tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47301517528067822832024-03-08T10:51:48.543-08:00Your Business is My BusinessWorking to provide information and support to small business owners to help them succeed!
TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-17872195324042674072014-09-09T11:57:00.004-07:002014-09-09T11:57:53.149-07:00Now is the Time! 50% Off Holiday Cards Now Available from Deluxe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pBnG6v3Lhto/VA9NYec9EHI/AAAAAAAAt4Y/3LbEAfPowDA/s1600/card%2Bintro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pBnG6v3Lhto/VA9NYec9EHI/AAAAAAAAt4Y/3LbEAfPowDA/s1600/card%2Bintro.jpg" /></a>The holidays are just around the corner and buying your holiday cards and gifts now will help you ease the stress of the season by being prepared!<br />
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Deluxe has some great offers right now (umm... like 50% off!) on some of their best selling holiday products. Choose from a wide assortment of cards - including photo cards, value cards, and more. There's something for every budget and style.<br />
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You can even beautifully integrate your company name or logo into a traditional card.<br />
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There are hundreds of new designs for the 2014 holiday season and at 50% off, you don't have to worry about getting the best price!<br />
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<img alt="Deluxe Holiday Cards" border="0" src="http://www.tqlkg.com/image-7070325-11485553" height="74" width="600" /></a></div>
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TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-54199516587348570232014-08-05T12:47:00.005-07:002014-08-05T12:47:48.213-07:00Increase Your ROI Online AND Help Local Charities!<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h3vdQaObkcI/U-Esm1zGdpI/AAAAAAAAsLI/fkBS9dklRlE/s1600/CCA+Intro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></a><br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h3vdQaObkcI/U-Esm1zGdpI/AAAAAAAAsLI/fkBS9dklRlE/s1600/CCA+Intro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h3vdQaObkcI/U-Esm1zGdpI/AAAAAAAAsLI/fkBS9dklRlE/s1600/CCA+Intro.jpg" /></a><b><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">C</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">ommunity Charity Alliance</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">offers Ad Exchange Discount Program to Help Businesses and Charities</span></span></b><br />
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The CCA Ad Exchange gives companies access to the Real Time Bidding (RTB) ad platform to lower marketing costs and improve results dramatically. Companies desperately need more reliable on-line marketing solutions as the old ‘off-line’ advertising programs no longer provide the results they once did.<br />
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The RTB was established as a consortium of industry giants like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft (Bing), Facebook and others to provide automated access to giant companies (Fortune 500) for lowest-cost on-line advertising. The one shortcoming of the RTB has been huge cost for smaller companies to get access to the low-cost ad platform.<br />
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CCA has established the CCA Ad Exchange to bring significant ad discounts to the 20 million smaller companies … and has included a strong charitable ‘twist’.<br />
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The goal is to save companies 30% or more on their on-line advertising while pre-setting a 10% donation to local community charities in the participating company’s name.<br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">If you are a company that advertises on-line now … or are seriously considering setting up an on-line ad campaign, please contact me to find out more about the CCA Ad Exchange!</span></h3>
There are even more compelling reasons to choose an ad campaign using the RTB integrated ad platform offered by the CCA Ad Exchange.<br />
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The three major advantages are:<br />
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<li>Far better tracking. </li>
<li>Incredibly improved ad targeting.</li>
<li>A new, revolutionary concept called ‘RETARGETING’.</li>
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Targeting is fairly simple to understand and anyone who has done Google Adwords or Facebook advertising, but the ad exchange makes it even easier to focus your ad campaign the way you want.<br />
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<b>Retargeting is far more important and powerful.</b><br />
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Once an advertiser successfully gets a potential customer to visit their website, ad stats show that almost 98% of your visitors leave and never come back. This is NOT because a site or the message is poor, it is much more about typical life distractions and the fact that most buyers need a minimum or 6 to 8 ‘touches’ before they buy.<br />
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If you’d like to learn more about how I can help you get started with a focused ad campaign that can save you a minimum of 30% and design a powerful retargeting campaign that may increase your ROI (Return On Investment) by 300% or more please email me at <a href="mailto:teriacca@gmail.com">teriacca@gmail.com</a> or call me at <b>(763) 377-3592.</b><br />
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Bitches get stuff done. A great quote by Tina Fey. This print can be ordered at <a href="http://moderngirlblitz.etsy.com/">moderngirlblitz.etsy.com</a>.</div>
<br />TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-75789207081861389862014-07-15T10:56:00.004-07:002014-08-02T11:27:25.225-07:00Breaking Into the Boys' Club {Book Review} <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Book Description:</b><br />
Breaking into the Boys' Club is the ultimate guide to success for women in business. No matter what stage in your career or what job position you hold, this book offers you practical, relatable ways to evaluate your work style and workplace culture in order to better understand behavior that may be holding you back from advancing in your field.<br />
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Based on extensive research, Breaking into the Boys’ Club offers compelling stories, quizzes, and tips to help diagnose issues and discover powerful, step-by-step solutions to irksome office challenges. Written by leadership coaches who have “been there and seen that,” this book contains straight talk about the mistakes women make and how to fix them in order to achieve more personal and professional satisfaction and success. New to this edition are sections on dealing with workplace conflict, the importance of sponsors, and how women should think about and plan for their post-career futures.<br />
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Molly D. Shepard is founder and president of The Leader’s Edge, an organization that promotes the advancement of high-level executive women. <span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; outline: none;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; outline: none;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">Jane K. Stimmler is CEO of The Marketing Edge, a marketing consulting and communications firm.</span></span><br />
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Review:</b><br />
As a woman who has witnessed first-hand, over and over again, the "good old boys" in action, I truly believe that this book is a MUST READ for any woman who is really trying to forward her career - not only in the corporate world, but in small and medium sized businesses as well!<br />
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Learning the rules and learning how to play their game is critical, and the authors do a great job telling it like it is and helping women learn to navigate their way in corporate politics without selling themselves short.</div>
TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-29924479313597673552013-08-29T13:05:00.002-07:002014-08-02T12:28:47.806-07:00Getting Away When You're Self Employed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VrDfGLprMRY/U907zXSymdI/AAAAAAAArJ4/rWsnS1EOdDg/s1600/self+employed+vaca+intro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VrDfGLprMRY/U907zXSymdI/AAAAAAAArJ4/rWsnS1EOdDg/s1600/self+employed+vaca+intro.jpg" height="320" width="262" /></a>It's the dog days of summer and it seems everyone is off on vacation, but when you own a small business is it ever possible to "get away from it all?"<br />
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The reality is, you HAVE TO!<br />
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After all, isn't having more freedom & independence one of the reasons you went into business for yourself in the first place?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x_HHvqor4BY/Uh-mLrw0xoI/AAAAAAAAZro/wML0vWmiWZI/s1600/vacation+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x_HHvqor4BY/Uh-mLrw0xoI/AAAAAAAAZro/wML0vWmiWZI/s400/vacation+(1).jpg" height="312" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/07/small-business-guide-vacation.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">image source</span></a></td></tr>
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<b>TIMING IS EVERYTHING</b><b></b><br />
It seems that August is the month when most vacations happen. Everyone is "away!" Here in Minnesota there also seems to be a mass exodus around the second and third weeks in January. So why not <b>schedule your vacation when you know that many of your customers will also be gone</b>?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/16/pf/americans-vacation-time/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">image source</span></a></td></tr>
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<b>PLAN AHEAD</b><br />
Or perhaps I should say "WORK AHEAD." About a month before your vacation, start planning projects. Take on only what you can finish before you leave, and wrap things up on existing projects.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--IGVS0iw8-w/Uh-neccghSI/AAAAAAAAZsA/3YINmbkQggQ/s1600/Out-of-Office+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--IGVS0iw8-w/Uh-neccghSI/AAAAAAAAZsA/3YINmbkQggQ/s400/Out-of-Office+(1).jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.cpsprofessionals.com/2013/07/24/summer-brain-drain-try-these-team-building-ideas/" target="_blank">image source</a></span></td></tr>
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<b>LET EVERYONE KNOW</b><br />
In the sales business, everything happens at the last minute before deadline. Letting clients know that you'll be gone - even a full month in advance - can help take some of that last minute pressure off. If you can, give yourself and extra day or two before you leave AND after you return so that you have time to take care of urgent issues before your phone starts ringing off the hook!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mMrys94nv0c/Uh-odS-ek1I/AAAAAAAAZsI/lHClr9Ll0ro/s1600/photo_big_office_aid_temp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mMrys94nv0c/Uh-odS-ek1I/AAAAAAAAZsI/lHClr9Ll0ro/s400/photo_big_office_aid_temp.jpg" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ocdexperience.com/business/success-stories/index.php" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">image source</span></a></td></tr>
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<b>HIRE SOME HELP</b><br />
Is there someone who can step in for you and help out while you're on vacation? Sometimes just an admin person who can come in and check for urgent messages is enough to take some of the pressure off of you!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0tQ86CIDYUE/Uh-lu9ka8gI/AAAAAAAAZrg/F1Rs1m5Cr8s/s1600/6C8364622-tdy-130723-working-vacation-stock.blocks_desktop_medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0tQ86CIDYUE/Uh-lu9ka8gI/AAAAAAAAZrg/F1Rs1m5Cr8s/s400/6C8364622-tdy-130723-working-vacation-stock.blocks_desktop_medium.jpg" height="277" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.today.com/money/when-vacation-not-vacation-61-time-6C10719810" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">image source</span></a></td></tr>
