Social Media

Aug

lightbulb inspirational quotes and sayings

Let these quotes and sayings inspire you. Photo by Matthew Wynn

I love a good quote. They motivate me. They challenge me. They lift me up. They make me think. And especially if they are under 140 characters, I like to share them!

Here are some of my favorite quotes that speak to me as a blogger and WAHM. I hope they will speak to you as well.

“There is one thing stronger than all the armies of the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.” ~Victor Hugo

“One of the reasons mature people stop learning is that they become less and less willing to risk failure.” ~ John W. Gardner

“A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses; it is an idea that possesses the mind.” ~ Robert Bolton

“We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing; others judge us by what we have done.” ~Longfellow

“Courage is grace under pressure.” ~Ernest Hemmingway

“The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.” ~ Edward Phelps

“If you have knowledge, let others light their candles by it.” ~Margaret Fuller

“One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up to get it.” ~ Sidney Howard

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.” ~Nelson Mandela

“You’re never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream.” ~Les Brown

“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” ~Arthur Ashe

“Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out.” ~Robert Collier

“There is something that is much more scarce, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability.” ~ Robert Half

“You are the only person on earth who can use your ability” ~Zig Ziglar

“Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.” ~ H. J. Grant

“Begin somewhere: you cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do.” ~ Liz Smith

“Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.” ~ Peter Drucker

Like this list? Stumble and share. Do you have a favorite, tweetable quote not on the list? Tell us in the comments!

Jul

Google Plus Benefits Are Like a Blog Conference

By AngEngland | Social Media

9 Comments

I’ve spent the last few days exploring Google Plus a little more in-depth. After staying up until about 2am yesterday, I’ve come to the conclusion that, for now at least, the benefits of Google Plus are like those of a blog conference event.

Strong Social Profiles and Meaningful Online Presences

For right now anyway, almost everyone on Google Plus has a strong social profile, which means you’re interacting with people who take their online presence seriously. To some degree, most of the people who attend a blog conference are the same way – they are there at the conference because they are willing to invest in their online community. That’s the type of people I’m noticing almost across the board on Google Plus.

Good Content From Experts in Various Fields

So much of what I’ve seen flow through my home stream on Google Plus so far has been relatively strong content. This is a stark contrast to Twitter, where the build up of robotic tweets and spam trash has taken over my main stream, or Facebook where there are a wide variety of users from Liz Strauss to Aunt Judy.

I know that because it’s still very much in beta, that it isn’t an accurate assessment of what Google Plus will be, but just an evaluation of what Google Plus is right now in the first several days of use. So whether this changes or not, at least I’ll have the ability to keep my circles close and hold on the upper-level of content I’m seeing.

Hanging Out in the Hallways is Absolute Magic

One of the coolest features, and the reason why Google Plus seems very much like a blog conference event to me, are the serendipitous meetings that can occur in the Hang Out rooms. It starts with you and a friend you know well hanging out. But because that is visible, others come and join in – maybe people you don’t know but who know your friend.

In another 10 minutes someone else joins whom neither of you knew, but who knows the third person. In this way you are able to literally meet face-to-face an ever growing number of people with second or third degrees of separation. This happens to me ALL THE TIME at conferences – and it’s one of those magical things that can alter the course of a business or professional career.

Last night after my friend had left I wound up joining another hangout where the only person I knew was the third degree person who had joined at the end of our initial conversation. It was so amazing to see the flow of people in and out of the chat organically and freely. I met a web designer, a programmer, a theatre director, and a freelance writer. I am going to help someone monetize their site and may have a lead on a freelance writing gig. From chatting in the hallways or lounge – just like at blog conferences.

Will this easy feel change as more people join the fray. Perhaps so. I can’t really say. What I can say is that for now, Google Plus feels less like “Facebook Lite” as some have claimed, and more like “Blog Conference on Tap.”

What do you think?

Jun

Blogging Ethics – What Would You Do?

By AngEngland | Community

17 Comments

What would do if:

Someone gave you a website, but never transferred the domain name to you completely after more than one request for the authentication key. Later letting the site lapse without telling you losing all content and work on the site?

Someone took said website back for a short time, while you were on vacation, when the opportunity came up to monetize through a giveaway and twitter party. Without sharing the revenue?

