For the purpose of this article, we will discuss tool reviews; more to the point cost-based tool reviews, and how you may be doing more harm then good after the fact.

You know how easy it is to fall in and out of love with things, and internet tools are certainly no exception to this rule. It can happen within months-weeks-days, and yes even hours.

The ‘net moves fast ya know, and something newer and shinier is always on the horizon.

Whenever I read an article on a cool new toy, I always end my comment with, “please keep us updated”. This is very important.

Imagine If You Will…

You’ve posted an awesome review piece on a really cool new tool you’ve been using for a few weeks. It’s not free so now you have your affiliate link with name and reputation behind it.

There’s nothing wrong with this, nothing at all. You make some sales and they praise you from the heavens in the comments. WOOT!

When Suddenly…

It’s several months later, a reader is browsing through your archives and comes across the review, clicks the link to check the sales page and makes the purchase…..on your recommendation.

It doesn’t work out so well for them. They wonder why someone as trustworthy as yourself could endorse such a thing. They contact you.

What do you say? What do you do?

You no longer use it, you’ve moved onto something better…here’s the new affiliate link, sorry for the inconvenience? Good luck with that.

Do you delete the old review?

Do you mention it in the new review?

Over to You

I’d venture a guess here, this is something you’ve never really thought about before. You’re thinkin’ on it now though aren’t you.

What have you done, if anything, in the past? What might you do in this situation now?

Think careful.

Related posts:

1. Stat Counter Reviews from Users

I felt bad this morning. I deleted a comment for no other reason then the fact that it was not written in English. I’m sorry, but if I do not know what you’re saying to my readers or myself, I cannot let it pass.

I know there are translators, but I do not feel it is the recipients responsibility. If you wish to post something, anything, on someone else’ blog, you should do it in their native language…not yours.

At the very least, get their permission ahead of time to do so.

I Made A Mistake

I did make a mistake though. It wasn’t until I had permanently deleted the comment that the thought struck me. Perhaps I should have contacted the commenter before deletion. If in-fact it was legit, I may have lost a steady reader/commenter unnecessarily.

Tip Of The Day

What I will do, from this point on…if I ever receive a comment in a foreign language that I suspect to be legitimate, I’ll take a minute to contact the author and straighten it out before I  outright delete it.

I advise you now to do the same.

Over to You

How do you currently handle such matters?

Related posts:

1. Get More Blog Comments On Your Blogs

A speedy post with a bullet! There will be plenty more on the topic.

For better or worse, I’m in a rather unique position. I can absolutely tell you the title to this post is 100% right on the money.

Among other things, I have to take pain medication every 4-5hrs everyday. After taking said pills, I am down for up to 2hrs, not being able to do much of anything.

This leaves me 2hr windows for work, from the time I get up, until I go to bed; although I don’t really sleep persay, it’s more like 1-3hr naps here and there.

Not forgetting having to eat once or twice in there somewhere.

That’s also assuming the first pill does the job.

A “schedule” is nearly impossible, but I’m workin’ on it.

and so on…..

Anyhoo, for this and other reasons I am in a prime #1 spot to pass on the message – - Prioritize, 1 2 3 A B C and Focus, top to bottom.

Agreed?

No related posts.

I commented on the usefulness of voice recorders, when suddenly realizing, I could really use one too! Amazing how that works sometimes, ain’t it?

Anyhoo, having never owned one, or even window shopped them much, I realize I probably wouldn’t be able to tell good from bad…this is where you come in, I hope.

If you own, have owned, or just know a little about them, please comment to me!

I’d like the best possible digital voice recorder for under $100, preferably. I see all sorts on in eBay, but again, I don’t really know one from another.

Oh, and it has to be able to withstand being dropped from time to time…..just being honest here. LOL

Any ideas?

Affiliate links are OK, but I will test your knowledge.

No related posts.

We must be ever vigilante in locating and fixing the issue. Whether it be deleting, delinking, editing, or whatever, we must fix the link.

But, not necessarily immediately. Yes, you read that right, don’t be so quick to pull the kill trigger.

General Links

If it’s a general link, lets say purely information within the theme itself; the header, the footer, a sidebar, etc., something that won’t hurt anyone if gone, then do what ya gotta do.

Fix it and get it back in operation, no one should be the wiser. Delete it altogether if you no longer need it. No big deal.

Contextual Links

This is where it gets sticky. It’s my experience that most of the broken links tie to another site or blog I’ve linked to in a post.

In the beginning, I was real good at delinking/deleting broken links. I’d wipe that sucker outa there in a flash!

Then I’d get the email…

WTF man, why’d you kill my link? It was broken! Oh yeah, well my site was down for a while but it’s all fixed now.

Oops.

Moral to the Story

If the link leads to an actual individual that may miss it, take a breather. Chill for a few hours, maybe a day or so. Perhaps try to contact the party.

Just try not to be so quick to wipe them clear off your blog. If it’s multiple links, you could run into some problems.

Over to You

How do you handle broken links?

Related posts:

1. Broken Links = Broken Business. Fix ‘em Fast! I’ll Show You How…

2010 Wasn’t Easy

Through most if not all of 2010 I was discussing a blog network I was going to create. It was to start of with 3 blogs…..

This one, DEDC as the HUB for everything.

SmallBusinessBlogCoach.com: At the time, this was the domain name for the main marketing blog.

