Technology: Demystifying Facebook’s Edge Rank Algorithm with Edge Rank Checker – VIDEO

June 8, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

One of the major perks to being in business online is the endless supply of cool tools and technologies to support the framework and systems that fuel our business and accelerate growth.

For IAWBO, our Facebook page is a community hub that continues to grow. A meeting place where you can see real faces and have real conversations with the like-minded women that make up our tribe of aspiring women in business online.

The page has a purpose. It’s not there just because. It’s a communication and marketing tool that allows us to reach out to you, to meet you and engage with you. It’s a doorway to 2-way communication. It’s important to us… to me.

And so when I saw Amy Porterfield’s video about Edge Rank Checker this a.m. I knew I had to share it with you. [Read more...]

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Zero to Email Marketing in 5 Easy Steps

June 3, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

A healthy-sized email list is a goldmine for almost any business.

Once you have your own email list, you can grow your business and your income without relying purely on external traffic to your website or blog.

Send a few emails to your list and you can turn subscribers into new customers, sell more to repeat customers and gain valuable feedback from your community…

And all without spending a penny on traffic or advertising.

Even better, email marketing is crazy profitable because it costs next to nothing to setup and automate!

If you’re just starting your foray into email marketing, here are the five fastest ways to get started with email: [Read more...]

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#IAWBO Technology Tribute: WOOFU – Making Forms Easy + Fast + Fun

August 14, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

wufooWufoo is an Internet application that helps anybody build amazing online forms to collect information over the Internet.

When you design a form with Wufoo, it automatically builds the database, backend and scripts needed to make collecting and understanding your data easy, fast and fun.

And because they host everything, all you need is a browser, an Internet connection and a few minutes to build a form and start using it right away.

The possibilities are endless but here are 10 ways women in business online can begin using forms to enhance work flow and collect important data:

  1. Mailing List
  2. Contact Form
  3. Satisfaction Survey
  4. Employment Application
  5. Event Registration
  6. Online Order Form
  7. Party Invitation
  8. Lead Generation
  9. Bug Tracker

And my favorite way to use a form… 10. to collect Joint Venture Partner Details

WUFOO has both free and for-fee account levels so whether you need one form or one hundred – you’re set!

Check it out, you’ll be glad you did: http://wufoo.com

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Women in Business Online: Here’s a Great Way To Leverage Your Old Blog Posts

April 4, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

1156284_innovationLinkWithin is a related posts widget that displays related posts that feature attractive photo thumbnails.

Not only does this bring old posts back to life it increases page views (which is great for SEO – search engine optimization) and will keep your readers engaged with your blog longer (decreasing bounce rate = the amount of time a visitor spends on your blog).

This widget is free and ad-free. For WordPress users there is a plugin for this, you need to download it from their website. The plugin makes the magic next.

The screenshot below was taken from my personal website at GinaBellInc.com

LinkWithin-Screenshot
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I love it! What do you think? Is this a plugin that you would use on your site? Can you think of additional reasons why it’s a good idea? Share ideas and experiences below (or click here)…

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How to Create a Social Networking Profile that Stands Out

February 23, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Social Media and Social Networking are one of the top leveraged marketing strategies for women in business online today. Here’s a guest post by Christine Gallagher of CommunicateValue.com on how to get your profile working for you!

One of the most basic but most important pieces of your social networking presence is having an effective profile. Not only is it a snapshot into who you are and what it is you do, it’s usually the first impression others will have of you.

Here are some ways to make your profile work for you and get you noticed–without boring people to tears.

Use a real photo of yourself. On certain sites you occasionally see people using their brand logo as their picture or avatar but I advise against this. You want others to relate to you as a real person, especially if they are thinking of hiring or buying from you! In most cases, that is something you just can’t convey through a graphic. (Unless maybe you are Coca-Cola!)

By all means, use a professional photo if possible. If not, you should choose one that is of you alone–with all due respect to your family and pets. If you are using social sites to even remotely drum up business, you need to appear professional as far your main photo goes.

Location, location, location. Include at the very least your state, province or town. Even though it is the world wide web, you never know when local opportunities will pop up. Make it easy for others to seek you out.

Have a well thought-out bio. Your bio is what people will be looking to in order to get the essence of what you are all about. You can include a succinct version of your “elevator pitch” here as long as you avoid sounding too sales-y. When you read it back to yourself you should be able to get a feel for how it comes off. Adjust accordingly. Write it with an emphasis on how you provide value to others.

Include all of your relevant links. You want to give people an easy way to find out more about you. Plus, there’s no one who doesn’t want more web traffic, right? The amount of space you are allotted for this varies from site to site, but definitely include your website and/or blog as well as the profile URLs of any other social networking sites you are active on.

Use your full name if possible. Depending on the site, you may or may not have room to fit your whole name. Also, if your name is common, it may have already been taken, such as on a site like Twitter. In the case of my full name, I went with my first name and last initial on Twitter because they don’t allow enough characters for both words to fit. I am satisfied with that, however, because people are still able to associate it closely with my full name.

Personal tidbits are not a bad thing. Don’t be shy, there is a reason it’s called social networking! Some people are reticent about exposing anything about themselves outside of their business persona. However, part of what draws others to you is your authentic self. You may have a snazzy professional profile photo, but posting pictures here and there of your latest vacation won’t do any harm. In fact, it could be great for business.

