Tag: Technology

…from a reputable source…

“Want to be sure that you are a valuable member of the team? Well, then don’t annoy your coworkers with your email habits. Or worse, don’t annoy your superiors.

“Since email is now the number one business communication tool it’s become the best way to trumpet your value and save your job,” says Mike Song, a top email efficiency and etiquette expert and lead author of the bestselling book, The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before It Manages You.” Source: IT Management » Blog Archive » Be A Good Emailer

Go to the source to read the whole article — it’s worth it!

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My “old post promoter” picked a doozy this time! A year ago, I was quite unhappy with my smartphone choices, but don’t worry — there’s a happy ending that I’ll write later this week after you’ve read parts 1 and 2…

“Wow! What does THIS say about us?

“Smartphones tied with sex as the number one thing that business professionals can not live without in a study from cloud-based business phone system provider, RingCentral. In a survey among RingCentral’s small to medium-sized business customers in the U.S., the importance of the smartphone in daily and business life was reiterated over and over again.

The study, which surveyed nearly 400 customers, showed that smartphones are taking on the defacto role in business communication.

Here are some highlights:

  • Smartphones and intimate relationships tied at 40% for the number one thing respondents can’t live without.
  • 79% of respondents use their smartphones to conduct most business calls, versus an office phone or home phone.
  • 34% use a smartphone more than a computer for business. 7% even said they don’t take their laptops with them when they travel for business if they have a smartphone.
  • 48% of respondents said that at least two-thirds of their phone communication is via smartphone.

None of this data is particularly surprising, except for the shift to using a smartphone as a primary business device. Thanks to platforms like Android (Android) and the iPhone, you really can do a lot of work from your mobile device.” Source: Business Professionals Can’t Live Without Sex or Smartphones [STATS]

Interesting…

Speaking of sex and smartphones or maybe sexy smartphones, I’m going to take this opportunity to rant about the iPhone AND Android phones for a moment. Excuse my language, but they both suck! That’s right — they suck! Why the iPhone? Because #1 it’s a closed system — yeah, there’s an app for that but they must all be approved by Big Brother at Apple — and #2 because AT&T is the worst cellular network in the world!

Android phones, however, are a different issue and I’ll take them up tomorrow…”

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via youtube.com

I don’t know what’s funnier — Robin Williams or the idea of home phones in the 70’s!?!

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…if you’re a windows user:

“Revo Uninstaller is a freeware innovative uninstall utility much faster than Windows Add/Remove applet. With its advanced and fast algorithm, Revo Uninstaller scans before and after you uninstall an application. After the program’s regular uninstaller runs, you can remove additional unnecessary files, folders and registry keys that are usually left over on your computer. Even if you have a broken installation, Revo Uninstaller scans for an application’s data on your hard disk drives and in the Windows registry and shows all found files, folders and registry items so you can delete them.” Revo Uninstaller – Free software downloads and reviews – CNET Download.com: Click the link to go to the source of this quote…

It’s a small thing, but it has done such a good job for me in a critical area that I just wanted to mention it. Thanks again to my good friend Bill for recommending it.

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Category:Wikipedians who use WordPress
Image via Wikipedia

It’s called wp-cumulus [it’s in the sidebar and it looks like a spinning globe of metadata!] and you can install it on your WordPress blog, too! Have a great weekend…

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In case it’s not obvious by now, I’m very passionate about ‘enabling’ technology – technology that enables people to go beyond themselves and accomplish great things. My favorites sites are sites like Lifehacker, Mashable, Stepcase Lifehack, etc. – you get the point! I read the geeky stuff looking for good, fast and cheap tools so that my clients don’t have to – I keep my fingers on the pulse of what’s happening technology and productivity-wise for you…