WebIncomeExperiments.com: My personal MMO style blog; very much anticipated by all.

Alas 2010 was not good to me personally. My health issues which were not all that spiffy in 2009, took somewhat of a nosedive. Super excited about the network plans, I tried to fight it off, ignore it, but it wasn’t to be…the whole idea had to be scrubbed.

I decided that for at least a year or two I would stick to what you read now, an all-in-one blog, which I hate…everyone does it.

I then decided it would be here on DEDC, my namesake domain name instead of perhaps SBBC for branding purposes. I figured I could brand myself as well as my niche at the same time.

Branding FAIL

It was an awesome theory, however the last few months have me convinced without a doubt, it’s not working nearly as well as it should be. In fact, it’s only working half way.

I’m branding myself swimmingly, but if I asked 100 people what my niche was I’d be SHOCKED if 5 people got it right. There’s just not a whole lot one can do with just a tagline and about page (or post in my case) which not everyone reads.

If nothing else, I have done one thing amazingly well. I’ve PROVED you NEED at least one keyword in your domain name for branding purposes; unless of course you’re going for a *Google* or *Twitter* effect.

My Niche

I was thinking of a contest; guess my niche for $100. With my luck someone would actually get it. Nevermind. Anyhoo…..

Nope, not an Internet marketing blog, persey.

Nope. not a blog about blogging, persey.

I envision thousands of scrunchy WTF? faces right now.

What does Dennis Edell do? What does he blog about everyday? It sure looks a little like most other blogging blogs on the net…which is problem #2 btw.

*****

I teach small business owners, more specifically those in direct sales (owners or reps) with e-Commerce sites, that in today’s online world you must have a blog accompaniment.

I coach them on how to promote their business/website via blogging.

In a way you could say, it’s a blog about blogging within a certain niche.

My motto as stated on my About post, ” You promote your blog. Your blog promotes your business. ” Cool, huh.

*****

Now, did you have any idea what my sub-niche was?

Opening Slowly but Steadily

My personal life/health isn’t much worse, nor much better. The building of said network will be slow. I’m lucky to achieve an 8hr work day.

Next post: I’ve bought 2 more domains since SBBC. You’re gonna put on your thinking caps and help me decide which of 3 domains to use for the primary blog.

I may make a contest out of it. It ain’t gonna be easy. All 3 are awesome domains.

All 3 are nicely keyworded.

All 3 roll off the tongue well, for the most part.

All 3 could have multiple uses…..Small Business Blog Coach is a fine example of that on it’s own.

Over to You

Surely we’ll be discussing this more and more in the coming days, but just to get the consensus from the jump…what-cha think of this issue so far?

Related posts:

1. Blog Post Ideas: A New DEDC Feature: Content Comeback

UGH! Broken links everywhere. Is there anything more annoying to a site owner?!? Even worse is the user navigation issues. You can easily lose business; perhaps a LOT of business depending on the circumstances.

Broken Blog Links are Bad Enough

If it’s a blog you can very easily lose readers if they find too many broken, non working links. Reader loss could quite possibly mean revenue loss, both in the present AND future, as many will never return.

Think especially of new readers full of hope, glee and anticipation in finding a new blog in their niche of choice…what a let down. Not to mention how unprofessional it looks, especially if it’s more then 1 or 2 links.

Now, with a blog you may get lucky here and there in the fact that a reader will occasionally take the extra minute to contact you to tell you about broken links.

Don’t count on it of course.

Blog SEO

You also have to be aware of the SEO ramifications that can occur due to too many broken links. Search engines, especially Google do not appreciate it…not one bit.

We all know that links, whether incoming outgoing and/or internal are the backbone of Google ranking.

e-Commerce Sites are Worse

If it’s an e-commerce site, oh boy, you could lose hundreds or even thousands of dollars in sales depending on how many links don’t work and how long it takes you to notice.

You hope customers on site will contact you about it; the truth of the matter is though, unless you’re selling a one of a kind item, 9 outa 10 will just back away in disgust and go somewhere else.

These statistics are everywhere.

e-Commerce SEO

Its more difficult then blog SEO to begin with, don’t add to your headaches with something as silly as a broken link.

How to Fix a Broken Blog Link Quick and Easy

For our purpose today, we will stick to broken blog links and what you can do about it. The reason for this being 2-fold…

1. I just fixed 16 broken links on this very blog, and I did it in less then a minute!

2. More to the point, what I’m about to show you won’t work on an e-commerce website, if it’s a static HTML site. It’s a WordPress plugin.

I did them all with the Broken Link Checker plugin, and as stated, I did them all in record time.

Imagine if you will, something happening where you had to go through hundreds of pages and thousands of individual links to find the broken ones.

Ouch.

Well, ya don’t need to with this handy dandy plugin.

This plugin will monitor your blog for broken links and missing images in background and notify you under a special “broken links” link in your Admin sidebar. I always see it in my Edit Post screen or while checking comments.

It’s features include…..

• Monitors links in your posts, pages, comments, the blogroll, and custom fields (optional).
• Detects links that don’t work, missing images and redirects.
• Notifies you either via the Dashboard or by email.
• Makes broken links display differently in posts (optional).
• Prevents search engines from following broken links (optional).
• You can search and filter links by URL, anchor text and so on.
• Links can be edited directly from the plugin’s page, without manually updating each post.
• Highly configurable.

Different buttons to choose from for each link and several options you can utilize. I highly recommend grabbing this…it can truly save you in the long run.