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<b>MIX BUSINESS WITH PLEASURE</b><br />
If you have the ability to combine a business trip with vacation, why not do it?! You'll save money, you'll probably work a bit even if you don't plan to, AND you'll still be able to get plenty of R&R.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oNmPMzuxQm4/Uh-pYda7ROI/AAAAAAAAZsQ/GnpXYnkM8wk/s1600/1300103293675.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oNmPMzuxQm4/Uh-pYda7ROI/AAAAAAAAZsQ/GnpXYnkM8wk/s400/1300103293675.jpg" height="206" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.waitrose.com/home/inspiration/waitrose_weekend.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">image source</span></a></td></tr>
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If you absolutely can't schedule an extended vacation, try to schedule more long weekends. Leaving Thursday and coming back on Tuesday can feel like a long time away, but you're actually only missing two business days. Getting away for frequent, short vacations can help take some of the pressure off too!<br />
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<br />TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-87598401846508640472013-07-25T14:16:00.000-07:002014-08-02T11:49:08.792-07:00What is NATIVE ADVERTISING?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e863cF2GRoQ/U90yiUnhWiI/AAAAAAAArJA/njL545mla90/s1600/what+is+native+advertising+intro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e863cF2GRoQ/U90yiUnhWiI/AAAAAAAArJA/njL545mla90/s1600/what+is+native+advertising+intro.jpg" height="320" width="261" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">Native advertising</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> is online advertising where the advertiser tries to get attention by providing valuable content - sort of like an advertorial - but a bit</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> more obviously an ad than most advertorials. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">This is advertising that fits within the framework of the site or service, rather than being off to the side, flashing away, hoping for attention.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
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The advertiser's intent is to make the paid advertising useful information and make it more likely that users will click on it. If people find your content useful, they are more likely to share your content through social media.<br /><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222425; font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="line-height: 19px;">The reasoning is simple: If the content is good, it </span><span style="line-height: 18.99305534362793px;">doesn't</span><span style="line-height: 19px;"> matter if it’s a piece of editorial or a piece of advertising. People </span><span style="line-height: 18.99305534362793px;">aren't</span><span style="line-height: 19px;"> opposed to advertising content if it’s clearly labeled and clearly good.</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Often times you don't even notice that an interesting article is advertising. If you browse online you'll notice that the sponsored articles blend in perfectly with other content. It's a great way to offer interesting information that is relevant to your products and services! </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.18402862548828px;"><b>HOW THEY DO IT:</b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.18402862548828px;">Do you know anyone who isn't a football fan, but watched the SuperBowl just for the commercials? Fans know that they are seeing advertising, but they enjoy it because it's entertaining. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.18402862548828px;"><b>HOW YOU CAN DO IT:</b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.18402862548828px;">Here are some suggestions on how you can use native advertising to benefit your business!</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.18402862548828px;">Sponsored Editorials, Promoted Tweets, Facebook's Sponsored Stories, Sponsored Blog Posts, Starting Your Own Blog. </span></div>
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TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-81839185902829002462013-06-24T11:05:00.003-07:002013-06-24T12:52:18.396-07:00To be an optimist...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-42190258846215118432013-05-22T13:12:00.000-07:002014-08-02T12:08:05.941-07:00CROWDSOLVING BASICS: What you need to know!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6xxCwk-ZdiY/U9028cL1-7I/AAAAAAAArJM/khchNZJWGnc/s1600/crowdsolving+intro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6xxCwk-ZdiY/U9028cL1-7I/AAAAAAAArJM/khchNZJWGnc/s1600/crowdsolving+intro.jpg" height="400" width="305" /></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">Anyone who’s ever been part of an organization tasked with solving difficult challenges is likely familiar with the concept of brainstorming. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">Working from the premise that the sum is often greater than the individual parts when it comes to tapping collective wisdom, experience, and cognitive power, brainstorming can result in solutions that individual members would have been unlikely to come up with on their own. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">Crowdsolving works on the same premise, only better. Because it is able to tap into a much larger and more diverse universe of resources, crowdsolving might be described as brainstorming on steroids (figuratively speaking, of course).</span><br />
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“Crowdsolving allows SMBs to gain a more thorough understanding of their impact on the people they interact with every day,” he says. “It builds relationships and trust, and it creates an early warning system for the avoidance or mitigation of problems with vendors, customers, and employees.”<br />
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SMBs can also use crowdsolving to gain support in areas where they lack capabilities. “Crowds can empower them to compete against larger players in the market,” says Mayank Mittal, director of business development and corporate strategy at PASS Group AG, a global provider of on-demand managed testing services. “By bringing customers, vendors, and employees together, SMBs can create a collaborative atmosphere that enables them to tackle difficult problems, increase reusability, and handle new opportunities.” He adds that direct involvement of customers in product design, development, and testing can help businesses achieve new levels of innovation.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Be careful when using Crowdsolving. Make sure that <span style="line-height: 22px;">the “wisdom of crowds" doesn't become “the idiocy of the mob.”</span><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span></span>TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-14700141591300450942013-05-20T07:40:00.001-07:002014-08-02T12:13:18.240-07:00CROWDFUNDING BASICS: What you need to know!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gyz-Pw-xM20/U903j2AdZLI/AAAAAAAArJc/y5R_kODiHME/s1600/crowdfunding+intro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gyz-Pw-xM20/U903j2AdZLI/AAAAAAAArJc/y5R_kODiHME/s1600/crowdfunding+intro.jpg" height="400" width="305" /></a>Crowdfunding is a concept that allows businesses to raise small amounts of capital from a large number of investors, most often through websites such as <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/">Kickstarter</a> and <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/">Indiegogo</a>. It can be especially useful for small and startup businesses that may lack access to more conventional sources of capital needed to grow their business.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">Kickstarter, Indiegogo, </span><a href="http://www.gofundme.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #003399; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;">GoFundMe</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">, and other crowdfunding sites have been around for years, helping companies and individuals raise millions of dollars to produce movies, build prototypes, pay medical bills or tuition, and fund a host of various other activities.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">To boost the likelihood of success with a crowdfunding project, SMBs should craft a strategy that generates a significant amount of support for the project before it gets posted to a crowdfunding site, suggests Marcia Stepanek, who teaches courses on new and social media and cause video at New York University. “There is nothing worse than launching a project, then having very few people rallying behind it online, for all to see,” she warns. “Some things don’t change: people want to back a winner or a soon-to-be winner, and the power of group endorsements is that it leads to more support.”</span>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-Gyz-Pw-xM20%2FU903j2AdZLI%2FAAAAAAAArJc%2Fy5R_kODiHME%2Fs1600%2Fcrowdfunding%2Bintro.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gyz-Pw-xM20/U903j2AdZLI/AAAAAAAArJc/y5R_kODiHME/s1600/crowdfunding+intro.jpg" -->TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-77777608601977809982013-05-10T11:19:00.002-07:002014-08-02T12:18:29.567-07:00App Permissions - How much is too much?<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SrfVrw23Q30/U905O4B_zLI/AAAAAAAArJs/dibOv4elYI4/s1600/app-permissions+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SrfVrw23Q30/U905O4B_zLI/AAAAAAAArJs/dibOv4elYI4/s1600/app-permissions+(1).jpg" height="400" width="240" /></a>I received a text message from Target offering me a $2 Target Card for downloading and trying a new app called "shopkick" - where you get rewards for shopping.<br />
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I definitely shop at Target, and I love a deal, so I thought I'd give it a try BUT I stopped short of actually installing the app. Here's a snapshot of some of the permissions they want. And I thought Google and Facebook were bad!<br />
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Just in case you can't read the text in the pictures, here's a list of what they want me to grant them access to:<br />
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<li>Storage: Modify or delete the contents of your USB storage</li>
<li>Microphone: Record audio (REALLY!)</li>
<li>Your location: Approximate location (network-based) precise location (GPS and network-based)</li>
<li>Camera: Take pictures and videos (um... NO!)</li>
<li>Bluetooth: Pair with Bluetooth devices</li>
<li>Phone calls: Directly call phone number, read phone status and identity</li>
<li>Network communication: Full network access</li>
<li>Your social information: Read call log, read your contacts</li>
<li>System tools: Test access to protected storage</li>
<li>Affects Battery: Control flashlight, control vibration, prevent phone from sleeping</li>
<li>Your applications information: Run at startup</li>
<li>Network communication: Receive data from internet, view Wi-Fi connections, view network connections</li>
<li>Your accounts: Find accounts on the device</li>
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According to the app description they have over 5 million current users who gave up their privacy for a $2 Target card. BUT they "love shopkick"! The craziest ones to me are #2 (record audio) and # 4. (take pictures and videos) Your phone doesn't even have to be on because if you note #10 (affects battery) they can prevent your phone from going into sleep mode! So when you plug your phone in next to your bed at night they can record audio and video? Yikes!</div>
