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Small businesses can save money by moving more of their offline marketing efforts online. This article discusses the increasing audience of online consumers and three effective social media marketing methods that any small business can implement online.  Follw the steps below to get you started.

Steps

Blog

1. You don’t have to be a penned wordsmith to be a good blogger. Blogging comes in many formats and the key is that blogging is conversational.
   o You can try traditionally penned blogs.
   o You can record audio tracks which is known as podcasting.
   o A third method is microblogging and a popular platform for this is twitter. In 140 characters or less microblogging allows you to engage prospects and carry out easy conversations.
2. Blogging is a critical component of social media marketing because it allows businesses to provide information through the use of fresh, relevant content.
3. Incorporating blogging as par of a company’s internet marketing strategy provides the company with a good opportunity to be found in the search engines for the company’s desired markets.

Network Online

1. One of the most popular and highly addictive web 2.0 mediums for online consumers are the social networks.
2. Social networks allow consumers and business professionals to network among friends, strangers, acquaintances, and professionals all in one place.
3. If small businesses keep an open mind and keep their networks open they have the potential to grow their networks exponentially by allowing other consumers into their fold.
4. Social networks also allow businesses to update the public on new improvement in product lines, what an average day is like at xyz company. Social networks are varied in purpose and the amount of social networks can be mind numbing, but the most popular platforms determined by marketing research about consumer online behavior are currently Linked In, Twitter, and Facebook.

Syndicate.

1. Social networks and blog platforms are relatively low on cost investment, but they are far from maintenance free marketing endeavors.
2. To blog and create viable weekly online content the time commitment involved is a minimum of 5-10 hours a week.
3. How can you effectively communicate online through providing fresh and relevant information AND then market that information to all of your contacts across all of the social networks? The answer is syndication.
4. Syndicating content allows your message and your information to be reached across the worldwide web. You can syndicate your content by using an online social service that will broadcast your updates across the social networks. You can also syndicate your marketing collateral by using a service that will syndicate your flyers across social networks.

We all know how important it is that your website gets as much publicity as possible.  Well getting your new website to show up on Google takes no time at all.  Using Google’s very own new technology, you can do it in about 3 days or less.  Read on to get started.

Steps

1. Make sure that your website is ready (i.e. no broken links, has enough unique contents, etc).
2. Optimize your website for keywords that are highly related with your website content.
3. You should use your main keyword for each page in the file name, meta tags (description and keywords section), in the heading of the page as well as in the first few sentences of the page preferably at the beginning of the first sentence. Also use that same main keyword a few times throughout your pages.
4. Create a sitemap file for your website. Sitemap file is a formatted file with an XML extension. It contains the URLs for all of your pages in your website. You can use free online or offline tools available to generate your sitemap file.
5. Upload the sitemap file to your website root directory.
6. Go to titleGoogle Webmasters Tools http://www.google.com/webmasters/
   and log in using your Google account. Create if you don’t have one. It is free.
7. Type your website full URL in the “Add Site” field on the top of the Google Sitemap page and click OK.
8. Click the “Add Sitemap” link on the right of your website name.
9. Choose “General Web Sitemap ” on the “Choose Type” option list. Check all the checkboxes provided.
10. Type your full sitemap URL in the provided field and click “Add Web Sitemap” button.
11. Wait for about 2 or 3 days. Check Google by typing your website name in the search box with the word site: before the url example site:http://www.yourdomain.com . If it shows up in the result, it means that Google has indexed your website.

Tips

1. Always use specific keywords and not a broad one (such as “fashion”, “internet”,”sports”, etc) in optimizing your website.
2. Generate and resubmit your sitemap file everytime you make changes to your website. By resubmitting, you can always tell Google about your changes. Consult the Google Sitemaps help for more information of how to do this.
3. Google Sitemaps provides a number of statistics about your website. You can use it to know how Google and people find your site. It is very useful to help you improve your website content. Consult the Google Sitemaps help for more information about this.
4. After getting indexed by Google, increase the number of websites that link to your website and create more unique content to improve your website rankings.
5. Make sure the proper DOCTYPE tag is at the top of the source code of each page.
6. You can also submit your sitemap to the other top search engines but check the resources to find out how to do that for each specific search engine. They all are different.

Warnings

• This method is only used to tell Google that your website exists and not to gain top rankings. To get a top rankings, especially on Google, a considerable amount of effort is indeed required.