FYI: I’ve used several other broken link fix plugins and always return to this one. Don’t believe hypes.

Over to You

How do you fix broken links?

Do you even check for broken links?

Do you use this plugin, or something better perhaps? <<< If the answer there is no, are you now downloading the free plugin I just recommended? (There is no good reason for a no to that one.)

Related posts:

1. STOP! Don’t Delete that Broken Link, Yet
2. Blog Link Roundups Guide: How Many Links is Too Many Links?
3. Monetizing Business Blogs: Advertise ONLY YOUR Business on Company Business Blog

There are some things I’d really like to get into this year. One I’ve mentioned is guest blogging. Another is a little video blogging, or vlogging for the hip among you.

Web video gets an interesting reaction from different people, it seems one either loves it or hates it. There is not a lot of in-between. I for one would much rather read a post then watch it, most of the time.

There was one blogger though a time ago that I followed consistently. He produced a video and text for each and every post, almost exact in content. Whichever you preferred you didn’t lose anything.

Each post takes a bit longer to produce of course, daily or even close to daily posting is nearly impossible. He still did 2-3 per week and his following loved it, me included. He has since moved on to pretty much full time affiliate marketing and really doesn’t seem to have the video time anymore.

Anyhoo, i am thinking of doing similar, what do you think? Video and Text, same content in each for which ever you like in each post.

Yay or Nay or no feeling either way?

To our mutual success!

Dennis

No related posts.

**********

Backlinks are a key element to ranking well in the search engines. They are in fact the backbone of Googles algorithm.

A backlink is any link coming into your blog from another blog.

The 2nd best backlink is a regular one-way link.

Ex. A link you leave somewhere back to your own site, like a social profile link.

The #1 best backlink is a natural one-way link.

Ex. Another blog owner links to you, with no reciprocal link from you back to them.

Proper anchor text for the link is what ties it all up, nice and neat.

Anchor text is the keywords that best describes the article the link is pointing to. Ex. As you can see, “anchor text” IS the anchor text for that link, because the article discusses anchor text.

Get it?

Summation: Score yourself enough good quality natural one-way backlinks with proper anchor text and your search engine ranking will only go up.

Are ya with me so far?

The Problem

The #1 problem faced here is, it’s extra difficult getting anchor text of YOUR choosing on a natural one-way incoming link.

By definition, as defined above, a natural link means one blogger is linking to another blogger. 9 x outa 10 the link recipient doesn’t even realize they’ve been linked to until after the fact, when they see the link either in their comments or while analyzing stats.

This very post could be proof positive. Gail Gardner, the woman who wrote the post I linked to above would have no idea I linked to her post if I hadn’t asked her for the link ahead of time.

Extra Problematic for Namesake Domain Names

I hate to say it, but this particular issue is a little extra problematic for bloggers like myself; bloggers using their namesake as their domain name.

Don’t get me wrong, I cherish every and all backlinks you wish to afford me. Honestly though, Dennis Edell, or some variation as anchor text; really not so good for my search engine rankings.

95% of the time (or more) that’s the anchor I get whether it’s pointing to the blog as a whole (the home page) or an individual post…..really really not so good for rankings.

Again, I love all backlinks given to me; I’m speaking purely professionally here.

Over to You

How do you handle it? You see a backlink and think to your self, gee I wish the anchor text was *****. How do you handle it?

Do you let it slide? Do you simply contact them and ask them to change it?

Professionally speaking, no blogger should mind, they should in fact understand, but you never know. (Or rather you do know, there’s always one, right? lol)

D.

Pretty please share this post when commenting is finished!!

Related posts:

1. Link Building is Secondary to Making the Connection
2. On Site SEO: Internal Link Building – Beginners Guide and How To
3. Internal Link Building Tips: Link Back to Front for Best On Site SEO

Think about everything you now do to gain that elusive backlink, and why.

Now I’m here to tell you, your motives are ass-backward.

The primary goal of everything you do should be to make that connection; start that relationship. The inevitable backlink you’ll receive should be a really cool, well deserved, and yes, much needed bonus.

**********

I’ve been blogging for some time now, longer then you probably realize; I know building links both to & fro is essential to a bloggers success.

However it should never be considered the end-all-be-all, or more to the point, THE reason you take certain actions. I’m referring of course to actions like Blog Commenting, Forum Marketing, Guest Posting, Article Marketing, Yahoo Answers, and so on.

“How to Build Backlinks”

Read almost any blog post with a similar title, not written by a top shelf SEO, and you will find the same methods. Oh, there’s different words thrown in, as well as attempts to put different spins on it all, but basically they are all the same.

Aside from getting irritated at reading the same article from 50 different bloggers, they have it all ass-backwards.

“How to Truly Connect with Others in Your Niche (and gain some decent backlinks).”

When I think of such traffic generators, that’s how I see the title reading .

OK so that may be a wee long, but I think you’re catchin’ my balls here, aren’t-cha?

Decent Backlinks

Saw that did-ja? Good. Guess what…..9 outa 10 of your “Awesome ways to gain backlinks” are giving you between half way decent to crappy backlinks. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Today we’ll discuss the two most abused methods in which you’re deceiving yourself, and others you “teach”…..

Blog Commenting

*sigh* Here we go – - NOT a good method for creating high quality backlinks, regardless of which “follow” attribute is added to them.