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How much personal information do we give up every day without paying attention? Would you agree to grant them access in order to get rewards for shopping? <br />
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<i>To see what permissions you've granted, you can go to www.mypermissions.com and they will scan your apps and give you a list of all of the companies that you've granted permission to. In my case, there were 116 apps associated with Facebook that I had granted access to my personal information. None of them were even close to the permissions that "shopkick" was looking for, so I breathed a deep sigh of relief. </i></div>
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<br />TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-56729601688098640602013-05-09T10:20:00.002-07:002014-08-02T12:14:39.109-07:00CROWDSOURCING BASICS: What you need to know!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sBINKD0IK9c/U904cs2mctI/AAAAAAAArJk/pcZboCaJyMs/s1600/crowdsourcing+intro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sBINKD0IK9c/U904cs2mctI/AAAAAAAArJk/pcZboCaJyMs/s1600/crowdsourcing+intro.jpg" height="400" width="305" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">The big buzzwords that I see everytime I turn around these days start with CROWD...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What is CROWDSOURCING? CROWDFUNDING? And one that's new to me... CROWDSOLVING? And how do any of them apply to your small business?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Most of the time I would say that the best answer would be to get your head out of the "crowds" and forget about it, but I think these buzzwords are worth learning more about!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">SMBs (small and medium sized businesses) can benefit tremendously from taking advantage of current technology to use the "crowd" (general public) to help them with staffing, (crowdsourcing) funding a new project (crowdfunding) and brainstorming to solve problems! (crowdsolving)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In this three part series, I'll explain how the new CROWDS can help your small business!</span><br />
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CROWDSOURCING: <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"> </span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">According to </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/" style="background-color: white; color: #003399; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;">Wikipedi</a>a <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">- itself one of the best examples of the technique - </span>crowdsourcing<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> is a distributed problem-solving and production model ... problems are broadcast to an unknown group of solvers ["the crowd"] in the form of an open call for solutions.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">Solving a business problem, especially staffing issues, by utilizing the talents of a large group is the idea, and</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> benefits of crowdsourcing are flexibility and cost savings. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">For example, </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">a full-service Web development company might not find it cost-effective to offer its entire suite of services through the crowdsourcing model, but it could regularly bid on graphic design opportunities and use them to open doors to broader web development work. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">A growing number of service providers on crowdsourcing websites are highly specialized and want to focus exclusively on certain types of work. SMBs can use those sites to leverage the experience and expertise of these professionals on behalf of their own clients, often making it possible for the SMB to compete with much larger entities at a fraction of the cost.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Online user forums, particularly for IT and tech support issues, have long served as the go-to place for niche answers; today we also have broad-based question-and-answer platforms like <a href="http://www.quora.com/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Quora</a>, <a href="http://answers.yahoo.com/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Yahoo Answers</a> and <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/answers" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">LinkedIn Answers</a>, to name a few. And crowdsourcing has long been used for personal benefit: improving and improvising upon cooking recipes, sharing diet and exercise regimens, and getting beauty and cosmetic video how-to tips on YouTube, for example.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Now crowdsourcing is creeping further into the business world, with virtually endless applications.</span><br />
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<b>Crowdsourcing in Action</b></h3>
<b> </b><span style="font-family: inherit;">To best understand how crowdsourcing works and could be used by your business, let's take a look at some real-world examples.<b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>New product development</b>: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MarketingSherpa reported on an <a href="http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/product-development-effort-boosts-sales" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">electrical products manufacturer</a> seeking to grow beyond its traditional customer base turned to crowdsourcing and created an online portal where electricians, contractors and inventors could submit ideas for new products. Toy manufacturers have done likewise: Lego has the <a href="http://lego.cuusoo.com/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">CUUSOO microsite</a>, and Mattel <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304198004575171791681002592.html" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">used crowdsourcing</a> to decide which career the next Barbie doll should have. Even food makers have gotten into the act: Check out these <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/02/20/crowdsourcing-case-studies" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">crowdsourcing case studies</a> on Mashable about Ben & Jerry's, Dunkin' Donuts, and Vitaminwater.<b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Building software</b>: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Many of us are now familiar with the term "open source," which basically refers to free software developed collaboratively and shared by developers and programmers worldwide. <a href="http://www.linux.com/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Linux</a> might be the most well-known crowdsourced software, but communities like <a href="http://sourceforge.net/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">SourceForge</a> continue to create other new open source software.<b></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Web design and development:</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sites like <a href="http://99designs.com/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">99Designs</a> or <a href="http://www.crowdspring.com/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Crowdspring</a> create an open marketplace where designers can submit designs on a name-your-own-price model; you choose the one you like. The website <a href="http://www.threadless.com/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Threadless</a> has even built its entire business model on crowdsourced T-shirt designs.<b></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Advertising and marketing ideas</b>: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes the best advertising and marketing ideas don't come from a big agency; they come from your audience. Witness Ford's first television commercial for its 2013 Focus ST. Inviting attendees to a stunt demo of the new car, Ford asked people to film the event and submit the footage. "About 100 spectators uploaded 580 videos and Ford used bits from 20 different people to create the spot," the <em>Wall Street Journal</em> <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2012/06/04/ford-tries-crowdsourcing-in-focus-st-spot-video/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">reported</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Research: </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Crowdsourcing can be used for all kinds of other research projects, from the simplest (requests to take a poll or survey) to more complex (<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3376509/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">identifying patients for health research trials</a>).<b></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Sharing information</b>: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.coursehero.com/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Course Hero</a> "offers some 7 million crowdsourced college study materials" and has turned <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224228?goback=.gde_2939986_member_158615585" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">crowdsourcing</a> into a viable business model.<b></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Labor:</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Need something done? Try Amazon's marketplace for skilled labor:<a href="https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Mechanical Turk</a>. Need a small or odd task done? Try <a href="http://fiverr.com/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Fiverr</a> or <a href="http://tenerr.com/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Tenerr</a>.<b></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Generating content.</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lots of different great examples exist, from reporting on news/conducting citizen journalism (<a href="http://newsit.net/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">NewsIT</a>; <a href="http://spot.us/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">spot.us</a>) to authoring whole books ("<a href="http://dailycrowdsource.com/crowdsourcing/news/410-first-crowdsourced-social-media-marketing-book-released" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Enterprise Social Technology</a>") to generating just about any other content task (<a href="https://scripted.com/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Scripted</a>).<b></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Fundraising</b>: Crowdsourcing now enables peers to evaluate and loan money to other peers. For creative ventures, there are sites like <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Kickstarter</a>, while for businesses, there's<a href="http://www.prosper.com/" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Prosper</a> and <a href="http://www.lendingclub.com/public/how-peer-lending-works.action" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Lending Club</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">More examples of crowdsourcing can be found on <a href="http://www.adrants.com/search.php?cx=partner-pub-5410868674530037%3A7r19yu-qbjl&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=crowdsource&sa.x=0&sa.y=0&sa=Search&siteurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.adrants.com%2F" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">AdRants</a>.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Try It Yourself</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Through these examples, by now you've probably seen why you might want to crowdsource:</span><br />
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<li style="list-style-position: inside; margin-bottom: 3px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Execute work you might not be able to do on your own</span></li>
