After running my own Web Design company from home for 10 years, getting back into the 9-5 job market was an adventure, to say the least. Having devoted myself to building full blown Content Management Sites (CMS) using WordPress for function and customized themes for design, I was happy to find out that I hadn’t limited myself to something that I couldn’t apply in today’s workforce. WordPress knowledge and experience were actually in demand in the 3-D world that existed outside my home!

Having a strong background in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is always a skill that’s in demand, so coupled with my Social Media (SM) and Blogging knowledge and experience I brought a lot to the table no matter where I interviewed. Having been out of the mainstream workforce for so long, I was relieved to find that the payscale for my area of expertise was actually fair. It wasn’t long before I was working full time, doing something I love. I am thankful for that every day.

In short, a New Media Specialist is kept busy with web development, site maintenance, SEO, Blogging, Social Media Management, Branding, Marketing, and to an extent, Public Relations (PR). In my opinion, PR and SM go hand in hand today. 

As an employed, full-time New Media Specialist I spend a lot of my time researching Internet and Marketing trends. As technology advances, it’s my responsibility to not only keep up with everything as it evolves, but I also have to be innovative enough to create my own strategies to take advantage of all that these brave new technologies have to offer. Companies that fail to keep up with the trends and advancements are failing to continue their past successes. Companies that embrace the changes (by hiring someone like me) are seeing increased sales, increased brand awareness, and their biggest worries are “growing pains”.

As I spend my personal time researching, I sometimes like to share what I’m finding. If you’re interested in bringing more success to your business, you may want to consider the information I share. If not, that’s cool… then I’ll just use this kind of post for my own reference, and steer the occasional client to them as information they NEED to know.

The Benefits of Using Social Media to Market Your Business

• It can help build reputation and give your business great exposure.
• It provides cost-effective free advertising.
• It helps you to connect with key people in the industry.
• It helps you to discover what the public likes through feedback.
• Your business gains new traffic and increased sales.
• It can assist in getting public opinions when launching new products and services.

*These are all great reasons to choose social media to help market your business.

Things you don’t want to find when researching a site you’re working on…

 Analytics – NONE

Add GingerWench on Google+

Being a Libra is tough… I see both sides of every conflict, and go through a ‘weighing’ process that helps me to make informed and educated decisions. Having said that, I still don’t know how I feel about the integration of our personal data into our global search results. I’ll be researching this a bit more before I allow any settings changes. Check out the Google introduction video for “Google Search plus Your World” below.

In a way, I’m looking forward to advances in technology that this kind of integration will allow. On the other hand, I hesitate to allow so much of myself to be open for anyone passing by to have access to.

I understand that there may be settings available for us to control the degree of exposure our data gets… but I think I’d still feel just a little more ‘naked’ than I’m comfortable with, due to technological details beyond my control.

“The competition issues raised by Google+ go to the heart of the FTC’s investigation into whether the company is giving preference to its own services in search results and whether that practice violates antitrust laws, said the people, who declined to be identified because the probe isn’t public.” Furthermore “users who opt for Google+ see personal information about their friends included from the social networking service when they enter a query. The changes sparked a backlash from bloggers, privacy groups and competitors who said the inclusion of Google+ results unfairly promotes the company’s products over other information on the Web.”

Unfortunately, after digging through the “spat” between Google and Twitter, the bottom line is that it’s time to utilize Google+ in Social Networking strategies… if you aren’t already.

In the end, exactly how Google search results came to be dominated by Google+ pages — either as a result of having little access to other social networks or by intentionally ignoring them — isn’t that important. The important question is whether or not this domination is good for consumers. An issue which, if a complaint from privacy watchdog EPIC is effective, could be settled by the FTC.

Edited to add: The day after I published this post, I found a similar (and much more in depth) post by Brian Clark. In it, he articulates the thoughts that motivated my post, more eloquently than I was able to given the time I’ve had to dedicate to the Google+ developments. I suggest you check out his post, “Why Google+ is an Inevitable Part of Your Content Marketing Strategy“.

Feel free to ‘weigh in’ for yourself in the comments, I’m interested in hearing how others feel about all this

I’ve had a LinkedIn Account for well over a year now, and just haven’t made the time to ‘participate’ more than the occasional profile update. I went hunting for some “tips” articles, but found that most information about marketing your small business through LinkedIn is tied to a product for sale. Training ebooks and videos seem the most popular.