Google (the people who know better then ANYONE you know), has come forth time and again to say so. They are, even as I type this, devaluing comment links more and more.

Again, do follow, no follow, makes no difference.Their all nearly worthless as far as useful linkage is concerned.

OK sure, do follow comments may pass a point or two more link juice then no follow, FOR NOW, but the truth of the matter is, you need both anyway to make it look natural.

Always keep in mind, a comment left with backlinks in mind are easy to spot they’re crap. You run several risks…

1. Being humiliated in the reply. (This is the admins prerogative.)

2. Being deleted.

3. Being SPAMMED…real bad for you.

4. Having everyone else know you for a fool and never gaining traffic.

Comment on other blogs because you wish to support the blogger; you like the info they provide and think you can add more to it; you want to make a useful connection.

Period.

Forum Marketing

Almost exactly the same as blog commenting.

When starting a thread, or replying to one in motion, do it with a helpful heart, looking to make the connection first, and not just the backlink which may or may not be worth much anyway.

Over to You

That’s all I have for today, more to come for sure…any thoughts?

Related posts:

1. Link Building and List Building – A Blog or Newsletter?
2. Internal Link Building Tips: Link Back to Front for Best On Site SEO
3. On Site SEO: Internal Link Building – Beginners Guide and How To

Comment Before Tweeting

I wrote a post last October about how you should always comment on a post before tweeting/sharing said post amongst your different social communities.

This ensures your name, link, and awesome comment go viral right along with the post.

Cool huh…see where I’m going here?

Comment Moderation

Moderation of the first, maybe first two comments of a new commenter is standard and I agree with it. Any more then that and you might be shooting yourself in the foot as far as commenters sharing your posts are concerned.

Scenario: I comment on your blog and start heading for the tweet button, when suddenly I spot “your comment is awaiting moderation”; I have several options…..

1. Do I tweet and hope you’re fast with the approval?

2. Do I wait it out and actually take the time to come back to see if my comment has been approved, then tweet it?

3. What if I know for a fact that you moderate the first 5 or 10 or god forbid, every comment. Am I ever going to take the time to share your posts?

Scene 3 Screws You

Now, every blogger knows moderating the first or first two comments is SOP (standard operating procedure), and most are OK with it. I am, I do it too.

You do get lucky in the opinion that most first time commenters are probably not going to be sharing any of your posts for a while anyway. Some will need a little more proof that your posts are worthy of a share.

I’d guess that many of the others are OK with scene 1.

Moral to the story: Moderate multiple comments or god forbid all comments, and you run the risk of rarely if ever being shared.

Over to You

How do you feel over all about what’s written here?

How many comments do you moderate?

Related posts:

1. Blog Viral Marketing Technique – Comment Before Sharing
2. Top 5 Social Sharing Networks?
3. How to Kill Comment Contest Comment Spam

Hostgator, one of the very best hosting companies online is holding a ONE DAY ONLY 40% OFF SALE, TODAY JULY 4TH ONLY!!

Thanks to my lazy ass, you only have maybe 8hrs left – sales ends 11:59 tonight! I’m not even going to waste your time here filling this post with everything you can read on-site.

I will tell you, Hostgator is the one and only hosting company I have ever used or recommended in over 6yrs online.

If you’ve been thinking hosting, either for the first time, or a switch from your current, now is the time and Hostgator is the best in the business.

Buy Now – 45 Days to Cancel

I called ahead to make sure. You have 45 days from today to call and cancel for a full refund of the hosting. What I strongly suggest, since this is a one day sale,  buy now – ask questions later; this way you don’t miss out!

What To Do

1. Click anyone of my affiliate links above (same price as any other link). If this is your first time, and you’re not sure which plan, I advise the Baby Plan.

2. When you’re through, leave me a comment or shoot me an email, I’d love to discuss anything on your mind.

Purchasing through one of my links also ensures you of my support. If I do not know an answer, I will find it. If it turns complicated, Hostgator support itself is A++. Seriously

I will be monitoring comments and email if you have any questions, but as advised above, buy first. It’s risk free and you won’t miss the sale.

TICK-TOCK!

NOTE: Domain names if purchased now are not refundable. I do not advise a domain name purchase through Hostgator. For all domain name purchases, I suggest Godaddy; the best domain registrar on the net and the only one I’ve ever used and recommended.

Related posts:

1. The Best Web Hosting – ONE DAY ONLY – NOW Is The Time for Hostgator Hosting!
2. WordPress 3.2 is on it’s Way! Do You Meet the Minimum System Requirements?

1. How vigilant are you with comment moderation?

2. How up-to-date are you with the Google TOS?

Recently, Lynn Terry, a very well known blogger/marketer got the shock email of her life. It was from Google…

**********

Subject: You have 3 working days to make changes to your site

During a recent review of your account we found that you are currently
displaying Google ads in a manner that is not compliant with our program
policies
(https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=48182&stc=aspe-1pp-en).

————————————————–
EXAMPLE PAGE: (link removed)

Please note that this URL is an example and that the same violations may
exist on other pages of this website or other sites in your network.

VIOLATION(S) FOUND:

COMMENT SPAM:
As stated in our program policies, AdSense publishers may
not display Google ads on pages with adult or mature content. While we
understand that it may be challenging to monitor user-generated content,
such as comments, on your site, we require publishers to check that the
webpages containing their ad code complies with our program policies. More
information about this policy can be found in our help center
(https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=116000).

