So perhaps you were like tons of others who received a friendly email from google letting you know that you have 100 dollars worth of adwords money waiting for you to claim.  Recently google has been making a push to get more people involved in their pay-per-click program called adwords by sending out coupons for a free 100 dollar start up to your campaign.

Give them a call and not only will you receive the 100 dollars worth of advertising but you will also receive an actual human assigned to help setup your first campaign in the most effective way.  With the ultimate goal of most all online marketing being driving traffic to  a website, adwords can play a very big and important role in any online marketing campaign.

So if you haven’t done so already I would recommend giving the folks over at google a call and cashing in on this awesome promotion!  If you have already done so let us know how it went and how you felt about the results in the comment section below.

So you have Thesis for your Wordpress blog and you want to add padding or a margin to a specific element or widget, but you can’t figure out how to target specific.

Thesis has the ability to target any element that you can name. However, at first it may seem to be impossible to figure out what the name of each specific element is.

Enter firebug inspector.

What you need is the Firebug plugin for your Firefox (a google chrome version just came out) browser. Now what you can do is right click on any element in your page and then click on inspect element. Firebug will show you the name and id of any element in your page. Now you can target any element you want with your CSS, and it’s as easy as ever to find the name and id of an element, so you can target that element specifically.

Firebug is also great for seeing the html/css of any site, so you can cruise through professional websites and see different techniques and tricks they have used.

This is great for your Thesis Theme CSS so you have the ability to target any specific element or widget.

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You might be asking yourself this question: Why is Social Media not working?

Why am I not getting more sales?

Why am I not making more money?

And if you are asking this question you are not alone. But let me help you see things from a better perspective.

I just got back from a beautiful vacation in Hawaii. I went to the Big Island and I loved it. When I got there I had Social Media on the brain. We left the airport and started driving around.

The airport is right on the coast of the Big Island and as soon as you drive away from the airport the scenery is not what you would expect. As far as you can see the landscape is a blanket of thick dark brown lava rock.

Now as you continue driving, surrounded by miles and miles of brown lava rock, you start to see white rocks in several different places along the road forming words that stand out in the brown lava rock. Many people using these bright white rocks to make graffiti signs, writing anything from names to favorite sports teams.

What is interesting about this is the hundreds and hundreds of different phrases and pictures formed along the drive with these white rocks. Each one having a story of its own. Each one trying desperately to attract the attention of anyone passing by.

And I couldn’t help but thinking how much this is exactly like Social Media.

Right now there are thousands if not millions of businesses that have setup their name in Social Media’s white rock.

They setup a facebook page, a Twitter account, and a Linkedin profile–each one hoping that those passing by will stop and take a look at their account long enough to decide to be a customer.

But the problem is there are thousands of people just like you doing the exact same thing.

Think of it like a billboard. If billboards were free who would have them? Pretty much every company. And if you are a consumer driving down the road which billboards are going to attract your attention. Pretty much none.

So we need to look at Social Media a different way. How can we solve the problem that is innate in all these free marketing tools?

The answer is use them differently.

The majority of businesses right now are using Social Media like a billboard. They set it up and hope someone is going to run into it and become a customer.

Wrong. That won’t work. Too many people are doing that same thing and customers are becoming much more calloused to seeing thousands and thousands of marketers everywhere.

And when they see marketers everywhere they tune them out, and start to see it nowhere.

Your best bet is to use Social Media to your advantage by being a person. And being SOCIAL.

It’s funny that so many people are using Social Media sites, but not using them to be SOCIAL. That’s the whole point!

You need to start chatting. Start talking to the people in your community, start getting involved with the people around you. Network for business.

And do something different. I am extremely surprised by the lack of video being produced by companies. Video is one of the greatest new tools out there today, and it’s a great way to attract attention.

So start using Social Media differently. You can’t win doing what everyone else is doing. Don’t be part of the noise, be a helping hand to individuals. You can’t have a conversation if you are trying to talk to everyone at the same time.

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If you have a website, there is a good chance you are trying to sell a product or service online. And if you want people to buy things, Paypal is probably the best way for you to get paid.

And if you are using Wordpress there is a chance you have run into some problems.

When you try to put the Paypal website text into your wordpress document you get this error.

Paypal Error: Unable to Decrypt Certificate ID

This is an easy Wordpress fix, although doing a search for the answer will most likely get you little or no results.

What you need to do is make your own link.

First of all you are going to have to choose a different option for your button on Paypal itself.

When you make the button, instead of choosing WEBSITE at the end, choose EMAIL. This will give you the code necessary to make your button.