Because I’m out there on the cutting edge, I see a lot of great stuff come and go and each year it seems there’s ONE BIG THING I discover that changes the way I work forever. Last year for example, it was ‘mastering’ WordPress – that one thing had a fundamental impact on my business and my life, in fact, most of my business now revolves around WordPress in one way or another. Well, if someone asked me what is the coolest tool or technology I’ve mastered in the past five or ten years, my answer, without a doubt would be rss feeds and readers. RSS? Yes, RSS! Continue reading “Tactic #2: ‘Listen’ to the internet…” →

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It’s always interesting to go back and see where you were a year or so ago thoughtwise and what you may have learned since then. My ‘old post promoter’ randomly brings up old posts and this one, looking back on 2009 is very interesting to me. In it we find the genesis of what I now call the ‘e1evation workflow’ which now consists of 10.5 tools — many of which have stood the test of time since 2009. The mainstays of this process have been working for me for over 18 months now and continue to produce consistent results across a wide variety of industry verticals. What follows is the original post…

Image representing FriendFeed as depicted in C...
Image via CrunchBase

LOL! Here I sit looking back over the past decade, thinking that it seems like only yesterday that we were sitting in fear of Y2K. Now I’m making a living using tools that for the most part didn’t exist back then. It’s a wonderful [tech] life, eh?!

Wrapping up 2009, here’s the list of my favorite social media tools, organized according to their position and role within the e1evation system. This may look like a simple list but it took over a year to develop and that’s not because I’m a slow learner — it’s because I use rigorous filters for inclusion in my social media toolkit. I also am constantly using Einstein’s Razor [“Things must be as simple as possible but no simpler.”] to keep the toolset small. With that intro, here they are…

Perception

  • Google Reader
  • Feedly
  • iTunes [for sme podcasts, silly!]

Publishing

  • Posterous
  • ScribeFire
  • Shareaholic
  • FriendFeed
  • Facebook Page [along with key applications]
  • WordPress

Propagation

  • Facebook Page
  • Twitter [along with Hootsuite]
  • LinkedIn
  • Feedblitz
  • Tumblr

Preferences [other favorites tools]

  • Delicious
  • Evernote
  • Instapaper
  • Scribd
  • SlideShare
  • YouTube

Effectively using these tools together has elevated my business blog to #474,040 in the United States and #1,612,683 in the world in just 6 months according to Alexa. Imagine what you could do if you added one of these tools to your toolkit every month or so next year!

Questions? Feedback? Leave a comment or use the contact page. And, have a great 2010!

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via youtube.com

Over the weekend, I posted on social media tools for restaurateurs. Google has already updated one of the tools since then. Google Places is a powerful tool that will put your business on the map — literally and figuratively. Why haven’t you looked into it? Seriously!

Posted via web from e1evation, llc

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Does this sound familiar?

“I routinely declare email bankruptcy and simply delete my entire inbox. But even so, I currently have 2,433 unread emails in my inbox. Plus another 721 in my Facebook inbox. and about thirty skype message windows open with unanswered messages. It goes without saying, of course, that my cell phone voicemail box is also full (I like the fact that new messages can’t be left there, so I have little incentive to clear it out).

How do I deal with email now? I scan the from and subject fields for high payoff messages. People I know who don’t waste my time, or who I have a genuine friendship with. Or descriptive subject lines that help me understand that I should allot a minute or more of my life to opening it and reading it.”

Wow. Talk about a dysfunctional way of handling communications! Are you having problems like this? Here are a couple of ideas…

  1. Use Gmail. No other ISP offers the tools to handle large volumes of email like Gmail…
  2. Read ‘Getting Things Done’ by David Allen. If you’re in a hurry, skip to #3…
  3. Check out Inbox Zero…

If you can’t implement it on your own, scroll down and give me a call — I’ll be happy to help you out…

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Image representing Seth Godin as depicted in C...

…or doing it for the first time? In either case Seth Godin has an interesting perspective to share:

“The most common question people ask me when they want a new website is, “If you were in charge of this, who are the 2 or 3 people you’d want to be sure to talk to – to help think through the issues, help us figure out who should do the work, etc.?”