REQUESTED ACTION:
Please make all necessary changes in the next 72 hours.

If the violations are corrected within the aforementioned time period, ad
serving will not be affected. If changes are not made and/or other policy
violations are encountered during the review process, ad serving will be
disabled to your site.

ACCOUNT STATUS: ACTIVE

Your AdSense account remains active. However, if we continue to find
problems, we may disable your entire account. Therefore, we suggest that
you take the time to review the rest of your network to ensure that all of
your other pages are in compliance with our policies.

**********

At the time of this writing there are 70+ comments on her post. The thing that scares me the most is more then a few of them are discussing removing comments all together from their blogs.

YIKES!

Oh btw, I forgot to mention the most interesting fact in this mess. The blog in question was a blogspot blog she hadn’t even opened in years!

Over to You

Do yourself a real big favor, read her post on this, do the comment thing if you wish, then be sure to come back here so we can discuss it further too!

Related posts:

1. Blog Comment Spam Guide: Diciphering Spam from Real Comments
2. How to Kill Comment Contest Comment Spam
3. Google +1: The Plugin is Out

A Little Lesson In Physics

I hope this has never happened to you, but I’ll bet it has: your car has stalled somewhere, and you have to push it out of the way.

Whether you did the shoving yourself, or had to recruit friends, family, or passersby, you got a quick and crystal clear lesson on the principle of momentum.

It takes all kinds of grunting, straining, (and in my case a wide range of expletives) to get the wheels rolling, but once you’ve got some forward motion going it gets a lot easier.

As we all learned in school, a body in motion tends to stay in motion.

This physical principle is directly applicable to your business, too. It takes some muscle and sweat to get started, but once some forward motion happens, momentum has a chance to build.

Just like the wheels of a car, that momentum will start slowly, but if you keep your back bent to the task at hand you’ll pick up speed— and you’ll find it gets easier the faster you go.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you get to stop pushing! To keep those wheels rolling you’ve got to provide some ongoing effort, no doubt about it. But the point is, the hardest effort has to come at the beginning…

The beginning of your business, the beginning of the year, the beginning of a new marketing method… you get the idea.

So, I ask you: is your business just sitting in one spot right now? Well, that’s the other part of the principle of momentum: a body at rest tends to stay at rest. And that’s no way to earn money!

So spit on your palms, brace your feet, and start pushing! Your business isn’t much different from your body…you must keep up momentum if you plan to get anywhere.

Stop the forward momentum; stop *pushing* even a little bit and your business could suffer greatly.

Over to You

I’ve never written too much in the motivational/Inspirational arenas, but I found this one and always thought it to be truth. I hope it helps.

Do you need help pushing forward?

Related posts:

1. Your Home Business – Is It Your Business or Hobby?
2. Monetizing Business Blogs: Advertise ONLY YOUR Business on Company Business Blog

You’ve heard it before: social media is the future of marketing. Well, it’s true, and you need to figure out how your small business can take advantage of this fact. These days, it’s not about paying millions for a great television ad campaign to promote your business.

For small, local businesses, the name of the game is building relationships.

Because of social media marketing, people are starting a back-swing toward the era of mom and pop shops where they could go in and know the owners and have the owners know them by name. Even if this isn’t possible for your business, you want to make your customers feel like you do know them.

You also want to rely on social media marketing because it allows you to build business through recommendations and referrals. These days, people who are skeptical of ads, which is just about everyone, are much more likely to take advice on products, services, and brands from their social network than they are to be swayed (at least consciously) by blatant promotions and advertisements.

Even if you aren’t a computer expert, social marketing doesn’t have to be hard. It’s all about connecting with your audience and making your business seem accessible – like it is run by real people with lives and interests and back stories of their own! Here are just a few tips to get you started in making social media work for your business.

1. Have a Plan

You wouldn’t launch and advertising campaign without a game plan in place, so don’t do that with social media, either. Check out the social media use of similar businesses or other local businesses to get ideas, and come up with a strategy. Figure out what media you’re going to use, how you’re going to utilize it, and which of your employees is going to work with it.

1. Ask for Help

If you’re a small business and don’t have employees or resources devoted much to advertising, you may need to ask for help launching your social media campaign. Some advertisers and writers will work on a freelance basis to consult with you about launching your campaign. You can always learn the ropes and take over yourself other on. However, at first, it could be helpful to ask someone who really knows about the ins and outs of social media marketing to help you out.

1. Be a Regular

One thing people hate is “liking” a business on Facebook or following a blog’s feed only to find that the business is rarely updating things. The point of social media is to stay connected on a regular basis, so that your customers and potential customers feel like you can be a regular part of their lives. You don’t have to run a new Twitter promotion every day, but you should definitely be updating your social media outlets regularly.

This comes back, again, to having a plan. Figure out how often you’re going to run promotions, when you want to Tweet or update Facebook, and how you’ll draw customers into being a part of the entire venture so that they’ll help keep your pages updated, too.

1. Give Advice

Don’t just promote your business blatantly, but be subtle about it, too. Also, be the expert in your niche, and give people advice they can really use.

Have a home cleaning business? Write a few blog posts about natural cleaning tips or quick clean-up tricks for when friends are coming to visit. Likewise, an automotive repair shop might write about basic car maintenance ideas.