Things You’ll Need

• A Google Account.
• A sitemap generator.
• A sitemap file

Has anyone every asked you for someone’s phone number or address and you looked in your address book for it? You can attach that address, much like a VCARD, and email it to someone. They can open it in the Blackberry and save it in their address book. This saves everyone valuable typing time.

Steps

1. In the messages field, click the trackwheel and select “add address” to the email as a Vcard attachment.
2. If additional VCards need to be sent, repeat the step above.
3. Send the message.
4. Inform the recipient to open the attached Vcard and add to their local address book. You’re done!

Things You’ll Need

• Blackberry phone

What is Performance Support and what is it purpose? Welll the purpose of performance support is to give people the information they need to do their job, when they need it.and this may include step-by-step procedures, trouble shooting guides, templates, policy guidance, user manuals, frequently asked questions (FAQ) and best practice suggestions to install, use and maintain systems. Performance support documentation goes beyond off-the-shelf manuals from equipment manufacturers and covers tasks which are unique and specific to organizational goals and objectives.

Effective performance support documents include descriptive titles, clear, concise language, and appropriate use of charts, diagrams, and photos to help convey information quickly and efficiently. It is also important to eliminate unnecessary elements and formatting that can get in the way of relevant information. =

Steps

1. Identify the most important tasks in your organization.
2. Prioritize the tasks to be developed.
3. Get management input and approval on priorities.

For each task

1. Research and gather existing documentation.
2. Identify and interview subject matter experts (SME).
3. Determine what documents are needed (step-by-step, job aid, FAQ etc.).
4. Develop clear and descriptive titles.
5. Identify major topics and create an outline for each document.
6. Have SME’s and peers review outlines and provide feedback.
7. Write short purpose statement, description and notes.
8. Break down each step/question and write them out clearly.
9. Develop appropriate charts, diagrams and photos.
10. Use applicable templates and formatting.
11. Test and verify your own work.
12. Have SME’s and peers review documents and provide feedback.
13. Make documents available in a central repository.
14. Notify all potential users.
15. Continuously monitor, update and improve the documentation.

Tips

• Notes on Training - Training is the systematic transfer of knowledge and skills. Performance support documentation should be the foundation for developing customized training to transfer advanced skills that require greater context, focus, interaction and practice.

There are many, many ways to protect a page on a Website with a password. Many of which will depend on your platform/programming language. The following steps are unspecific.

Steps

1. Find out what your web host has provided you. If you are using a free host, there is a good chance that you will not be able to password protect your pages.
2. E-mail your web host and ask them what they recommend. Many web hosts are run by experienced webmasters and will be more than willing to help. They will also know details about your hosting setup.
3. Search your question. If you’re running PHP/Apache on Linux, go to Google and type “how to password protect page php linux” or something along those lines.
4. Look into using server side tools, like .htaccess and .htpasswd files, php pages, or perl scripts. NEVER trust anything that is supposed to password protect a page that runs on the client side, as these are the easiest to bypass, and usually only restrict users from viewing the secure page by not giving them a link straight to it. This is not adequate protection for any web page.

Tips

• Test out your password protection. Try to break into it, or have a friend with hacking/programming experience try to break in.
• Make sure you understand as much as possible about how your password protection works so that you can identify any holes.
• Create a log of login attempts/successes/failures, if possible. Include date and IP address. This will help you identify attacks (successful or otherwise) on your password protected page.

Warnings

• If you are an inexperienced Webmaster, do NOT trust important data with your password protection scheme. Many simple/common password protection techniques on the Internet are vulnerable to experienced hackers.

If you think that Google is just another simple search engine, think again. There are numerous tricks that are waiting just around the corner. Just leap into the wonderful world of possibilities in Google.  Follow the simple steps below to get you on your way.