The second most common question people ask me, “In addition to Apple’s site, are there 2 or 3 that you think are really appealing and work well for their business?”

I think these are perhaps the tenth and eleventh questions you should ask, not the first two. Here’s my list of difficult and important questions you have to answer before you spend a nickel” Seth’s Blog: Things to ask before you redo your website

Go to the source for the questions that Seth thinks you need to answer before you begin — it’s always good to ‘measure twice and cut once’!

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Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...
Image via CrunchBase

A couple of days ago I filled in for Dana VanDen Heuvel in a class he was teaching at NWTC on social media. As luck would have it, I taught on the topic of Facebook pages — here are two hot posts that popped up today that I wish I had shared with the class. Although the first targets non-profits, much of it is applicable to small businesses and other organizations as well…

“Facebook Pages are where most nonprofits establish a home-base on Facebook. You can send targeted updates to fans, engage supporters on a wall, and give visitors a customized experience by using a variety of applications.

Your Page comes standard with a few applications developed by Facebook like Discussions and Events. But you can also add third-party applications to your Page.” Source: Eleven Killer Facebook Page Applications For Your Nonprofit — SocialFish

Item #6 on the list is ‘Static FBML’. Mari Smith has some good stuff here for those interested in creating a web page within a Facebook page…

“Let’s assume you have your Facebook Fan Page up and running now. (If not, see FANtastic Fan Pages for ideas and help). Some of the basics include adding a custom graphic, installing apps – particularly Static FBML, adding custom content including a landing tab, and ensuring you’re adding relevant, quality content on a regular basis. I’ll be covering all of these subjects and more on this blog and also on SocialMediaExaminer.com.

If you have visitors to your Fan page and they are not yet fans, I call them non-fans, you ideally want those visitors to be directed to your custom Welcome Tab rather than your Wall.

The idea behind this is you want to have a clear and inviting page that provides these visitors with an immediate sense of who you are, what you do, why they should become a fan, AND you want to provide a call to action with a nice visual to your Become a Fan button.” Source: How To Add A Custom Landing Tab To Your Facebook Fan Page | MariSmith.com

You’ll have to go to the sources to get more, but they’re both great articles. If you want to leverage Facebook pages, but don’t know where to start, I can help! Comment, call or use the contact form to discuss how this applies to your business…

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Here are a few ideas to help you along…

“Starting a new blog can feel like an overwhelming task. Not only does it involve either developing your own template (or finding a free one), creating interesting content that people will want to read, and making the blog SEO optimized, but once you’re finished developing that amazing new blog, you need to somehow get people to start visiting.

With millions upon millions of websites on the Internet, and with potentially hundreds of thousands focused on the same subject or niche that you are – developing an audience can feel even more overwhelming than trying to start a blog from scratch in the first place.” How To Start A Blog That Gets Instant Traffic

Go to the source and read the entire article — it’s worth it…

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I love it when I find a quote to support my preconceived notions because if I say it, it’s just opinion, but if an ‘expert’ says it, well, it must be true. In this case a designer talks about web design…

“This one will probably get me into trouble.

I’ve worked as a graphic designer for over two decades and I’m not supposed to say this stuff. After all, it’s my job to make miracles. To wave my magic design wand and make a business look stronger, smarter, and more powerful than it really is.

Before I start dodging rotten tomatoes, though, I’m going to go ahead and say it out loud.

It’s a smart business move to have a well-designed website.

But good design — even great design — won’t solve all your business problems. Not even close.” Source: The Myth of Beautiful Website Design | Copyblogger

Although I do design websites, I think of myself less as a web designer than I do a social media technologist. In my methodology, a blog enabled website is a homebase or hub for a social media publishing network. My goal in design is simply to have the site load fast, connect to social media outposts and not be so ugly that a user won’t roll around on the floor clawing her eyes out. That’s it. As Pamela says in the quoted article “Don’t expect miracles from your graphic design. It’s definitely a valuable part of creating your business’s image, but it’s not a substitute for a sound marketing strategy.”