The key here is to let people feel like you’re giving them free advice – good advice! You might miss out on a teeny bit of business because you told someone how to do something on their own instead of turning to you, but when their house is a disaster or their car needs fixed, they’ll remember that you were the business willing to give them that advice in the first place, and it will all come back around!

1. Manage It in One Place

One of the best options for small businesses is to use things like HootSuite to manage their social media. With this particular option, you can manage everything from blogs to Facebook to Twitter. You can set up posts ahead of time so that they post whenever you want them to.

This is nice if you’re going on vacation or if you have a long-planned string of promotions or informational blogs to put up. Then, you just have to fill in the gaps so your audience feels like you’re a daily presence in their lives.

Besides this, applications like HootSuite can help you track the success of your campaign by tracking click-through data and other important information!

Carol Roberts is a social media advocate at CreditDonkey.

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Too much crap, to many links, too much silliness, too much of this or that, too little of this or that, AUTO-DM’s, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.

We get it.

Has one twit ever asked another, why should I follow you? What do you have to offer me?

This Twit is Asking

The beginning of May I wrote a post; now a sticky post. This post tells you that I just rejoined twitter and the first twits I am going to look into following were those already following me.

Not too many responded which is a shame as I plan to stick to my plan. I don’t care how *in my face* your follow link is, you’re last on the list; I may get to you, I may not.

1st: Those already following me who have also responded to this post.

2nd: Those following me who have not responded to this post

3rd:Those not following me but responded to this post.

4th: The other 100 million everyday bloggers with a dumb blue bird on their blog. HAHA.

It’s Best to be First

Yes, as with almost anything else, its best to be first. Whilst I truly do want you to comment below and tell me exactly why I should follow you, don’t jump for joy. Don’t sit there for hours on end refreshing you twitter page waiting for my avatar to pop up under followers.

Not only do followers go first, like I told them “just following me doesn’t earn you an auto-follow back”, I’m telling you, just leaving an awesome comment, doesn’t guarantee it either…but make it as awesome as possible for a good chance.

Plus, I haven’t gotten around to my current followers yet, lol sorry, but it will take a bit of time for me to get to everyone.

Over to You

Now I’m more then curious, seriously, why should I follow you?

What do you have to offer me that I cannot find on your blog?

What do you have to offer me that other twits might not?

Keep in mind as the title eludes, this is not just a twitter  question…..Think hard now.

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Actually, I recently received a comment with a blank avatar. I have no idea why, but it really irritated me. I was rather surprised at these inner feelings; in the grand scheme of things, it’s an awfully silly thing to get one irritated, isn’t it?

Ah well, it is what it is.

Gravatars You Can Use

Almost anything you want, I’m pretty loose as far as Gravatars go. Personal photo, Logo, anything instantly recognized as you. I’m a firm believer in using the same thing everywhere you go.

I’m certainly not going to force a personal face pic, that’s just near-sighted and unprofessional.

Gravatars You Can’t/Shouldn’t Use

You cannot use anything being a WordPress default, their horrible.

You really REALLY should not use anything campy/cartoony; ex: Homer Simpson. These used to irritate the hell outa me when I was regularly visiting forums. I never took the person behind it seriously, few do.

If you use this type everywhere, that’s a shame. You can try it here, I may or may not delete your comment depending on mood that day, but I will not take you seriously.

The name currently eludes me, but something like what Karen uses is fine. Check her comments, you’ll see.

Please don’t misunderstand, I AM a cartoon, lol, but there’s a place for it…this ain’t it.

How to Hook Up a Gravatar

Simply head on over to Gravatar.com and follow the steps. Easy-peasy! I’ve heard there’s even a plugin now, and you don’t even need an account, but don’t quote me.

Over to You

Well, that’s about it. It’s pretty standard stuff. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic though, lets get into it!

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1. Comment Avatars: Branding and Recognition | Face Optional

WordPress 3.2 Minimum Requirements

Well WordPress version 3.2 is on it’s way, but they want you to know ahead of time, this time around you will need to meet some system requirements.

Whether this is good or scary is still up for interpretation, it obviously means they added some pretty hefty stuff, technologically.

Your hosting company has to be ready for at least the very minimum requirements which are; PHP 5.2.4 and MySQL 5.0 at a minimum.

The cool thing is, there are two ways to check your system; call you host or there is a free WordPress Requirements Check plugin to tell you if you’re ready.

Cool, huh?

Not for Me

All that said, I doubt I will be installing 3.2. Unless it’s some sort of must have security fix, I never download the first…..always wait for bug fixes I say. I’ll most likely go for 3.2.1, as I normally do.

THAT said, I’m sure there will be 127 articles the first week it’s out talking about all the really cool, must have features so I may have to risk it…..time will tell I suppose. lol

Over to You

Excited? Gonna pounce on it? Be sure to check your system, we don’t want crashes over something so easily taken care of.

Looking for a host always up to date? Hostgator baby! The only one I’ve ever used or recommended in almost a decade online. They are currently using PHP 5.2.15 and 5.3.4 and MySQL 5.1.52 – - more then enough!

What do you plan to do? Let me know below!

Before or after we chat it up below, be sure to jump over to Andrews place, without which you would not be reading this now. He also talks about another cool free plugin; something about details regarding your current installation, and extra security checks.

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In amongst the MANY posts discussing Google+1 I noticed a few people wondering when a plugin was to be made, so they wouldn’t have to mess with coding.