Now save the Paypal button from Paypal to your hard drive.

Upload the picture to your server, and use the EMAIL code as the href in your link.

So your button html code will look something like this

The link works great with no more “Unable to decrypt certificate ID.”

Now you have Paypal integrated on your Wordpress site without all the errors!

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Sometimes it can be very difficult to find the right plugin for your wordpress blog, especially if you don’t have the right keyword to enter into your search.

And when it comes to twitter, you want to make sure you have the easiest and most efficient way for others to retweet your wordpress posts.

So get retweeted: and get the tweetmeme retweet button. It’s the easiest.

It adds a little button on your wordpress posts that gives your readers the ability to get retweets, period.

You just search for it in the wordpress plugins section, install it, then activate it, and you’ll have a handy retweet button.

Now if you don’t have a twitter account then go sign up for one now. And, one trick. Be the first to retweet your own post. It will get you noticed by your friends, and make you look like your on the way to popularity, even if you’re just starting out.

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Social Media is filled with false remedies right now. We are out right now trying some new tactics and changing some of our approaches.

We will let you know how it goes.

There is one problem right now in the world and it’s talk.

Everyone out there is talking about all this Social Media, and the word is losing it’s candy flavor pretty fast.

And at the end of the sugary sweets we are finding air. And or black licorice (which I hate, just replace it with something you hate because that is what is there).

There are so many people talking about Social Media and not doing.

I’m not going to point fingers but there are some big names, it will come out soon, time always kills the weak. The good stuff will rise.

Here is the 2 things you need to know.

1. Research the authors you read. Deconstruction cannot exist in business. You can’t detach the text from the author no matter how good the advice sounds.

2. Social Media is Social and personal. You should seek good advice from proven experts and get consulting if you need it, but don’t forget that Social Media has to be you and it has to be work. It’s going to take you much longer to make a friend and build trust online than in person. Do work.

Don’t try to take the work out of Social Media or you will end up with nothing and time wasted building faulty faux friendships with no solid structure.

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Everyone uses Social Media differently. Each person consumes and contributes in different ways depending on their type.

Well if you have ever wondered what those types are and how they interact online this tool is perfect.

To learn more about Social Media Marketing visit ExactTarget.com/SFF

It’s very interesting. What type are you? Does this model fit into your habits and actions?

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Alright,

So I do a good amount of work with Wordpress and from time to time I have to figure difficult things out, well difficult to me.

These can either be treated as useful tips, or solutions to problems you already have.

How to use css to design your Wordpress text sidebar. I use thesis theme by the way.

I spent a few hours yesterday trying to find the answer to this. Everytime I would plug css into my text sidebar it wouldn’t work. Wordpress doesn’t allow it or it strips it but it wouldn’t work.

Then I found the answer.

There is a plugin called “Daiko’s Text Widget” that you can search for under your plugins menu. Just upload it then drag it from your widgets to your sidebar.

You can do all sorts of stuff with it, php etc, much more advanced stuff than I can handle.

But it lets you use css on your sidebars. So now you can add background images (that’s what i wanted to do) and anything else your mind can come up with css related.

Hope that helps. If you have any questions related send me an email or just comment here.

-Josh @ iMention

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On the heels of our recent webinar we are rolling out a special, the likes of which the world has never seen.  We want to make you the owner of a customized Linkedin group that grows by 100 members each month. Imagine if you had access to 100 brand new contacts each month, what could you accomplish?  Imagine if each of those contacts saw you as the expert in your field and looked to you for advice and pointers.  Here’s the best part: instead of our normal $300 a month we are dropping the price to only $100 a month!  And we’re not going to make you commit to a 6 month or a year long contract, you can go for as long or as short as you want.

No one can dispute the power of Linkedin and having the tools to harness that power can be amazingly beneficial to your business.

As the owner of your customized Linkedin Group you will have the ability to create featured discussions, send announcements that reach every single member of your group, create subgroups off of your main group, monitor who joins your group and most importantly you will have the tools necessary to get in front of you prospective clients and be seen as the expert in your field while your personal brand and business is exposed to an ever increasing number of people.

Unlike mailers and other traditional advertising that gives you 1 chance to appeal to your target audience, Linkedin gives you consistent and repeat contact to your group members, giving you a whole lot more bang for your buck!

Here are a few examples of the groups we’ve set up:

Social Media Marketing

Informal Leadership

Financial Strategies

We are only offering this incredible deal to the first 10 people to get in on the action so call or email Nick at 208-484-3120 or nick@thesocialsquares.com

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