Steps

1. When you first go to ‘Google.com’, you don’t see much. It looks like a very simple search engine. In actuality it is but it can be used for much more. Over to the right of the search box, there are three links: Advanced Search, Preferences, and Language Search.
   • Advanced Search - If you press Advanced Search, a page comes up with many different options.
   • In the box labeled “All these words” is your standard search box like the one on the front page.
   • The box “this exact wording or phrase” doesn’t contain words in the middle of a sentence. It will surround the words with quotes “”. For example, if you type in “plugin is Awesome” in the this exact wording or phrase box, the search won’t include a page with “Is plugin useful? Many people asked do think it is useful and awesome” but will include “plugin is Awesome. This is why I think so.”
2. The “one or more of these words” box let’s you look up something or something else instead but it won’t find the two search terms together. For instance, you could search with the box “Chicken OR Gravy” the search would include pages about chicken and others about gravy.
3. The next box is the “unwanted words” box. This box lets you not include certain words in your search. This box puts a - before the word. For example, if you search for “Bass” as in the fish, you could type in “Bass -Sing” to find pages that have Bass in them and not about singing.
4. Below the boxes, you can choose how many results you want in your search in the drop down box “Results per Page”
   • “Language” which lets you choose which language you want the search results to be. This option isn’t very necessary. If you search a English word, then you will probably get English.
   • “File Type” let’s you select which kind of file you want the search result to be. So if you want to find .pdf files then you would select Adobe Acrobat PDF.
   • “Search within a site or domain” lets you search inside a certain website or a extension like “.edu”
5. If you want more than open up “Date, usage rights, numeric range, and more
6. Once you’re done, then press advanced search to see your search results and Google on!

Tips

• You don’t need the advanced page to advance search. Just use the “” to search with exact wording. OR for one or more of these words. - to exclude a word
• If you want to use experimental search ideas go to the top right corner of the page, then click more, click even more for a list of Google products. Click “Labs” for beta products. Click the “Experimental Search” link. Mess around with the experimental searches as much as you want. You can even search and see results on maps or timelines.

Imagine the publishing world in and around 1440, when Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printing press. Perhaps “world” is too large a term for pre-Gutenberg publishing. In Europe, after all, literacy was largely restricted to some members of the clergy and those few ruling class members who felt it had value. Publishing thus existed for the few who could and wanted to read.

Books were written, slowly, by hand. Consequently, there were not many to be had and those that could be obtained were worth their weight in diamonds. In 1424, Cambridge University—already  more than 200 years old—held only about  120 books in its library, each of which was said to cost the equivalent of an entire farm.

But then the printing press came along, and suddenly everything was different. Sure, some scribes continued producing books by hand for years. That’s what they knew how to do, and they were darn sure going to keep doing it (muttering all the while, “I wish I knew where all this was heading”). But change was inevitable. The Renaissance had arrived. A middling class was emerging, and it valued learning. The cheaper, easier-to-produce, press-printed books fed (and in part created) this new literacy, which in turn created a rising demand for more books.

Scribes eventually dropped away, but different—and many more—jobs came on the scene: typesetters, printers, publishers, editors, book sellers and distributors, agents, salespeople, lawyers, authors. New business models emerged and fell into place.

Well, surely you can guess what’s on my mind here…

Those in publishing today are at the vortex of enormous change—change of Gutenbergian proportion. Substitute newspaper/magazine for “scribe,” and Web for “printing press.” Throw in tens of thousands of dazed journalists, authors, and publishers asking each other where it’s all heading. Some wait, like the scribes of old, for everything to return to “normal.” Others are running hard, keeping a sharp lookout for those new business models.

Actually, there aren’t many new business models yet in this uncharted landscape. But a few are emerging.

Last week, for a business article, I interviewed the CEO of Pictopia, a company whose unique concept allows media organizations (magazines and newspapers) to tap into a potentially lucrative revenue stream. Pictopia’s proprietary reproduction technology and streamlined fulfillment processes make selling a digital photo directly to readers as easy as ordering a book from Amazon.com. And the service requires no investment from participating companies in expensive printers, no supply hassels, and no maintenance.

Here’s how it works: Newspapers and magazines, in the normal course of their business, develop huge photo archives. Traditionally, after photos are used in a publication, there wasn’t much call for them. But just think of all the people who might want those photos. Small-town papers could have sold them to proud parents who wanted a memento of their child zipping past the goal line or winning a spelling bee, to a husband who wanted to surprise his wife with a centerfoldl photo of her standing beside her prize-winning strawberry pie, to local residents who had the perfect spot on the living room wall for that beautiful front-page photograph entitled “Sunday in the Park.” Larger media organizations could sell historic, nationally-recognized, and/or prize-winning photos.  The reason this was never done is that it was just too difficult and costly for an organization to get into the business of selling, printing, wrapping, and mailing photographs.

That’s where Pictopia has stepped in. The company started in 2000 as a high-end online photo lab, and soon expanded into selling the photos it developed at the request of its own media-company customers. Pictopia helps develop an online gallery for a magazine or newspaper’s photos (the gallery is part of that media company’s website). The photos can be browsed and purchased by readers. They can be ordered framed or unframed, and in various sizes. The transaction is handled by Pictopia, which also prints, packages, and ships the photos direct to the purchaser. (See a typical Gallery.)