Well, for those that didn’t already know, it’s out! Much faster then anyone expected, that’s for sure. I have downloaded, yet not activated. I honestly don’t know how I feel about the whole thing yet.

It’s in the WordPress plugin repository for ya, download the Google +1 plugin now if you wish.

Do or don’t it’s up to you. I would however like to know how you feel about it all. Comment below, and we’ll discuss it some.

When you’re finished commenting here, be sure to read, Google +1 FAQ, Guides, Installation, Settings, SEO effect & Much more

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Or worse, never realize it at all and have no idea of how many people are now laughing at them. They never realize that their comment was swiftly deleted and a total waste of their time.

Please pay attention. I filled the last two paragraphs with general speak, using words like other “readers”, “they”, and “their”, because I know you see it on your blog as well.

Now it’s time to read the title again and see your reflection. I came damn close to deleting several comments from the post on refunding domain names. And I’m not referring to the older comments from the last publishing either.

I received more then a few comments which stated something similar too, “This would never be useful for anything other then misspellings.”, when I clearly pointed out, “This was once HUGE with domain flipping and MFA (made for adsense) site builders; I couldn’t say if it is anymore.”

This is by far not the first time I’ve noticed this behavior on this blog, but it will be the last before I start taking action. This action could present itself in one of two forms…

1. Me CLEARLY pointing out what you “missed”.

2. Your comment deleted.

Oh, and in case you’re curious, if you care at all about your reputation, you’d rather I delete.

Over to You

Am I talking to you above? How annoying is it on your blog?

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Just today a thread was started on a forum I frequent and it is indeed a very good thinking question. The question was…

“How many of you are doing your home business to gain financial freedom (i.e. get out of debt, secure your financial future, etc) versus just as a hobby or for fun?“

The responses vary of course, but the overwhelming one is usually that it home business starts as a hobby (something their passionate about) and just keeps on growing until they see the financial light ahead.

If this happens, then great! My response however was/is for those, oh so many, that just have no clue…

“It is indeed an intriguing question. I think if more people would answer it honestly (to themselves first) they would be a lot better off.

Far too often you hear complaints (whines, screams, plea’s, etc), from those that “aren’t going anywhere”. 9 x outa 10, they aren’t taking things serious enough.

Stop saying I can’t/I won’t. Step outa your comfort zone once in a while. CRACK OPEN THE PURSE/WALLET IF YOU NEED TO, but be smart about it is all. Make your online home business your first priority as much as possible.

If it truly isn’t a hobby, do what ya gotta do. If it is a hobby, that’s great too! Just be honest with yourself up-front.“

Over to You

I kept this almost exactly as it was in 2008. It’s a very important topic, and as quick and to the point as it is, it is just a starter for more to come.

Now I ask you simply, which side do you fall on and why? Do you agree or disagree with my response, and why?

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You see, he wrote an awesome article outlining a new live help service he found, and one I consider a near perfect solution for any business, even if you’re only one person.

It’s an excellent little review which you should read, detailing the three services they offered and the pricing of each. He wrote it sometime before May 1st, and scheduled it, using the WordPress scheduling feature, to publish on May 4th.

99.9% of the time, you will not run into an issue of any kind doing this. I’m here now to tell you to always be wary of that .1%.

The Problem

Sometime on or around May 1st the company added an important feature and raised the prices a bit.

Oopsy!

Is it a big problem? No not really. 9 outa 10 readers would either leave it alone or simply ask him nicely as I did about the small discrepancies.

No harm-no foul unless you run into that one jackass that wants to make a big deal out of it…you know s/he’s out there.

Keep Scheduling

If you currently use the scheduling feature, keep using it. It’s a lifesaver as you know. if you don’t currently use it, try it sometime, you’ll love it!

Just be careful, before the final publish scan your post and the source if there is one and make sure everything is still current. Know what I mean?

Over to You

Do you use the post scheduler? Have you ever run into a similar circumstance? How do your readers react?
———————————–

To our mutual success!

Dennis

P.S. I will be signing up to the live help service in the near future. Expect a full review sometime after that.

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Choosing yours truly as an example (it’s my blog, get over it), if you don’t instantly recognize my red/blue DE logo-avatar, you don’t get out often enough.

I’m a big supporter of the avatar and really dislike seeing comments or article bio’s without one…using a generic supplied by WordPress. UGH.

Face Only?

That said, I also see a disturbing trend emerging. Bloggers all over Demanding *Face Pic Only*. Personally, I see this as a Little Silly…and that’s me being really nice about it.

There’s bloggers that won’t accept guest posts if your avatar is not a head-shot. There are others that won’t recognize you as a top commenter without a head-shot.

OK then, truly awesome ways to lose regular commenters, possibly readers and subscriptions…..good job.

How to Lose Your Branding in One Shot

There are dozens of legitimate reasons one may not want to use their face everywhere. I have two:

1. I have been using my little logo EVERYWHERE for years now. I’d only confuse people and quite possible killed what I’ve worked hard to achieve.

2. I don’t currently own a face pic of myself, and uh no, not going out of my way just for your little blog. Sorry.

Is this really a worthy fight for you?

Over to You

Which side are you on? Do you think “face pic only” is as ridiculous as I do, or do you actually have a logical argument for it?

I’ll love all comments, either way.

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1. How often are they published – weekly, monthly, or somewhere in-between.