<li style="list-style-position: inside; margin-bottom: 3px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Find solutions to problems</span></li>
<li style="list-style-position: inside; margin-bottom: 3px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Generate new ideas</span></li>
<li style="list-style-position: inside; margin-bottom: 3px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tap into diverse thinking</span></li>
<li style="list-style-position: inside; margin-bottom: 3px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reduce expenses</span></li>
<li style="list-style-position: inside; margin-bottom: 3px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Save time</span></li>
<li style="list-style-position: inside; margin-bottom: 3px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Create things</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you decide you want to crowdsource something, first clearly define the outcome you want. This way, you'll know if the crowdsourced solution measures up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Then take your mission to the crowd, through any number of online or off-line channels. You could seek assistance from those who already have raised their hand to help (conduct searches, go to resource sites, ask your network for contacts), or you could just put your request out there (to your social network, for example) to see what kind of responses you get.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Only you can judge when the right time to crowdsource might be--but, generally speaking, if you have a specific challenge or task, and think there's more than one way to get from where you are to where you want to go, chances are good that crowdsourcing can help.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>adapted from <a href="http://www.inc.com/hollis-thomases/how-to-crowdsource-anything.html">http://www.inc.com/hollis-thomases/how-to-crowdsource-anything.html</a></i></span>TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-64009621452995718072013-05-07T09:27:00.002-07:002014-08-02T12:31:50.058-07:00America's Real Deficit Crisis by Arianna Huffington<div style="text-align: left;">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D9UlXa0RClk/U908gSDaB7I/AAAAAAAArKA/eFlMkq1iVOo/s1600/ah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D9UlXa0RClk/U908gSDaB7I/AAAAAAAArKA/eFlMkq1iVOo/s1600/ah.jpg" height="400" width="320" /></a>This post from Arianna Huffington hit my inbox this morning and it really struck me how time starved we all are.<br />
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I couldn't help sharing it with all of you - because YES - I'm already behind for the day on things that I need to accomplish. WAY behind!<br />
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Are you busy right now? Are you already behind on what you wanted to accomplish today? Or this week? Or this year? Are you hoping this will be a short post so you can get back to the million things on your to-do list that are breathing down your neck? Okay, I'll get on with it: Our culture is obsessed with time. This is our real deficit crisis, and one that, unlike the more commonly discussed deficit, is actually getting worse.<br />
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In order to manage time -- or what we delude ourselves into thinking of as managing time -- we rigidly schedule ourselves, rushing from meeting to meeting, event to event, always just a little late and trying to save a bit of time here, a little bit there. We download apps for "productivity" and eagerly click on links promising time-saving life-hacks. We fear that if we don't try to cram as much as possible into our day, we might be missing out on something fun, or important, or special.</div>
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We're all suffering from an epidemic of what James Gleick, in his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Faster-Acceleration-Just-About-Everything/dp/067977548X" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything</em></a>, calls "hurry sickness." As any reader of my Twitter feed likely knows, I'm among the afflicted. "Our computers, our movies, our sex lives, our prayers -- they all run faster now than ever before," Gleick <a href="http://www.wctaturf.com/topics/finance/fifeb00.html" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">said in an interview</a> in 2000. "And the more we fill our lives with time-saving devices and time-saving strategies, the more rushed we feel."</div>
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In fact, researchers have <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/09/08/how-make-time-expand/26nkSfyQPEetCXXoFeZEZM/story.html" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">given this feeling a name</a>: "time famine." And feeling like you're experiencing a time famine has very real consequences, including increased stress and diminished satisfaction with your life. On the flip side, one can enjoy "time affluence," the feeling of having enough time, or even a surplus of time. As <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/09/08/how-make-time-expand/26nkSfyQPEetCXXoFeZEZM/story.html" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Keith O'Brien wrote</a> in the <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Boston Globe</em>, "studies have shown that feeling 'time affluent' can be powerfully uplifting, more so than material wealth, improving not only personal happiness, but even physical health and civic involvement."</div>
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Some people are naturally time affluent. My mother, for instance. She wasn't just time affluent, she was time-filthy-rich. For her, the world was truly timeless. She moved through her days like a child does, living in the present, stopping, literally, to smell the roses -- a trip through the farmers market might be an all-day affair -- with little thought of All The Things That Must Be Done. My sister and I once tried to give her a watch -- she gave it away almost instantly. And I still often think of the advice she'd give my sister and me when we were faced with a hard decision: "Darling, let it marinate." In other words, give yourself the luxury of time.</div>
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As it turns out, my mother's sense of time is backed by science. As <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=that-mysterious-flow" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Paul Davies wrote</a> in<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Scientific American,</em> though most of us feel time is something that flows, that it is always coming at us and then rushing behind us, that's not actually what's going on. "Physicists prefer to think of time as laid out in its entirety -- a timescape, analogous to a landscape -- with all past and future events located there together," Davies wrote. "It is a notion sometimes referred to as block time."</div>
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Sadly, time affluence turns out not to be an inherited trait. While my mother agreed with the physicists, I've always been more in tune with Dr. Seuss:</div>
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"How did it get so late so soon?</div>
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It's night before it's afternoon.</div>
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December is here before it's June.</div>
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My goodness how the time has flewn.</div>
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How did it get so late so soon?"</div>
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Happily, however, even if you're not born time affluent, there are things you can do to turn your time famine into a feast. Studies have shown that, <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/09/08/how-make-time-expand/26nkSfyQPEetCXXoFeZEZM/story.html" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">as Keith O'Brien puts it</a>, "small acts, simple emotions such as awe, and even counterintuitive measures like spending time doing tasks for someone else -- essentially giving time away," can make us feel more time affluent. "It's not just that people felt less impatient," said Jennifer Aaker, a Stanford business professor and co-author of one of the studies, "but... they reported higher levels of subjective well being, that they actually felt better in their lives."</div>
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Interestingly, <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/09/08/how-make-time-expand/26nkSfyQPEetCXXoFeZEZM/story.html" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">according to a 2011 Gallup poll</a>, the more money you have, the more likely you are to suffer from time famine. "The more cash-rich working Americans are," the poll concluded, "the more time-poor they feel."</div>
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Not surprisingly, when it comes to winning the war on time famine, we are our own worst enemy. To win the war, first we have to declare it -- we have to want to change. <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/09/08/how-make-time-expand/26nkSfyQPEetCXXoFeZEZM/story.html" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">According to a 2008 PEW report</a>, when asked what was important to them, 68 percent of Americans replied: having free time -- which ranked even higher than children, which came in at 62 percent, and career, at 59 percent. Yet the way we live doesn't reflect those priorities. As long as success is defined by who works the longest hours, who goes the longest without a vacation, who sleeps the least -- in essence, who is suffering from the biggest time famine -- we're never going to be able to enjoy the proven benefits of time affluence.</div>
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We just need to redefine success. But right now we're passing down our time famine habits to the next generation. Though getting enough sleep doesn't guarantee a feeling of time affluence, not getting enough sleep definitely puts you on the road to time famine. Writing in the <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York Times</em> last week, Vatsal Thakkar, a psychiatry professor at the NYU School of Medicine, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/opinion/sunday/diagnosing-the-wrong-deficit.html" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">suggested</a> that many cases of ADHD in children are, in fact, sleep disorders. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an astounding 11 percent of school-aged children have received a diagnosis of ADHD. Feeling lethargic from not getting enough sleep is more of an adult symptom. Sleep-deprived children, writes Thakkar, "become hyperactive and unfocused." In one study he cites, of the 34 children diagnosed with ADHD, a sleep disorder was found in every single one.</div>
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Sleep, he notes, is especially crucial for children, who need the deep, slow-wave type called "delta sleep." But compared to a hundred years ago, today's children get a full hour less. "And for all ages," writes Thakkar, "contemporary daytime activities -- marked by nonstop 14-hour schedules and inescapable melatonin-inhibiting iDevices -- often impair sleep." In other words, solving the sleep crisis is not as simple as choosing an early bedtime -- it's about changing how we overschedule our children's days so that they can begin their nights sooner. We helicopter over our children, ensuring their physical well-being in unprecedented ways -- from car seats, to BPA-free plastic, to organic food. But we don't apply the same level of care to our children's time diets as we try to do to their food diets -- so that we make sure they grow up to be time affluent. That's something we should be passing on to them, the benefits of which will likely outweigh all those trips to soccer and violin practice. As Quentin Compson's father says to him while giving him a watch in Faulkner's <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Sound and the Fury</em>, "I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it."</div>