I’ve included a few of the articles I found useful below. I specifically tried to use articles by those I’m connected to on Facebook or Twitter, as trusted resources. I have not bought any products on this topic, but have repeatedly come to the same conclusion throughout the research process; People that utilize LinkedIn as a tool for marketing their services or products are simply too busy due in no small part to their participation as a professional, to write about their experiences.

LinkedIn is the Internet’s version of Traditional Business Networking

Yes, LinkedIn is primarily targeted toward ‘Professionals’, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be ‘social’. Any of these Social Media sites are as social as you make them, so that’s really all a matter of perspective as far as I’m concerned. When I was a bank manager, part of the corporate culture demanded a certain level of business ‘networking’. In my opinion, LinkedIn is the Internet’s answer to that type of traditional Networking.

The most useful part about any of these sites for me is the contacts within my own industry that I make. Sharing ideas, theories and information within a like minded group of my peers that are actually out there in the trenches doing the work that some only talk or write about. The sites work for me in that way because that’s how I choose to use them.

I’m left with the impression that LinkedIn can be as useful to you as you intend to make it. Again, like I tend to remind you in every discussion about Social Media… your participation will directly effect the success of any of these sites. Your personal attention to the contacts made through social media will build your online presence.

Should you add LinkedIn to your Social Media menu?

To my clients that are considering getting the most out of their social networking activities, I would suggest putting some thought into what you want to take away from your activities. Once you’ve identified your expectations for using a site like LinkedIn to gain exposure for your business or brand, then you can move on to forming a marketing plan towards that end.

Helping small business owners identify their goals, and compose a goal oriented plan of action for their social networking activities is only one of the things that I offer through my phone consultations. Tailoring a plan that specifically addresses your unique situation is something that I consider an investment in your business. Done correctly, the only thing it will cost you is time.

LinkedIn resources:

LinkedIn for Corporate Marketing – A Cheat Sheet for Busy People

5 Tips for Individuals to Help Companies Get More Out of LinkedIn

How LinkedIn Apps Can Promote Your Business

Are you willing to make the commitment of time required to make your social media activities successful? Let me know in the comments so we can ‘connect’!

This past Tuesday, I launched my new “Shareletter”, Adventure Through the Social Web With Me. Don’t worry, you’re not the first one to think it… “What the hell is a Shareletter?” Well, I tend to do things a little differently, mostly because I quickly grow tired (and sometimes irritated) by seeing the same old hyped up terminology while surfing the Social Web. All the so-called Guru’s telling us over and over again to ‘trap’ people into joining our mailing lists by offering a free report or ‘eBook’. Ugh. I just can’t take it anymore, seriously.

So, when I decided that an email list would be the ideal tool to offer my clients exclusive articles aimed at helping them bring fresh traffic to their sites and bring exposure to their ‘brand’, I decided to do things my way. Some may consider it flawed thinking, but I assume that there are others out there feeling the same way I do about email marketing.

I don’t want yet another ‘free’ ebook.

I don’t want yet another ‘free’ report sharing some miraculous over night method to gaining traffic.

Been there, done that. *So* over it!

I want the down and dirty details as to what’s going on TODAY on the Social Web, not last year’s regurgitated garbage that’s no longer relevant.

I want to know what’s trending NOW, not three months ago. Hell, things change so fast on the Internet these days that information that’s three WEEKS old is just not cutting it anymore.

My solution to the old school Newsletter dilema

Again, I realize that there are some out there that are going to read this and chuckle self-righteously to themselves thinking, “This GingerWench chick isn’t going to get anywhere going against the grain, is she nuts?”. Maybe I am. *shrug* All I know is that I have 10 years of experience building successful web sites that rank high in the search engines, and I’ve done pretty damned well building a social network for myself and clients.

I’m more than willing to let my experience speak for itself. Even when I was a bank manager, I valued experience over all that fancy book-learnin’. Heh.

After much careful thought, I decided to go with my strengths, and focus on my existing customer base. My position may be a little unique, so I’ll explain.

I’m pretty much booked as far as site management and design clients go. I’m lucky, I realize this. So, unlike most ‘newsletter’ publishers, I’m not focused on growing a list in order to sell my services. Word of mouth, and local event efforts have pretty much taken care of that.