2. What day they publish – Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, etc.

3. What criteria is used for picking the posts that go into your roundups and how do you find them.

4. Anything else you feel might be pertinent information

Please be awesome and share this survey with a few thousand of your closest friends and colleagues.
To our mutual success!

Dennis

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People people please, help a blogger out!

We all love and respect anyone that takes the time to read and comment on our blogs, right?

The one thing asked for, and frankly expected, is that any commenters leave a VALID email address in the email field of the comment form.

Any legitimate blogger will never use your email address for anything but contacting YOU for one reason or another, even if it is just replies to your comments.

If you have been crossed by an unethical blogger, then I am sorry; unfortunately they are out there. I’d definitely say though, the majority are good.

Seriously, there is little more frustrating then having to hunt down a commenter for some reason because emails come back undeliverable, ya know?

Especially when it’s something as small as trying to reply to your comment, as good bloggers do.

Jeeez, if everyone of my replies came back, my system would explode! LOL.

Changes Coming…

I will no longer hunt for validation.

99% of all comments using invalid-undeliverable email addresses will be deleted outright, if not SPAM’d first. After all, fake email addresses IS a tippy top SPAMMER red flag.

That 1% will mean I’m in a lottery-winning type mood. Good luck with that.

IF you are legit, and using fake addresses for some reason (to which I do not care), STOP.

You DO NOT want a blogger, any blogger, hitting the SPAM button on you. Especially if they use the Akismet spam blocker, which almost all WordPress bloggers do.

Over to You

So how ’bout it? Do you invalids out there pinky swear to start playing nice?

A simple enough request, yes? I may sound harsh, but I’m being serious. Thanks for understanding!

D.

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Yep it’s true! I’ve needed to do it a few times over the last couple years. I always post if it’s helpful and I figured beginners and/or those on a real limited budget would be especially interested.

Heck, 10 bucks is 10 bucks, right? 

I’m not sure about other registrars, but Godaddy (and their resellers) offer a 5-day leeway policy.

If for any reason you no longer need/want your domain name, you have 5 days from the purchase date to receive a full refund…no partial refunds after that.

This was once HUGE with domain flipping and MFA (made for adsense) site builders; I couldn’t say if it is anymore.

I must say though, I’d think one would need some serious *traffic generation* mojo to decide in 5 days or less if adsense was working.

Anyhoo there ya go, so go get your 10er back if ya need to.

I’ve never used any other then Godaddy. If you know other registrars that offer this, please let me know below…I will update this post.

Good luck! Comment below, then pass on the info!

Oh, before anyone decides to be a smart-ass, I do realize they are slightly higher then 10 bucks now.

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Those that run comment contests might love this idea. Those that participate might hate this idea. It is what it is, and what it is should be a way to almost wipe out comment spam during comment contests.

It’s a real simple two part process…

1. Do not show individual comment counts on your top commenter plugin. This kills the mass comment syndrome for all those except the truly stupid.

This is not new here though, I have never shown the comment counts.

2. When you display your contest sponsor list, do not include their prizes or the order in which commenters will win them.

Commenters will have no idea what they’re shooting for until they win it. All number/prizes, will be blogger knowledge only.

DING DING DING!! One of the best ideas so far, eh?!

Oh btw, before I forget, before you participants go whining yourself to sleep later. This plan also gives way to both sponsors and prize winners to get at least one more backlink opportunity at the end of each contest.

Over to You

Love it? hate it? Lemme know below!

Taking all comments into consideration, somethings may change a bit once comment contests start up here again.

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Thanks!

No related posts.

Of course some might consider it a little cheesy for the 100th post to be the bragging post for publishing 100. LOL!

Anyhoo, none of this would mean a damn thing without YOU there to read and remark, not to mention take advantage of my advice, so thank you!

I do hope you’ll stick for the next 100 and beyond, and if there’s anything in-particular you’d like to learn , please let me know!

I’ll go now, before I run outa exclamation points. Besides, it’s time to write up #101.

Thanks again!

D.

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*****

The very first time I signed onto twitter (2008-2009?), I was one of the many mass following fools that actually thought it was a good way to get ahead. In reality it’s a good way to get completely overwhelmed and do nothing good with it.

Luckily some very nice people came long and smacked the idiots guide to Twitter out of my hands. I announced publicly that my account was to be deleted and I wouldn’t be back until I felt I could do it right.

Last year, 2010 I did just that, and it was going well…..for a while. Long story short, with no public announcement, I started over again a short time ago. Same name, wiped clean.

If you were following me, you’re not any longer. Sorry ’bout that.

Follow Me for First Dibs

I will be back with the usual posts of who I will and won’t follow with reasons why, but for now here is how it is…

The first twits I will check out are those already following me; fair is fair after all.

Read the little section again please, to be assured of no confusion…

It does NOT say, The first twits I will follow are those already following me. It says “check out” as in your stream, profile, etc., to see if you’re someone I wish to follow.

Alongside never mass following, I will also never follow you just because you followed me. No offense intended, that’s just more ridiculousness.

To summarize: I’m not trying to be an ass here, but for even a chance at me following you anytime soon, please start following me now.

Oh and if you’re the type to follow then unfollow within 24-48hrs, don’t even waste your time. I’m putting it into my schedule to check followers once per week. Maybe more if I find some down time and/or lots of followers.

Over to You

OK then. If you think you can interest me in 140 characters or less, not including you profile/bio, then i want to check you out. Follow me at your convenience.

D.

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