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So what can you do to fight back against "hurry sickness" and the American worship of speed and rushing and the resulting time famine? You can walk -- don't run -- and join the slow movement. It began in Italy in the mid-'80s when a Slow Food group was formed to protest the opening of a McDonald's in Rome.</div>
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Since then, the movement, with almost inappropriate speed, has widened to include Slow Travel, Slow Living, Slow Cities, and, now, Slow Thinking. In 2009, the book <a href="http://www.carlhonore.com/books/in-praise-of-slowness/" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed</em></a>, by Carl Honore, was my first pick for the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/announcing-my-first-pick-_b_310544.html" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">HuffPost Book Club</a>. "Slow Thinking is intuitive, woolly and creative," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-honore/in-praise-of-slow-thinkin_b_331843.html" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">wrote Honore</a> on HuffPost in 2009. "It is what we do when the pressure is off, and there is time to let ideas simmer on the back burner. It yields rich, nuanced insights and sometimes surprising breakthroughs." And, he notes, it also has particular relevance to the financial crisis and what will come afterward. "Returning to business as usual is not the answer to this crisis," he wrote. "The future will belong to those who can innovate their way back into shape -- and innovation comes from knowing when to slow down."</div>
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In Gleick's <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Faster</em>, he writes about how timekeeping devices "served as agents of social organization," a process that intensified in the industrial revolution, which required mass coordination in factories. "No wonder," <a href="http://fasterbook.com/cgi-bin/faster/fchapter.pl?4" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">he writes</a>, "some historians describe the spread of timekeeping in terms of dehumanization and enslavement." In fact, the word deadline <a href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=deadline" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">is thought to have its American origin </a>in Civil War prison camps. Instead of a physical perimeter, there would often be an imaginary line -- the dead line -- that the prisoners were not to cross. Much like our own sense of time: an imaginary construct that we use to enslave ourselves.</div>
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So how about redefining success to include a third metric, beyond money and power -- time affluence, which will lead, without doubt, to greater well-being and deeper wisdom. Not a bad thing to put on top of our to-do lists.</div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;">To see the original post, you can visit </span><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130503130619-143695135-america-s-real-deficit-crisis" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130503130619-143695135-america-s-real-deficit-crisis</a><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;">.</span></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Photo credit: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-191161p1.html" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">igor.stevanovic</a> / Shutterstock.com</em></div>
TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-2670258507867403322013-04-24T13:47:00.001-07:002013-05-10T11:20:49.322-07:0030 Minutes a Day for Social Media<img src="http://www2.pardot.com/30-minute_social_media" alt="Rock Social Media in 30 Minutes a Day [INFOGRAPHIC] - An Infographic from Pardot" width="100%" class="infographic_embedder" /><br />
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<div class="infographic_attr"><p>Embedded from <a href="http://www.pardot.com/infographic/rock-social-media-30-minutes-day-infographic/" target="_blank">Pardot</a></p></div>TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-87468472775707092592013-04-15T07:49:00.001-07:002013-05-20T09:17:02.096-07:00Tax Day Giveaways!<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i-PhLqTJbxE/UWwSqJRQ2iI/AAAAAAAAP5E/5I29rOJSYsk/s1600/Tax+Day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i-PhLqTJbxE/UWwSqJRQ2iI/AAAAAAAAP5E/5I29rOJSYsk/s200/Tax+Day.jpg" width="200" /></a>If you're like us, April 15th is not a great day this year, but it's a great day if you'd like to take advantage of some of the special offers you can get this year on tax day!<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Arby's:</b> For the third year in a row, you can get free curly fries with this <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/493871897316103/" target="_blank">printable coupon</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Cinnabon: </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/497116730349346/" target="_blank">two free Cinnabon Bites</a> at participating locations. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Office Depot: </b>free copy of your tax return if you bring in the coupon that you can <a href="http://www.officedepot.com/speciallinks/us/od/docs/cpd_4_0113_taxtoupons_bwcopies.pdf" target="_blank">print here</a>!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152748696710440&set=a.10151429531275440.856833.54000790439&type=1" target="_blank">Great American Cookies</a>:</b> is giving away free Birthday Cake Cookies all day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Panda Express:</b> free Samurai Surf & Turf entree on WEDNESDAY, April 17th. <a href="http://www.pandaexpress.com/coupon/full/Free-SST-Coupon#" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the scoop!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>AMC Movie Theatres:</b> free Small Popcorn with <a href="http://www.amctheatres.com/offers/tax-day-fbp" target="_blank">this coupon</a>!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Bruegger's Bagel's:</b> Pay just $10.40 and receive 13 bagels and 2 tubs of cream cheese. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Brueggers/app_238652839613146" target="_blank">Click here</a> to get the coupon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>White Castle:</b> 15% discount on orders at all restaurants and online</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Sonic: </b>(yum!) half-price drinks and slushies all day today!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">California Tortilla:</strong><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> Say “1040″ on April 15, and get</span><a href="http://californiatortilla.com/2013/04/april-taco-talk-issue-213/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> FREE Chips & Queso</a></span><br />
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<b>Papa Murphy's: </b>$5 for a large pepperoni pizza on April 15th.<br />
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<b>Papa John's:</b> 2 large pizzas and a 2-liter for $10.40 with coupon code TAXSPC when you <a href="http://view.papajohns-specials.com/?j=fecc107170640179&m=fef41375766c00&ls=fe211d787062057d7c1775&l=ff3715717065&s=fe1e107071610d757c1076&jb=ff2b1d727662&ju=fe9f10707462047875&cm_ven=ExactTarget&r=0" style="border: 0px; color: #5cbdbd; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">order online</a>.<br />
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<b>ACE Hardware:</b> $10 off of any $40 purchase. <a href="http://links.acehardwareemails.com/servlet/MailView?ms=NDEzMjUwMDcS1&r=NTIzMjA3MDc4ODcS1&j=MTg0OTM5Mjc5S0&mt=1&rt=0" target="_blank">Click here</a> for more information.<br />
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<b>Famous Dave's:</b> is offering members of their P.I.G. Club $10.40 off of a purchase of $30 or more.<br />
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<a href="http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-7072565-11304699" target="_blank">
<img alt="" border="0" height="60" src="http://www.awltovhc.com/image-7072565-11304699" width="468" /></a></div>
TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-8428934712967742912013-04-09T12:01:00.001-07:002014-08-02T12:39:54.033-07:00Spring Specials from Deluxe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VmY-j6arMJc/U90-c0LSKLI/AAAAAAAArKM/MdJtBL0coGw/s1600/deluxe+spring+sale+intro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VmY-j6arMJc/U90-c0LSKLI/AAAAAAAArKM/MdJtBL0coGw/s1600/deluxe+spring+sale+intro.jpg" height="320" width="262" /></a></div>
Some great special offers from Deluxe (you know, the check people!) came across my desk and they are too good to not share with you!<br />
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All are only available for a limited time<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qXMpM5KLk3w/UWRjaJJJImI/AAAAAAAAPc0/yy5YBdT2t-M/s1600/magnet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qXMpM5KLk3w/UWRjaJJJImI/AAAAAAAAPc0/yy5YBdT2t-M/s1600/magnet.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">Limited Time Only! </span><a href="http://www.tkqlhce.com/a374wktqks7F8FADED799BCB88H" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" target="_blank">Get 350 Business Card Magnets For Only $50</a><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;"> from Deluxe!</span><img border="0" src="http://www.tqlkg.com/ga106c37w1-LTMTORSRLNNPQPMMV" height="1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" width="1" /><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7CySX-fThHQ/UWRiNG37mFI/AAAAAAAAPck/wj1h3KvTbCg/s1600/Contempo+Click+Pen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7CySX-fThHQ/UWRiNG37mFI/AAAAAAAAPck/wj1h3KvTbCg/s1600/Contempo+Click+Pen.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">Limited Time Only! Get </span><a href="http://www.jdoqocy.com/4e66ox52x4KSLSNQRQKMMOPOLNR" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" target="_blank">300 Imprinted Pens For Only $49</a><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">from Deluxe!</span><img border="0" src="http://www.tqlkg.com/st76elpdjh2A3A5898244676359" height="1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" width="1" /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X_RkQGAsTOc/UWRjAmXaAWI/AAAAAAAAPcw/E4i7ulzJxuc/s1600/key.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X_RkQGAsTOc/UWRjAmXaAWI/AAAAAAAAPcw/E4i7ulzJxuc/s200/key.jpg" height="200" width="199" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">Key Tags! </span><a href="http://www.kqzyfj.com/gi104ft1zt0GOHOJMNMGIIKLKHHM" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" target="_blank">250 Imprinted Key Tags For Only $74.99!</a><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;"> Limited Time Only from Deluxe!</span><img border="0" src="http://www.ftjcfx.com/b5106g04tzxIQJQLOPOIKKMNMJJO" height="1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" width="1" /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nJWUnUQO1WA/UWRj0wSYXQI/AAAAAAAAPc8/0h6VQ0yQv0Y/s1600/ladies+polo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nJWUnUQO1WA/UWRj0wSYXQI/AAAAAAAAPc8/0h6VQ0yQv0Y/s1600/ladies+polo.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">Great Deal! </span><a href="http://www.tkqlhce.com/54103qgpmgo3B4B69A9355786DDA" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" target="_blank">6 or 12 Embroidered Mens Cotton Polos – Just $16.99 each!</a><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;"> Limited Time Only!</span><img border="0" src="http://www.awltovhc.com/f6102ax0pvtEMFMHKLKEGGIJHOOL" height="1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" width="1" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">Great Deal! </span><a href="http://www.dpbolvw.net/33106mu2-u1HPIPKNONHJJLMLIIJ" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" target="_blank">6 or 12 Embroidered Ladies Cotton Polos – Just $16.99 each!</a><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;"> Limited Time Only!</span><img border="0" src="http://www.awltovhc.com/rd65c37w1-LTMTORSRLNNPQPMMN" height="1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" width="1" /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rh6hmAGotF4/UWRdO8Y3jHI/AAAAAAAAPcM/CrqRLmG3O-A/s1600/dep.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rh6hmAGotF4/UWRdO8Y3jHI/AAAAAAAAPcM/CrqRLmG3O-A/s200/dep.gif" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">Plus any Booked Deposit Tickets that you order are </span><a href="http://www.jdoqocy.com/1l77vpyvpxCKDKFIJICEDMLHDGH" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" target="_blank">40% off!</a><img border="0" src="http://www.awltovhc.com/rs119bosgmk5D6D8BCB576FEA69A" height="1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" width="1" /></td></tr>