Someone asked to review your ebook, using the content to successfully write an ebook, without ever crediting you in any way?

Someone stole your idea and launched a book the same month as you on the same topic?

Someone posted a blog post with your same title two days after you?

Someone launched the cover of her coming book the day after you did?

Someone bought a domain for a website with similar focus as your main blog one week after talking with you about your passionate idea?

Someone later told you on the phone it didn’t matter because “ideas aren’t trademarked and as long as the work is her original words it’s not illegal”?

Someone replaced your affiliate links with her affiliate links on a website you both worked on?

I’m not sure what you would do but blocking and unfollowing were therapeutic for me. A small amount of whining and a passive-aggressive blog post were also helpful. Creating my new to-do list and kicking butt on my new ebook project were even more helpful.

Understand this – there is definitely an ugly side. But you don’t have to fight ugly with ugly! That and there is sometimes a difference between what is illegal and what is ethical – decide whether you are willing to settle for “just legal” or if you want to have a truly clear conscience so that no one can smear your good name behind your back.

Jun

How to Use Social Networking to Land Paying Gigs

By AngEngland | Social Media

Optimize Your Profile

What does your social networking profile read like? Does it mention that you are a writer/blogger/copywriter? If it doesn’t, you need to change that right now. Make sure that your profiles mention clearly what you do. Profiles are picked up by search engines. If you want yours to rank well, make sure you update them regularly, use the right keywords and basically, make sure that they are found by someone looking to hire a writer. Moreover, people looking to connect with professionals in a particular field will first read the profile, so make sure yours is descriptive and relevant.

Organize Your Profiles

Does your FB profile look different or outdated as compared to your Linkedin profile? Time to change that as well. Profiles that have differing information don’t seem credible. If you’re sending people to your social networking profiles, make sure that they’re consistent with each other. Also, if you’re interacting on a professional level on these profiles, it makes sense to keep them all updated and current. So, get organized socially!

Choose Your Network and Then, Work It

I’ve had considerable success in landing paying gigs that run for several months on both Twitter and LinkedIn. Honestly, these are the only 2 social networking sites that I frequent. I am around on a few forums as well, but I spend most of my socializing time on Twitter, closely followed by LinkedIn. Yes, I know, I’m not on FB professionally, but that’s okay with me. I have limited time and can’t spread myself too thin. I’d rather have engaging discussions on just one or two networks rather than random comments on a variety. So, depending upon your schedule and personality, take your pick of networks and then, work them.

Learn About Your Followers

What do you do when you receive a FB “Like”, LinkedIn connection request or a Twitter follow? Simply follow back or take an extra step and learn more about who the person really is? Check out their website, learn about their work and then, study their business to see if you can help them. I’ve reached out to several businesses on Twitter who didn’t have a blog along with their business site. Some didn’t need one, others didn’t have a budget but a few were SO glad that I reached out, that one thing led to another and I landed up with 6-month blogging contracts that pay me $40 an hour!

Pay Attention to Conversations and Discussions

While it can be difficult to focus on all the tweets, all the time, you can be more engaged and attentive on a forum like Linked In. Listen to people who need help, offer it. Sometimes it will pan out, sometimes it won’t. In either case, you would have made a connection with someone who could use your services.

Be Smart But Not Selfish

At the end of the day, social networking is just that, social networking. While it is a great way to land gigs and make contact with people who need your services, it is and should be a way to be genuinely helpful, engaging and fun. If all you do at these places is sell your services, people would soon lose interest. It is a good idea to be smart and savvy but it is a better idea to be generous and considerate as well. So, no auto DMs please and no spamming people and please don’t hold back from helping someone simply because they can’t pay you!

Have you been successful at landing gigs on Twitter, Face Book or Linked In?

Dec

How to Add Niche Newsletter Autoresponders Using Mailchimp

By AngEngland | Community, How tos

1 Comment

This screencast will cover how to create targeted autoresponder newsletters for your subscribers via Mailchimp. I love mailchimp because you can start out at a free level while building up your newsletter subscribers. I only wish that I had set up a newsletter for my websites much (MUCH!) sooner. Do not make my mistake – go to Mailchimp and get an account for your blog immediately.

