Arizona Cardinal, Phoenix Coyotes and Super Bowl XLII. She is a graduate of Arizona State University with a degree in Marketing and Business.
www.Twitter.com/PhoenixSunsGirl
Marc A. Pitman
Marc A. Pitman is the author of Ask Without Fear! and founder of FundraisingCoach.com, a website dedicated to practical ideas for fundraising more effectively. Internationally recognized by such organizations as Reuters, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and the American Marketing Association as a thought leader, Marc helps individuals and organizations raise more money than they ever thought possible! His lively presentations at conferences and fundraising seminars get him invited to various organizations including Blackbaud’s Conferences for Nonprofits, Habitat for Humanity International, and the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
http://fundraisingcoach.com/
http://twitter.com/marcapitman
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Kate Nasser
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach, celebrates her 20th year in business inspiring and teaching customer service and teamwork to diverse audiences. She is feisty, smart, down-to-earth, funny, and just wild and different enough to inspire growth and change in all who hear her people-skills messages. She has a natural GPS about people and has used it for 20 years to spring them to greatness. As a professional speaker, Kate activates audiences with wisdom, energy, humor, caring and realism. She has BS in Mathematics, Phi Beta Kappa and Masters in Organizational Psychology.
http://katenasser.com
http://twitter.com/katenasser
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Alan Stevens
Alan Stevens is a Professional Speaker, Media Coach and Author. Based in London UK, he speaks internationally, and has spoken in over 25 countries in the past three years. He specialises in PR and media matters and is in great demand as a conference host and keynote speaker. In 2010, he will become president of the International Federation for Professional Speakers.
http://www.mediacoach.co.uk/
http://twitter.com/mediacoach
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Donna Amos
Donna has over 20 years experience working with solopreneurs to develop their marketing and sales strategies in order to build their businesses. Her experiences as an entrepreneur, sales trainer, management in the corporate world, as well as her formal coach training make her uniquely qualified to support others as they create and grow their business.
http://www.solopreneurs.org
http://www.donnaamos.com
www.twitter.com/donnaamos
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Monikah Ogando
Known as The Business Explosion Coach, Monikah Ogando is impactful, dynamic and charismatic. Monikah received two undergraduate degrees from the University of Miami, where she put herself through college with her independent spirit and entrepreneurial motivation and graduated by the age of 20. Her first job out of college as a financial planner, Monikah soon discovered that the majority of her clients were business owners, and the best way to help them was to assist in MAKING money, not just investing the money they already made. By learning from her clients, Monikah created an entrepreneurial program for other financial planners to reach their clients as she had. When she made $124,000 in three months of teaching the program, she knew she was onto something big. Today, small business owners and entrepreneurs seek Monikah’s advice to help them turn their businesses into profit-producing powerhouses, and more importantly, live their lives with purpose and freedom. Monikah’s coaching and consulting challenge people to marry their humanity to their businesses, and their profits to their purpose.
www.fanaticalfocus40.com
http://twitter.com/MonikahOgando
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Crystal Williamson
Crystal new to Twitter, but has already found it helpful in gaining new clients! She is a certified small business coach/consultant who loves to help holistic and helping professionals with their technology presence and computer applications. She started as a computer trainer in 1990. After being downsized, she transitioned from the corporate world to coaching and became certified in 2007. She has her own coaching and computer consulting business called Coaching with Crystal. She has a Blog Talk radio show on Wednesdays at 8 pm (ET) where she talks about computer/learning trends and concepts for the beginning and already established entrepreneur. She’s facilitating a technology coaching teleseminar in April 2009 to give guidance for newer small business owners.
www.coachingwithcrystal.com
http://twitter.com/coachcrystal
Mar 26
2009
Wow, one request to HARO, and you have all the panelists (over 50 replied) one show could need! Thank you to everyone that emailed! I have selected the 6 panelists, 3 professional speakers and 3 coaches – all with over 1,000 followers and some real examples of how they’ve used Twitter to promote their business. They will be submitting their bios and photos later today – but I wanted to get the word out now about tomorrow’s teleclass. We’ll be doing it a little different – instead of just shouting out questions during the call, please ‘Tweet’ them with the hash tag #hh4c. That will help with the flow of the 1 hour class. If you have some friends that would like to join us, please ask them to sign-up today by going to our ‘Live Webinars‘ page.
Mar 13
2009
The class today was hoppin with good vibes about Twitter! We went through the basics of your profile, certain settings to be aware of while tweeting, and the importance of RSS feeds. Most importantly, we answered the ‘Why?’ question so many coaches and speakers have in regards to Twitter. You can listen to the call below, and be sure to sign-up for the call next Friday, March 20th, to discuss some of the applications that have been built around Twitter that can save you time, add multi-media, and track results while using Twitter. Remember, these classes are FREE! – and a great not just for coaches and speakers, but also your business clients, so pass it on, and thank you!
Some of the websites that were mentioned in today’s class:
Recommended Blog posts regarding Twitter and RSS feeds:
Mar 12
2009
This Friday, and the following 2 Fridays, we’ll be discussing Twitter! Be sure to be on the call 10-11am PST to get your first introduction to Twitter.
Last week’s call was a discussion on LinkedIn - creating Buzz through article marketing, creating and promoting events, creating business pages and the new applications available on LinkedIn. Although there are currently 9 applications, during the call I went over the top 5 that would be applicable to life, business, executive coaches and professional speakers.
Mar 5
2009
We briefly reviewed Chuck Hester’s call last week, as well as answered a lot of your questions about LinkedIn and Internet marketing, such as getting your profile to 100% complete and search engine optimization of your LinkedIn profile. Take a listen below, and be sure to have your LinkedIn profile open for the interactive teleclass. This Friday, March 6th, we’ll be going over some of the new programs on LinkedIn, as well as adding your own Events, and creating buzz with articles on LinkedIn. Hope you can join us! Next week we’ll be discussing Twitter!