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Are you interested in these types of posts from me? Some people appreciate a bargain, others think it's spam. Let me know!TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-24275807943828605302013-04-07T12:30:00.002-07:002013-04-09T12:01:59.439-07:00New Client Welcome!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Your Business is My Business would like to welcome aboard our newest client,</span><b style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><i> Smiling Dog Pet Care! </i></b><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Susy at<b><i> Smiling Dog Pet Care</i></b> provides one on one pet care in her home! It's a great alternative to a traditional kennel. Dogs stay right in her home, eat gourmet, all organic food that she prepares right on site, and they get to play outside in her big, fenced in yard. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px;">For <b><i>Smiling Dog Pet Care</i></b> we are helping tweak their Facebook page, we are creating a Twitter account for her, and we're creating a new blog for her. For more information, you can visit <a href="http://smilingdogpetcare.com/">smilingdogpetcare.com</a>, you can "like" them on Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Smiling-Dog-Pet-Care/112673762177644" target="_blank">here</a>, and soon you'll be able to find them on Blogger! </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px;">If you would like help setting up a Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest account for your business - or a blog - you can email me at teri.ahlm@gmail.com.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_GEMNg8TB_M/UWRGqIj95rI/AAAAAAAAPa4/lt_JLT9MIUc/s1600/white+dog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="display: inline !important; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_GEMNg8TB_M/UWRGqIj95rI/AAAAAAAAPa4/lt_JLT9MIUc/s320/white+dog.jpg" width="230" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px;">Cheers!</span>TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-82949824781626400962013-03-30T09:02:00.003-07:002013-04-04T07:55:20.521-07:00Earn $$ with Affiliate Programs<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pwo2YPfdZOQ/UVcfHM0KTdI/AAAAAAAAOlo/tREgETWIipQ/s1600/ID-100136642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pwo2YPfdZOQ/UVcfHM0KTdI/AAAAAAAAOlo/tREgETWIipQ/s200/ID-100136642.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="text-align: start;">Image courtesy of Feelart / </span><a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/" style="text-align: start;" target="_blank">FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></span></td></tr>
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If you have a blog or a website and you're not using affiliate marketing, you're missing out on a great opportunity to make a little (or a lot) of money with relatively little hassle!<br />
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With affiliate marketing you don't have to have your own products or services, you simply place promotions on your website for other companies and you are compensated when someone purchases from a company using the link you provide.<br />
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Most of the time it doesn't matter how you promote the companies that you work with. you can use social media, your blog or website, email marketing, e-newsletter links - you name it! The affiliate program that you work with does the work for you by tracking and reporting to the individual merchants, then paying you a commission for each transaction that happens through the affiliate link.<br />
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I have done a lot of research on affiliate marketing programs and ultimately chose to sign up with three different networks. NOTE: Some merchants require certain criteria be met before they approve you to promote their products regardless of which affiliate network program you work with. My advice is to go ahead and apply to represent any company that you are interested in. If you are approved, great! If not, oh well. Typically you can reapply after 30 days.<br />
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<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=5/wu4hzncOQ&offerid=7097.10000080&subid=0&type=4" target="new"><img alt="LinkShare_180x150" border="0" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=5/wu4hzncOQ&bids=7097.10000080&subid=0&type=4&gridnum=11" /></a><br />
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LinkShare is reportedly the largest affiliate network, with over 10 million affiliate partnerships. I work with LinkShare for my blog "A Beautiful Little Life" to promote a few of my favorite brands, like <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=5/wu4hzncOQ&offerid=234190.153&type=3&subid=0" target="_blank">Sundance</a>, <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=5/wu4hzncOQ&offerid=189453.10000130&type=3&subid=0" target="_blank">Fossil </a>and <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=5/wu4hzncOQ&offerid=251735.10000920&type=3&subid=0" target="_blank">Vera Bradley</a>. They work with PetSmart, Macy's, The Container Store and so many more I couldn't even begin to list them all! Click on the ad above to go to their site.<br />
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<a href="http://www.cj.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TG6qDkL8od8/UVcCHKq_hpI/AAAAAAAAOio/AjxGFQmrpsc/s1600/cj-logo.gif" /></a></div>
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Commission Junction is another network that I work with and they work with a larger variety of merchants that are not fashion related. Brands like <a href="http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-7072565-10983937" target="_blank">Deluxe Check</a>, <a href="http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-7072565-10370382?cm_mmc=CJ-_-3979872-_-7072565-_-Hammacher%20Homepage-%20Tag%20Line" target="_blank">Hammacher Schlemmer</a>, the <a href="http://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-7072565-10873971" target="_blank">NBC Universal Store</a> and more. They are said to be the largest affiliate marketing network in North America and they have a ton of options for different companies to work with.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bGDjY3G2szU/UVcK3ndiB0I/AAAAAAAAOiw/hVEcovTotkw/s1600/amazon-logo._V192256676_.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bGDjY3G2szU/UVcK3ndiB0I/AAAAAAAAOiw/hVEcovTotkw/s1600/amazon-logo._V192256676_.gif" /></a></div>
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Amazon.com offers Amazon Associates and they will pay you a percentage of every sale that comes from a link on your blog. Because Amazon.com has such a wide variety of products available, there truly is something for everyone and every type of website! You can promote <a href="http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=as_li_qf_br_sr_il_tl?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&node=1040660&tag=abealitlif-20" target="_blank">fashion</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=as_li_qf_br_sr_tl?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=ur2&node=172282&tag=abealitlif-20" target="_blank">electronics</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=as_li_qf_br_sr_il_tl?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&node=1064954&tag=abealitlif-20" target="_blank">office supplies</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=as_li_qf_br_sr_il_tl?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&node=1063306&tag=abealitlif-20" target="_blank">furniture</a> - and of course <a href="http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=as_li_qf_br_sr_il_tl?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&node=1000&tag=abealitlif-20" target="_blank">books</a>. It's by far the easiest to set up and use, and because so many people shop regularly on amazon.com, it's kind of a no-brainer.</div>
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Again, I'm not an expert, but these are programs that I'm working with every day and if you have any questions, feel free to ask! You can leave a note in the comments or email me at teri.ahlm@gmail.com.</div>
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<br />TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-89348487904352998222013-03-28T15:32:00.000-07:002013-05-20T09:17:36.275-07:00New Client Welcome!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lrwYfieNmCk/UVTCYp9WeoI/AAAAAAAAOiA/p0R1TwDnlsE/s1600/562679_178064389008301_550138089_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lrwYfieNmCk/UVTCYp9WeoI/AAAAAAAAOiA/p0R1TwDnlsE/s1600/562679_178064389008301_550138089_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the gardener's gardener</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Your Business is My Business would like to welcome aboard our newest client,<b><i> the gardener's gardener! </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Maggie at <b><i>the gardener's gardener</i></b> provides personalized, on-site gardening assistance throughout the Minneapolis and St. Paul area. She can help you decide where to set up your gardens, what gardening approach(es) might work best for you, what soil mediums are right for your plants and more! She is passionate about gardening, experienced, and extremely knowledgeable. You no longer need to be overwhelmed with all the resource information available on gardening. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 14px;">For <b><i>the gardener's gardener</i></b> we are helping tweak their Facebook page, we are creating a Twitter account for her, and we're creating a Pinterest account for her. Their website is not yet live, but you can find the gardener's gardener on Facebook <a href="http://www.facebook.com/gardeners.gardener" target="_blank">here</a>, on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/GardenersG/" target="_blank">here</a>, and on Pinterest <a href="http://pinterest.com/gardenersg/" target="_blank">here</a>! </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 14px;">If you would like help setting up a Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest account for your business you can email me at teri.ahlm@gmail.com.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 14px;">Cheers!</span>TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-25024433125725462722013-03-19T09:36:00.004-07:002013-03-19T16:24:04.429-07:00Custom Coins for Your Business<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PVOj-kyQABA/UUiSgUPi48I/AAAAAAAAMyE/vyF_Br3NZF8/s1600/Coin-Image-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="137" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PVOj-kyQABA/UUiSgUPi48I/AAAAAAAAMyE/vyF_Br3NZF8/s400/Coin-Image-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-7072565-11016416" onmouseout="window.status=' ';return true;" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.pinmart.com';return true;" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" target="_blank">PinMart.com - Lapel Pins, Lanyards, etc</a><img border="0" height="1" src="http://www.ftjcfx.com/image-7072565-11016416" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;" width="1" /></td></tr>