Why Use Autoresponder Newsletters For Your Readers?

In the screencast video you’ll see step-by-step one way I might set up an autoresponder for the niche topic newsletters I’m just creating for Untrained Housewife – in this case, Menu Planning, Recipes and Meal Prep. It’s a good way to include affiliate links while providing GREAT content for your subscribers: I’ll be highlighting archived articles that might otherwise be overlooked and be able to group similarly themed articles written by multiple contributors (in this case when I finished polishing I pointed readers to three pizza-related articles on Untrained Housewife). I will also be including lots of newsletter-only content.

Steps to Creating An Autoresponder in Mailchimp

1. Log in and click on the Autoresponder tab in your Mailchimp dashboard.

2. Click “Add Autoresponder” and Title your autoresponder. This is the title YOU will see, not any of the people on your list.

3. Once you’ve created your autoresponder, create the email (use the quick links under your newly created title)

4. Select the group or list segment you want the autoresponder to go to. In this case, I’m selecting specific list segments based on who signed up for the additional resources group on the Untrained Housewife newsletter subscription page.

5. Select the template or create your email and enter your specific copy. In this case I found a couple other articles about pizza and made the content section bigger so it’s balanced with the sidebar ad.

6. (not shown on the video) Click NEXT just above the editing screen. Click Copy from HTML. This creates a plain text version of the newsletter or autoresponder so that people who request plain text emails will still get the mailing.

7. Keep clicking next and double check that everything is how you want it. Watch your reply to email in case you want a different email than the one you signed up with. Click START AUTORESPONDER (see orange button in image) and your autoresponder will “turn on” and be ready to mail out as soon as the selected parameters are met. In this case – as soon as a subscriber reaches their 60th day, viola (!) this email will appear in their inbox!

Affiliate Programs I’ve Used

Linkshare is the affiliate program I demonstrated in this screencast. It’s easy to use and has a wide variety of advertisers involved. This and Share-A-Sale are the two I’m now using most frequently.

Commision Junction is another one I’ve used with fair success.

Share-A-Sale is something I’ve recently joined when I joined the Headway Themes affiliate program (the theme I have on Untrained Housewife) and I’ve had very good success through them so far. Better than any of the other programs I’ve tried, although the Share-A-Sale site is a bit harder to navigate than Linkshare.

ClickBank has a lot of digital products, but didn’t work as well in my own experiences.

Note that some links in this post may be affiliate links.

Dec

Teaching Social Media Classes for Local Businesses – Type-A-Parent 2010 Conference Recap

By AngEngland | Conferences, Social Media

3 Comments

Sarah Pinnix Teaches About Social Media Classes

Woefully late, I know but between traveling, school with kids and the hacked website, that’s just the way it is. Better late than never, don’t you think? These notes are from @RealLifeSarah‘s session at Type-A-Mom (Now Type-A-Parent) Blog Conference.

Social Media 101 by Sarah Pinnix

Learn about marketing! Meatball Sundae and UNMarketing are good resources. You have to understand the principles of good marketing.

Establish yourself as an expert – find out what you are doing that is newsworthy and relevant in your community. Get in the news – use press releases or establish reporter contacts in your local community.

Become the “big fish” in your little pond instead of aiming for a saturated national market.

Start promoting your local businessess on your social media outlets. Then tell them you’re doing it! Don’t be afraid to contact someone and say, “I wanted to let you know I mentioned you in my Facebook status message recently.

Offer to help someone for free. Get your feet wet with a business owner friend or an establishment you frequent regularly. Track everything you can to build a portfolio for future businesses.

Start a local blog!

Workshop dates and topics -

Free seminar first to get them in the door. See about sponsors for the local workshop. Teach philosophies of social media, share case studies (Mashable), etc. Teach about blogs and social media and quick updates and usability – dynamic and updateable content. Power of the RSS feed and permission-based marketing. (Illustration of the ball and expectation and not expecting)

Facebook 101 – Stay on top of new rules and regulations. If you are interacting you’ll be seen in the facebook statuses. Must interact. Must get your updates seen to be effective.

Twitter 101 – Informational – give the info and send them on their way.

She spaces the sessions out by a month to give time to implement.