“Pictopia is a solution for real pain,” says the company’s founder and President, Mark Liebman. “And there’s no up-front money involved. Organizations already own the pictures, which have been taken and organized in the ordinary course of business. What we do is take that collection of images and give them a brand new use. For no added cost, we can bring a company thousands of dollars a year for something that’s already  been paid for.”

Pictopia’s partner galleries include large media companies such as the Associated Press, the Washington Post, National Geographic, Newsday, and the European Pressphoto Agency, as well as small companies ranging from British Columbia’s Abby News to the Zanesville (Ohio) Times Recorder. This just seems like a great win all around, doesn’t it? Anything that brings money to cash-strapped media companies in today’s economic climate gets a thumbs up from me.

If you know of other new business models emerging in the publishing world, we’d love to know about them. Please leave a comment.

Google Chrome is a unique new Internet browser from Google which is free and is under constant development so its being updated all the time. Its small, light and has great features including a very small footprint and easy to use interface.

You can run Chrome alongside Internet Explorer and firexfox so it wont affect your currentl web browser of choice. It also features automatic updates which are very useful. Use the following steps to get you on your way and try Chrome out.

Steps

1. Go to the Google Chrome Website http://www.google.com/chrome
2. Click Download Google Chrome
3. Click Accept and Install after reading the terms of service.
4. The Installer will start and you will have Google Chrome when it is done.

Tips

• Google Chrome has many features, you can learn about them here. http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/features.html

Learn how to get the loan you want, when you want it.  Improve your chances of getting the loan you need to buy that dream home, new car or to just payoff old debts.The five most common reasons for credit denial based on a credit report are as follows:

Steps

1. Delinquent credit obligations. Late payments, bad debts, or legal judgments against you make you look like a risky customer. Get A copy of your credit report and remove any errors.
2. Double check your credit application. Credit application is incomplete. Perhaps you left out some important information or made an error on the application. Any large discrepancy between your application and your credit file can count against you. The lender will wonder if you are hiding something. Always double check your application.
3. If you have too many inquiries. Inquiries are made whenever you apply for credit. Requesting your own report also counts as an inquiry, but is usually not held against you. At the creditor’s discretion, as few as four inquiries within six months’ time may be considered a sign of excessive credit activity. The creditor may then presume that you are trying desperately to get credit and are being rejected elsewhere. *NOTE* Generally, several inquiries for a “major” purchase, like a home or auto loan are counted as “one” inquiry.
4. See if there are errors in your credit file. These may arise simply from typing mistakes, or from confusing your name with someone else’s similar name. Since the credit bureaus handle millions of files, the possibility for error is substantial. Errors can be found and corrected only by carefully reviewing your file for accuracy at least once a year and then taking the necessary steps to correct any errors that you do find.
5. Maybe you don’t have enough credit. Insufficient credit file. Your credit history is too scanty for the type or amount of credit you requested. You need to develop your credit history more fully before qualifying for the level of credit you are now requesting.

Tips

• Always examine your credit record before applying for credit, because you don’t want any surprises and have a credit denial letter sent to you.
• A credit bureau may confuse you with another individual, carry erroneous information in your file, or perhaps include false, incomplete or one-sided information provided by a creditor.
• Most of these credit denial problems can be resolved once you understand the procedures.

Warnings

• Periodic checking of your credit report is important because credit bureaus can and do make mistakes in their credit information.

Do you need to make an event flyer but dont know where to start ? well Google Docs is a very useful  tool that creates  flyers and you allows youto  share and distribute to others.   See the steps below to get you started.

Steps

1. Create a free account at the Google Docs website.  Simply go to www.docs.google.com and join.
2. Sign in to your Google Docs account. On the top left side of the page, click on the New tab button and select “From template…”
3. Type   “announcement.” into the search box at the top of the page and then click the “Search Templates” button.
4. Scroll down throught the templates and pick one that you like best.
5. When you have choosen one click  “Use this template” button
6. Now you can get creative and customize the text, pictures, logos and font of your flyer.

Tips

• You can also use  Google Docs sharing features to email your flyer or publish it as a web page.

Warnings

• Play around with photos, artwork, fonts and colours until you get the flyer that you want and is best suited to your needs.