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I recently came across a website called <a href="http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-7072565-11016416" target="_blank">PinMart</a> where you can purchase gorgeous custom coins to use to promote your business. Check out that DRAGONFLY!<br />
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They have been used for years but they were called "Challenge Coins" and given to show affiliation or membership with a club or military unit. Recently, challenge coins have made their way into the business world as Custom Coins that show a company logo and message. Many organizations use coins as a way to celebrate anniversaries, recognize employees and top clients, or even to use as trade show giveaways!<br />
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<a href="http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-7072565-11016416" target="_blank">PinMart</a> does custom coin design free of charge and the coins are stunning. They run about $3 each depending on how many you order and how many colors you want, etc. but WOW! What a way to showcase your business!<br />
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Honestly - because these are so gorgeous I offered to promote them for PinMart and I will be paid by them if you order any pins, coins or products from them. I was just so pulled in by that dragonfly coin. AMAZING!<br />
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<br />TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-71472503255051938492013-03-15T12:33:00.001-07:002013-03-19T16:24:24.236-07:00A Negative Online Business Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OA2AV3BfXX4/UUNYqJoJLXI/AAAAAAAAMp8/LnyK1IdF7uk/s1600/ID-10096420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OA2AV3BfXX4/UUNYqJoJLXI/AAAAAAAAMp8/LnyK1IdF7uk/s320/ID-10096420.jpg" width="212" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">You spend your days working hard to make your small business successful and things are going well... Then one day a customer comes in and asks you about a negative review they saw online for your business. You are shocked! How could your company have gotten a negative review? </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">49 percent of consumers state that they are more likely to visit a business after reading a<b> positive </b>online review, and 69 percent trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. A negative review can certainly hurt your sales!</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Developing a strategy in advance to deal with a negative business review will help your company mitigate any damage that may come from the review. A negative review on Yelp, Google Places or Citysearch is bound to happen to any business that interacts with the public on a daily basis!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;">Negative Review Strategy</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The first thing that you need to do is set up a Google Alert for your business name so that you are notified whenever anything about your business is posted online. It's totally free and easy to set up. Just go to </span>http://www.google.com/alerts. You'll automatically get an email delivered to you whenever your business name shows up online and you will be able to respond immediately to any negative reviews.<br />
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<b>AND YOU SHOULD RESPOND IMMEDIATELY! </b><br />
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A simple, professional response asking the reviewer to contact you personally to resolve the issue will go a long way. When the reviewer does reach out to you, handle their complaint offline. Kill them with kindness and do everything you can to make things right! 34% of negative reviews are removed from the sight after the company responds, so let that be your goal!<br />
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Don't ever lash out at the reviewer or be negative in any way. Your response is permanent and public! If you have worked with the customer already to resolve the issue and they still posted the negative review, a professional response listing all of the things that your company did to resolve the issue will show others that you did what you could to make things right. Someone reading that negative review and your response may be impressed with the amount of work that you did to please your customer - turning that negative into a positive!<br />
<h4>
Be Proactive</h4>
If you have an angry customer, try to deal with them before things get out of hand. Even if they are being difficult to work with, (ESPECIALLY if they are being difficult) do everything you can to make the customer feel good about their interaction with your company! Preventing a negative review is easier than trying to deal with one after the fact!<br />
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Another way to be proactive is to ask your really good customers to provide their positive feedback on some of the big review websites. When you receive a compliment from a customer, ask them to do you a favor and post their comments online!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-886zGUg3Jhg/UUN1uQZ2q4I/AAAAAAAAMqE/M7-abuiFgsk/s1600/ID-10096421.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-886zGUg3Jhg/UUN1uQZ2q4I/AAAAAAAAMqE/M7-abuiFgsk/s320/ID-10096421.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Images courtesy of </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">David Castillo Dominici</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: start;"> / </span><a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/" style="text-align: start;" target="_blank">FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></span></div>
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You can take the bite out of a negative review of your company online by responding quickly, being professional and trying to resolve any customer issues that might result in a negative review, and by asking for positive reviews from your best customers.<br />
<br />TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-65211697679363902362013-03-12T13:52:00.003-07:002013-03-15T12:34:14.035-07:00What IS Pinterest?Pinterest is totally addicting. Trust me on this one. I was an early adopter and 7800 pins later I'm still a daily user. But a LOT of people really don't know what Pinterest is!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EhO7GHhCvWc/UT96S20gYvI/AAAAAAAAMWk/2nPJKqVo8yE/s1600/Teri+Ahlm+++Pinterest.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EhO7GHhCvWc/UT96S20gYvI/AAAAAAAAMWk/2nPJKqVo8yE/s400/Teri+Ahlm+++Pinterest.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Pinterest Account Home Page</td></tr>
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<br /><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Wikipedia says "Pinterest</b> is a pinboard-style photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, hobbies, and more. Users can browse other pinboards for inspiration, 're-pin' images to their own pinboards, or 'like' photos."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So if you are redecorating your bedroom, you might create a BOARD called "Bedroom". Once that board is created, every time you see an image online that you like - from a paint color for the wall to a lamp, a rug, a window treatment - you can PIN the image to your "Bedroom" board for future reference. It's a combination between an inspiration board and a bookmark. When you go back and look at your board, you can see a visual pin board of ideas that you have saved. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E5V7w2d9XCc/UT-CDs4AajI/AAAAAAAAMWs/3lqL6-NQsdo/s1600/Bedroom.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E5V7w2d9XCc/UT-CDs4AajI/AAAAAAAAMWs/3lqL6-NQsdo/s400/Bedroom.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A board created for a bedroom redecorating project.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"></span><br /><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">You can also "follow" other people on Pinterest, like interior decorators, your favorite stores, and other people's boards that they have created for bedrooms. Above you'll see the board for <b>Experience Life Magazine.</b></span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aWrILEu3o9k/UT-D21oXHOI/AAAAAAAAMW8/F1dg3qmnBDE/s1600/experience+life.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aWrILEu3o9k/UT-D21oXHOI/AAAAAAAAMW8/F1dg3qmnBDE/s400/experience+life.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Experience Life Magazine on Pinterest</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b></b></span><br /><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b></b></span>Some new users say they are completely overwhelmed when they go to Pinterest.com for the first time. I think that was a big advantage to being one of the early users... There weren't as many pins and users when I jumped in. <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In February 2013, Reuters and ComScore stated that Pinterest had 48.7 million users. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But even more impressive than that are what those visitors are doing once they land on Pinterest — they’re <em>staying</em> and they’re <em>engaging</em>. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Reports say that the average Pinterest user spends 89 minutes interacting, sharing, and posting on the site. </b>And that could be <em>your</em> content they’re interacting with, but only if you’re taking the steps to leverage Pinterest.</span><br />
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Getting Started</strong><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you don’t currently have a Pinterest login, you can create one for free. Once that is done, </span>go into your "Settings" and take some time to fill out your profile.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HtNtzXvo4vM/UT-GS733gBI/AAAAAAAAMXM/MItV6swdiEE/s1600/Teri+Ahlm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HtNtzXvo4vM/UT-GS733gBI/AAAAAAAAMXM/MItV6swdiEE/s400/Teri+Ahlm.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Account Settings Page</td></tr>
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You’ll want to set your email settings, fill out your About section, include a Web site and then decide how you want Pinterest to interact with your other social media accounts.<br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Do you want all of your pins to sync to Facebook? (I don't, but a lot of people do!) Do you want to link your Twitter account? (again, I don't...) Depending on how you plan to use the site, this will change. If you’re not sure yet how you want your pins displayed, don’t worry too much. You can always come back and edit these settings.</span><br />
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<h4>
<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Create Your Boards</strong></h4>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now comes the fun part. Play around with creating boards. You may want to start with one board until you really get used to what you can find on Pinterest. If you like to cook, start with a RECIPES board. Type RECIPE into the search box at the top left and start re-pinning recipes that look good!</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MRYjBhqVKf4/UT-FaQN5CDI/AAAAAAAAMXE/wUnPfVuhY9o/s1600/recipes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MRYjBhqVKf4/UT-FaQN5CDI/AAAAAAAAMXE/wUnPfVuhY9o/s400/recipes.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Search for "Recipes"</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
When you start creating boards for your business, try to think of things that are RELATED to your business, but not exactly what you do. Here are some examples:<br />