Integrating social media into existing web presence – the Transformational stage.

Individual class = $75, 3 session pass is $60 each or 5 for $55 each.

Private Consulting for Businesses – A Few Tips

Listen First
Find out their specific marketing goals
Craft a step by step plan to help them achieve that goal
Suggest ways they can go beyond their stated goals
Do research beforehand, and write a written report with your recommendations**
Set rates based on your area’s market
Be the Devil’s Advocate

**I want to add a note here. I have personally taken to charging for in-depth analysis reports, especially those that require anything more an hour of my time to put together. I’ve had two situations where I did not charge, hoping for a payback later and in both cases all my action steps were implemented (poorly) by someone else.

By charging my hourly rate I am able to turn over the report feeling fairly compensated, while establishing a base-line of credibility with the business I’m working with. If they choose to hire me later, that’s great (and has statistically happened MORE often when I charge for the reports). But if they don’t choose to hire me later, I can be free from any lingering resentment.

Photo by @Mooshinindy

Sep

Turning One-Time Visitors into Loyal Returning Friends

By AngEngland | Community

3 Comments

Are you connecting with customers and encouraging them to make the leap?

You know how sometimes “real life” can teach you so much about business, marketing and things online? I had that experience recently when we signed our kids up for a Bible program called AWANA at a new church we had never visited before. Our first time there was to enroll the kids was on a Wednesday night and we had no intention of trying the church services on Sunday – we just wanted our children in the Wednesday night program.

Friday afternoon I got a letter from the pastor in our mailbox. Expecting the standard form letter “Thanks for visiting”, what I found was a much more personalized and heart-felt letter that has relevance to all of us.

He welcome us by name. He mentioned each of our children by name in the letter, and let us know who the teacher was in that age group, and what they were currently studying. He invited us to the small group session and let us know that we’d already met the teacher of the young marrieds group at dinner on Wednesday night. What his letter taught us about marketing and reaching out to first-time visitors is truly profound.

Here are the takeaways:

1. Be Personal

Our family was mentioned by name. Our children were included and since it was obvious from our first visit that our children are important to us this was a huge plus to us. When you thank someone for a purchase or a visit or contacting you, do you respond personally? Or with a stock form letter?

1. Be Specific about What to Expect

In this case it was the mention of my children and their age groups that provided the specific details. Hearing their teacher’s names and lesson topics meant that I could prepare my children ahead of time if we chose to come. It made me feel like I already knew what to expect and so the fear of the unknown was eliminated.

People can come up with a hundred excuses to not go to your website, buy your product or hire you for a job. Often they boil down to not knowing what to expect – the fear of the unknown. The other is feeling a lack of connection to the company, brand or person. This letter from the church effectively address both of those major concerns in a very neat and concise manner. How are you doing?

Aug

Blogging Buddies Rule! Do you Have One Yet? – Day 15

By AngEngland | Build a Better Blog, Community

1 Comment

This is the part of blogging that I love – collaboration and communication! Really…it’s fabulous to me to connect with other bloggers, offer them a guest post opportunity, stumble their link, leave a comment or introduce a couple bloggers who might benefit from touching base with eachother. I cannot count the number of times I have passed along a writing, blogging or other opportunity (even book opps!) to fellow bloggers because I KNEW what they were about.

This is where speaking up, shaking hands (even if virtually) and making some connections can be so valuable. So that if a friend hears about an opportunity for a pet blogger they won’t say “I do not write about animals” and hit delete, but will think “Oh this would be perfect for Lorie” and hit the forward button. I do a lot of this as Editor-in-Chief of Blissfully Domestic, and at Untrained Housewife, where I’m able to pass along review, interview and other opportunities to my columnists.

In addition to commenting on eachother’s blogs or helping to promote via social bookmarking sites (also known as “link love”) connecting with another blogger can help motivate and encourage you. Do you have another blogger in your niche topic area that you can partner with? I remember reading an article once about a group of five individuals who created a “Blog Alliance” for themselves. I think this is a fabulous idea.

Your challenge today is to introduce yourself to a blogger you’d like to partner with OR formalize a blog-buddy relationship with an existing friend. Darren’s suggestion in 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, is to find someone who’s blog is on a similar level as yours…..if you’re both extremely new, fairly established, or well established you’ll have similar challenges and better relate.