Fill out your background completely. Part of what helps others find you is the information that you fill out about your education, interests, past employment and groups and associations you belong to. This is especially true on a site like LinkedIn. Keep your information up to date so that opportunities can easily find you.

The most important takeaway? Ensure your presence is consistent across all networks. This not only strengthens your personal brand, but helps to establish credibility as well. Plus, to make it even easier on yourself, keep a document on your computer with all of your profile information. That way you can just copy and paste it when needed.

Now get out there and network!

About the expert(s): Christine Gallagher, MLS, MSIS, founder of CommunicateValue.com, teaches coaches, consultants, authors, speakers, and other solopreneurs how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. For FREE tips on how to build profitable relationships, leverage technology and create your own successful online business, visit http://CommunicateValue.com

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10 Ways to Use Google Alerts For Business and Social Media (Plus Tips to Improve Search Results)

December 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Stephanie_Chandler] Stephanie Chandler

googleOne of the most useful services released by Google in recent years is its powerful Google Alerts. This free tool allows you to receive e-mail notifications when keywords and phrases that you specify appear on websites, blogs, online news channels and more.

Here are 10 ways to leverage Google Alerts for your business:

1. Business Name - Keep track of websites that mention your company. This is an opportunity to send a note of thanks or address an issue if something derogatory is posted like a complaint about customer service. Big companies track mentions of their businesses online and you should too.

2. Personal Name - Find out where you’re mentioned online. This is especially important for prominent figures such as authors, speakers, celebrities, and individual service providers.

3. Website – Track where your website is mentioned by creating an alert for your domain. Leave off the leading “www” and instead just specify your domain and extension such as “YourCompanyName dot com.”

4. Blog - If you host a blog, follow the website guidelines above to create an alert for your blog domain. This should also produce results if your blog link is posted somewhere with a specific pointer to one of your pages.

5. Titles - If you distribute articles for online marketing purposes, create an alert for each article title so that you can track where your articles are appearing. Authors can use this same strategy for tracking book titles.

6. Industry Research - To stay on top of industry news, create alerts for keywords and key phrases for your industry. For example, I have alerts for “publishing industry” and “business book.” This makes it easy to stay on top of news, competition and much more. If you are using social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, this can help you locate useful content for micro-blogging or to give you topic ideas to cover in your blog.

7. Competitive Research - If you want to find out who is talking about your competition or where they are being mentioned, create alerts for each competitor’s business name and/or website URL.

8. Lead Generation - If breaking news can produce leads for your company, use Google Alerts for related phrases. For example, if you own a human resources firm and want to find out what companies are hiring in Sacramento, you could create several alerts: “now hiring Sacramento,” “job posting Sacramento,” and “job listing Sacramento.”

9. Lead Research - If there is a company or client that you want to land, create alerts to stay on top of their most recent online activity. This can provide valuable insight into what they company is up to and who is talking about them.

10. Top Client Research - Track activity for your top ten or twenty existing clients. This can give you valuable insight into what they’re up to, and also provide you with reasons to contact them. For example, if one of your clients receives major media coverage, you will learn about it right away and can send them a note of congratulations.

Useful Google Search Tricks

Exact Keyword Search: You can specify exact keywords by putting a plus sign (+) in front of the word. For example, if you search for the word “publish,” Google search results would include “publishing” and “publisher.” Adding a plus sign to the beginning of the word (+publish) will ensure that you only receive exact matches.

Exact Key Phrase Search: When you search for a phrase, Google results will returns anything that includes all of the words in the phrase, not that exact phrase. But if you enclose your search in quotes (“how to publish a book”), the results will only include that exact phrase.

Alternate Keyword: To return a search with alternate results, use “OR” between the words (the letters OR must be capitalized). For example, “author OR writer” will return results with either keyword. For a more complex search, you can put part of the phrase in parenthesis: (author OR writer) “business books”.

Synonyms: If you want your search results to return related terms, use a tilde (~) in front of the word. For example, if you use this feature to search for the word “~author,” Google returns results that include “book,” “writer,” and “literature.”

Search a Single Website: If you want to track new entries on a specific site, you can use the “site:” operator. For example, if you want to track mentions of business books on the New York Times website, your search would look like this: “business book” site:nytimes.com.

StephanieCStephanie Chandler is an author of several business and marketing books including “From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur: Make Money with Books, eBooks and Information Products.” She is also founder and CEO of [http://AuthorityPublishing.com]http://AuthorityPublishing.com, which provides custom book publishing and author marketing services for business, self-help and other non-fiction books. For author and speaker details, visit http://StephanieChandler.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stephanie_Chandler [http://ezinearticles.com/?10-Ways-to-Use-Google-Alerts-For-Business-and-Social-Media-(Plus-Tips-to-Improve-Search-Results)&id=2449318 ]http://EzineArticles.com/?10-Ways-to-Use-Google-Alerts-For-Business-and-Social-Media-(Plus-Tips-to-Improve-Search-Results)&id=2449318

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Facebook News Feed vs Live Feed Changes ~ Video Post by Mari Smith

October 25, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

facebookIf you’re a Facebook user you’ll have noticed some changes (again! ugh!).

Navigating technology and the overwhelm that comes along with it is one of the top five challenges women in business online commonly face.

Here’s a fantastic video created by Mari Smith to clear away the fog. It’s short and sweet too – enjoy!

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