<br />Hair Salon: Hair Styles Short Hair, Medium Hair, Long Hair, Mens Hair, Girls Hair, Boys Hair, Products<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YfNuGV5iZKk/UT-HydGBd4I/AAAAAAAAMXU/x94DhX5Yny0/s1600/Citrus+Hair+Salon++citrussalon++on+Pinterest.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YfNuGV5iZKk/UT-HydGBd4I/AAAAAAAAMXU/x94DhX5Yny0/s400/Citrus+Hair+Salon++citrussalon++on+Pinterest.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hair Salon Board</td></tr>
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Hardware Store: DIY Projects, Home Improvement, Gardening & Landscaping, Organization, Tutorials<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-onoRz_AtREE/UT-IfaC5RwI/AAAAAAAAMXc/h7-UstiWUyI/s1600/Cannon+s+Hardware++cannonsace++on+Pinterest.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-onoRz_AtREE/UT-IfaC5RwI/AAAAAAAAMXc/h7-UstiWUyI/s400/Cannon+s+Hardware++cannonsace++on+Pinterest.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hardware Store Board</td></tr>
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Restaurant: Appetizer Recipes, Cocktails, Salads, Burgers, Wine Pairings<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FC2UdlmhUyM/UT-JG2bf2oI/AAAAAAAAMXk/cEF0F-DZbpM/s1600/Firebirds+Restaurant++firebirdsgrill++on+Pinterest.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FC2UdlmhUyM/UT-JG2bf2oI/AAAAAAAAMXk/cEF0F-DZbpM/s400/Firebirds+Restaurant++firebirdsgrill++on+Pinterest.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Restaurant Board</td></tr>
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The boards should be ABOUT what you do - not literally about YOU. Users want new ideas, recipes, inspiration and tips to make life easier. If you can, be creative with your board names, but make them "searchable" so people can find you!<br />
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Once your boards are up and full of lovely pins, have fun with it! Find pins and repin them to your boards. The more you use Pinterest, the more you'll build a following of other pinners. Tell your waitstaff to let customers know that they can find a recipe for your signature drink on your Pinterest page.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z3wQohKVnsc/UT-U4Iyi6WI/AAAAAAAAMXs/0SBWXOis3Xk/s1600/Pinterest+++Search+results+for+signature+drink.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z3wQohKVnsc/UT-U4Iyi6WI/AAAAAAAAMXs/0SBWXOis3Xk/s400/Pinterest+++Search+results+for+signature+drink.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A pin for a signature drink. Click on it to go to the recipe.</td></tr>
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Or that they can find samples of all of your paint colors that you stock on Pinterest. The smartphones will definitely come out!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NYhSXSt3fKE/UT-U_Eb6c8I/AAAAAAAAMX0/0Kum8ofGsEY/s1600/Letschipit.com+++Pinterest.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NYhSXSt3fKE/UT-U_Eb6c8I/AAAAAAAAMX0/0Kum8ofGsEY/s400/Letschipit.com+++Pinterest.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A pin for a paint matching program from Sherwin Williams.</td></tr>
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It's a lot of work - and it won't happen overnight - but building a presence on Pinterest can be a LOT of fun. If you're not up to it, I'd be happy to set up a Pinterest account for you and start filling your boards. Just drop me a line or leave a message in the comments.<br />
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If you're already using Pinterest, leave your username in the comments so others can follow you!<br />
TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-30785215630028093162013-03-08T13:55:00.001-08:002013-05-20T09:19:18.244-07:00A Small Business Manifesto!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4Wrf9UL5rE/UZpM3QrIv5I/AAAAAAAATJY/41H4EE3zfzY/s1600/9b144fe49758236e6185d76f821a32ce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4Wrf9UL5rE/UZpM3QrIv5I/AAAAAAAATJY/41H4EE3zfzY/s640/9b144fe49758236e6185d76f821a32ce.jpg" width="482" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/244672192227595411/">http://pinterest.com/pin/244672192227595411/</a></td></tr>
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TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-34700466442588426402013-03-07T16:40:00.001-08:002013-03-19T16:24:50.232-07:00Women, Work, and the Will to Lead<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sYW5yCC2qTc/UTktLJRAZVI/AAAAAAAALuM/ylZ1R5gMEkc/s1600/Lean+In.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sYW5yCC2qTc/UTktLJRAZVI/AAAAAAAALuM/ylZ1R5gMEkc/s1600/Lean+In.jpg" /></a>I am counting the days until March 11 release of the Sheryl Sandberg book<i style="font-weight: bold;"> Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead</i> when the pre-ordered book will download automatically to my Kindle.<br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I remember seeing the video of her <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders.html" target="_blank">2010 TED talk</a> and thinking how incredibly courageous she was for openly discussing the challenges women face in the working world. Why aren't there more women leaders in corporate America? </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I think I know why. It's because the corporate model just doesn't work for women! We don't climb our way to the top because we have other priorities that require our attention. We raise babies, get divorced, re-enter the work force after several years off... Not exactly the way to the top of the corporate ladder. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But are there other ways that women can achieve their full potential? Are there other ways that women lead? ABSOLUTELY! Many of the small business owners that I work with every day are women. How many female bloggers are experiencing great success while still managing to be there for their family? A LOT!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"In <i><b>Lean In</b>,</i> Sheryl Sandberg examines why women’s progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled, explains the root causes, and offers compelling, commonsense solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential." - - I hope that she can see beyond the traditional leadership roles to see the many ways that women are leading this country and the world every day.</span><br />
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TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-9270422147626272862013-03-04T22:19:00.001-08:002013-03-19T16:25:06.635-07:00Making Facebook Work For You<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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Does your business need a Facebook page? Do you have a Facebook Page for your business but have no idea how to use it? Do you keep hearing that everyone is on Facebook, but you don't know how to effectively make it work for you?<br />
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Setting up a page on Facebook isn't hard to do. Making it look FABULOUS takes some tweaking. Building an audience and maintaining a presence takes a lot of work!<br />
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When you're a busy small business owner, Facebook and Twitter can take a back seat to more urgent daily business. It can feel like a drain on precious resources that are already spread too thin. <br />
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But when used effectively, Facebook can be a powerful tool for your business. You can attract new customers, boost sales, and you can get valuable feedback from your customers with a few clicks of your mouse. <br />
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In January, Facebook announced <b>"graph search"</b> - changing everything and making social media even more important for small businesses. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">image courtesy of smarnad/</span><a href="http://freedigitalphotos.net/" style="font-size: x-small;">FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></td></tr>
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From venturebeat.com:<br />
Facebook’s new graph search is going to allow Facebook’s billion-plus members to easily and quickly find the best local businesses – according to their friends, and other locals. Restaurants, dentists, doctors, or carpenters: Facebook will highlight the services and businesses that your friends like, use, comment on, and respond to. Facebook has a billion-plus members who have uploaded 240 billion photos and created over a trillion connections between themselves — and with businesses.<br />
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Graph search is a big deal — and a big shift for local search.<br />
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Local businesses have already jumped on the social bandwagon, but now it’s not just about presence. And it’s not just about doing it because everyone else is doing it. <b>Now, it’s about maximizing social visibility — social media optimization — just as smart businesses have worked for years on search engine optimization.</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">image courtesy of nirots/<a href="http://freedigitalphotos.net/">FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></span></td></tr>
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No likes? It’ll be hard to appear in social search. And while fake likes from users in Kazakstan might make you look good on the outside, they won’t translate to business because they won’t be truly local. Lots of likes but no interactions? Again, it’ll be hard to gain visibility when local people search for the best businesses. Facebook will be looking at a wide variety of social signals when determining what to show users in response to their queries.<br />
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What’ll work?<br />
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“Being active, having good content, and participating regularly are all key,” Lyman says. <b>“It’s now beyond the like … you need to engage your customers somehow and get them to participate. Increasing your engagement will increase your visibility, so interactivity is the key.”</b><br />
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In other words, local businesses that have been dedicated to growing a loyal, responsive fanbase by both doing great work and being active in engaging local people via Facebook are best positioned to win at the new social media optimization.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Read more at http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/15/small-business-of-america-double-down-on-facebook-now-to-be-part-of-the-new-graph-search/#Z9QSPiXiKFVCgeZw.99 </span></i><br />
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For information on Facebook optimization services that I can provide for you, please send me an email! You can just click <a href="mailto:teri.ahlm@gmail.com" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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<br />TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4730151752806782283.post-85773517503327115082013-02-27T19:50:00.000-08:002013-05-20T09:22:43.530-07:00The introvert in business...Introverts make great business leaders. They think before they speak, they tend to be more calm, and they don't usually get involved in office political and social drama. I recently viewed this video of Susan Cain at TED titled "The Power of Introverts" and found it to be QUITE fascinating!<br />
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When I first figured out that I was an introvert, it literally changed the way that I saw myself, both at work and in my personal life. I actually think that a lot of salespeople - GOOD sales people - tend to be more introverted. They listen to the customers needs, tend to focus on truly helping their clients instead of trying to be their friend, and they often step back to see the big picture rather than making the quick buck on a deal.<br />
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Have you taken any personality tests? Are you more introverted? Or extroverted?TeriAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07596782248921088035noreply@blogger.com0