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The logo of the blogging software WordPress.
Image via Wikipedia

“As a lead generation tool, your website provides a virtual wonderland of sales and marketing opportunities. It’s easily accessible, available 24/7, highly visible, and gives you the ability to present your company and services in your most positive light.

Plus, your site gives prospects the ability to find you whenever they need to. All this makes it one of the most powerful lead generators at your disposal.

So… is your website, this powerful lead generating machine, doing all it can to bring new clients to your doorstep?” Click here to read more…

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AGCO
Image via Wikipedia

…but I have been bloody busy with the Agritechnica trade show in Hannover. I set up a social media dashboard in the menubar so you can track the work I’m doing with AGCO in Germany. So sorry, but with doing social media 12 hours a day, I just haven’t been able to maintain my normal editorial schedule for my business. Needless to say, there won’t be a ‘top tactics and tools’ post today — next Tuesday, I hope I’m recovered from jet lag enough to write on ‘tactics and tools’ #5 – Shareaholic!

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Social Media Landscape
Image by fredcavazza via Flickr

“Social media is free.  Social media is easy.  Just hop on twitter and start tweetin’!” Hmmm… how many times have we heard that? I have honestly heard social media consultants at networking events state during their 60 second pitch “social media is free, come talk to me if you want to do free marketing!”  Ouch, not the case folks.

Several business leaders have asked me lately for tips on finding a good business or social media consultant. Many have been confused by the blog posts that seem to only complain versus helping business decision makers find someone who can really help them.

I actually did a few Google searches and found very little in regard to helpful tips and skills to look for.  What I did find was numerous posts complaining about social media consultants, gurus and how to spot a bad one.  I have to admit I too have posted a few blog posts that are on the humorous side of this topic while trying to offer helpful tips at the same time.

I wanted to provide some helpful tips when hiring a consultant.  Note, what is a good consultant for Tom doesn’t mean it will be so for Betty and Jane.  Consultants, just as mentors and coaches should be selected based on personal fit with your business goals, life cycle, culture, gaps etc. The most important thing is that you do your research and talk to a few.  Don’t go with the first one you meet.

via socialmediatoday.com

I’m one of those social media consultants. You can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source and read the rest of the article and then give me a call and rake me over the coals!

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A tool
Image by mag3737 via Flickr

PDC is Personal Digital Coaching and it’s totally different than the kind of experience that’s being discussed here…

“I’ve been reading with great interest this past week as some of the leading web application companies discuss their philosophies regarding the providing of phone support for their services.” WebWorkerDaily » Archive Phone or Email Support – Which Do You Prefer? «

Give me a call at (920) 710-0790 or contact me through the contact page…

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Who would have thought that one of the hottest views on YouTube would be a safety video from Delta but that’s exactly what’s happening. Deltalina is all the rage…

“She’s been called “Deltalina,” given her physical resemblance to Angelina Jolie (if Jolie were a red head, better looking and not so weird, that is), but her real name is Katherine Lee. If you fly Delta Air Lines, you’ll soon see a lot of Lee because the airline remade its long running safety video – which had all the pizzazz of a Soviet-era training film – with a new four-and-a-half-minute video narrated by Lee, a strikingly attractive 33-year-old flight attendant with high cheekbones and blue eyes. At one point, Lee playfully wags her finger to let viewers know that smoking is not allowed. The video is a hit on YouTube and on various travel message boards. Over on Flyertalk.com, one poster joked that “I hope they are holding classes for all … FAs (flight attendants) on how to do the finger-wag.”

You can see the video by clicking on Katherine’s image here. If you’d like the “back story,” click here for an audio interview with “Kat” conducted by Joe d’Eon and click here for an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.” Source: Brangelina? How about “Deltalina”? – BusinessWeek

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgpzUo_kbFY

See? Social media makes even safety something to talk about…

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Going viral!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_QePidL750&feature=player_embedded

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