If you need help finding someone LET ME KNOW. I know literally hundreds of bloggers in the various venues I haunt and can probably make an introduction for you if necessary.

Jun

What’s a Blogger to Be?

By AngEngland | Community, Getting Started

Be Humble About Our Blogging Success

There is very little about my personal success that is something I did completely by myself. I am one unique visitor on this blog – just one of the thousands who have visited. Yes, I write. But others share. You come and read. Comment. Support. Inspire. Without YOU this blog wouldn’t be much at all.

Be Gentle To New Bloggers

Sometimes new bloggers ask questions. Sometimes the same exact question I’ve answered a few dozen times already. Just like my fourth baby born this April is bound to ask the same, semi-annoying questions a hundred times that my 5 ½ year old asks today with regularity.

And just like I won’t snap at my children for a healthy curiosity and desire to learn, it isn’t helpful to snap at newbies who are just trying to learn the ropes and curious about how to get where you are.

Experienced Bloggers Should Be Patient With Beginner Mistakes

EVERYONE makes mistakes. Let’s never forget the time when we stumbled in the public eye and be patient with eachother. I promise you readers this – I will never expect you to be perfect until I am perfect. Lol!

Quite some time ago – when I first started writing online – I sent an email with a sarcastic, teasing line. As soon as I sent it I realized that the recipient would not take it the same way I was meaning because of a personal history. Oh no! My hands were shaking and sweaty – I was beating myself up as I quickly called to explain and apologize.

What a gracious, loving response I received. Just like the end of the verse says to bear with one another. TOLERATE eachother’s mistakes. Eachother’s personality quirks. Because my goodness do I ever have some personality quirks!

And am grateful to you all for the tolerance you show me.

Feb

Leveraging Social Media to Market Your Business – Blissdom 2010 Session Notes

By AngEngland | Conferences, Social Media

What social media tools have been most important to promoting your business and why?

Kris – Know your audience. We survey our audience quite a bit – surveymonkey.com. When surveying you have a better feel for which social media tools they are using. Their audience = 80% using Facebook vs 9% MySpace. Their niche had a lot of audience using yahoo groups.

How do you manage social media?

She does ALL the social media for the business herself – thinks it’s really important because she wants it to be very genuine and doesn’t know how that would happen if she were outsourcing that work. (Angela’s Note – When I have worked as a personal assistant I usually sort the emails, do the “office tasks” that don’t require the boss’s unique voice. Her advice is spot on, in my opinion.)

Building relationships to build relationships is key.

How much time is the right amount of time?

Kimba – Since my blog is my business I probably spend a higher percentage of time than some of the others. There’s a balance but she spends a couple hours a day on the blog usually.

Caitlin – Social Media for Mabel’s Labels means that social media IS my full time job. Reply to everyone, thank everyone. “It’s all about spreading the love”

Most successful social media campaigns?

Amy – Twitter has been very successful. Has a personal blog too. Contest to name the new bear, etc having the audience interact and have a personal role in what’s going on.

Can you share an experience with unsuccessful social media campaigns in the past?

Caitlin – Transparency is KEY. If someone posts something negative you need to address it personally to THAT PERSON but make it public in that same public space. You can change that situation around and creates an impression about how you handle things. Loyalty is important and vital – small readerships, small businesses, etc. Who knows where they will be in two years.

Network up, network down and network side to side – but NETWORK OFTEN.

“One ad and one giveaway does not a business make.” You have to build up your brand awareness over time through multiple efforts.

How do you find your voice and do you have rules?

First and foremost – a writer and not JUST a toy-maker. This panelist wasn’t afraid to put herself out there as a PERSON in addition to a business.

How do you monitor your business in the Social Media arena?

I had to stop trying to police the internet and put that energy into creating something new and to help my audience.

Google Alerts helps you monitor what others are saying about you. Address what needs to be addressed and leave the rest behind you.

Service selling vs product selling via social media?

Learn to talk about our service more objectively – sell your SERVICE, not yourself as yourself.
Sell yourself as a person PLUS your service.
Add your professional activities on your Linked In profile to build up your online resume.

Entertainment + Education = Engagement