What I needed was a way to communicate with my client base, a way to share the latest information I’ve gathered from my daily routine of maintaining commercial web sites. I needed a way to share what I’m learning on a day-to-day basis as a webmaster, web designer, and active social media advocate.

I needed a ‘Shareletter’, not a newsletter.

The term ‘Newsletter’, to me at least, now carries a somewhat negative connotation, bringing to mind an atmosphere of sales pitches and hyped up yesterday’s news. When I sign up for a newsletter, I feel like I’m giving someone permission to spam me in the hopes that there might occasionally be a bit of useful information shared.

It’s a very rare thing to have found a ‘newsletter’ that actually shares useful information on a regular basis. The only one that comes to mind is the newsletter I get from the guys over at ‘Digging Into WordPress“. I actually subscribed to their newsletter long before I bought their book because they send out actual code snippets that I can use in my day-to-day routine. Information that I could actually put to use immediately. It was that newsletter that convinced me that I needed to own their book. I’ve never regretted that subscription, and I still look forward to receiving their mails.

My hope is to share the same kind of useful information on a regular basis, to anyone that needs it.

Do-it-yourself webmasters, business owners trying to expand their market base, sole proprietors trying to make sense of today’s ‘Social Web’ and all that social media stuff that can seem so overwhelming.

I have nothing to lose by helping people grow their own business to success using the Internet. Rather than turn away business due to a full schedule, I’m offering my experience through a ‘Shareletter’.

Will my publication include affiliate links? Of course. Why wouldn’t it? Will my integrity and reputation allow me to spam my subscribers with link upon link to products only because the commission is high? Absolutely not! I only refer my clients and subscribers to products that I use myself. (This makes it a lot easier to offer support and training for these products, which is always included in my client contracts.)

Sharing information, techniques, and trend analysis. Sharing what I learn as I build sites that work for my clients. That’s not yesterday’s “Newsletter”… that’s today’s “Shareletter”.

Change is a good thing, if you allow it to be.

I’ve changed my thinking, and my approach to email marketing, and I’d love to know what you think about it. If you missed my first issue of Adventure Through the Social Web With Me, check it out in it’s web version.

I’m going to continue to send my clients and subscribers the kind of useful information they can use in their daily routines, and you’re more than welcome to join us.

I will tell you this… the articles I write for the Shareletter will not be published anywhere else. Period. My clients and subscribers deserve exclusive content, and that’s what I’m going to deliver on a somewhat regular basis. (I find it’s less stressful to say ‘occasional’ than weekly, and this gives me the freedom to concentrate on client projects when necessary!)

If you agree with my anti-newsletter thinking, and would like to receive original, relevant content… help me prove the Guru’s wrong, and subscribe to my Shareletter. I’d love for one of my future posts to be about how I conquered traditional email marketing with honesty and value!

I opened a forum for my clients, friends and social networking buddies this past week, and the resources being shared there are just incredible! Everything from WordPress Plugins to Social Networking News and Blogging Tips! I’ve highlighted the best of the shares from this week below, why not take a few seconds to visit the forum and register so you can join the fun? All active members are encouraged to submit their own resources!

A link roundup from the week’s forum posts.

WordPress Plugins [forum link]
Multi Twitter Stream – Multi Tweet Accounts in one stream
Twitter Blackbird Pie – Embed your tweet in your posts
Editorial Calendar – Plan and schedule your posts to auto publish
User Submitted Posts – collect content from users/visitors

Tweaking WordPress [forum link]
WordPress Post Formats Tutorial – New WordPress function, demystified
WordPress Questions? Try WordPress Answers! – This is a free, community driven Q&A for WordPress developers and            administrators.

Graphics Resources [forum link]
30 of the Best Font Foundries
Free WDF Blue Icon Set

Graphics Tutorials [forum link]
Typography, the Art of Text – Basix

Social Media – Twitter [forum link]
UberTwitter & Twidroyd Are Back Online
Friend or Follow?
Tweet Chat App
Tweet your blog, or blog your Tweets? DEBATE/FEEDBACK PLS

Social Media – Facebook [forum link]
Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh)
10 Ways to Build a Successful Fan Page
Where in Social Media are Young Teens?
Connect to join the world’s largest Facebook wall!

Social Media – LinkedIn [forum link]
How LinkedIn Apps Can Promote Your Business

Blogging – Marketing [forum link]
Bloggers and Freelance Writers MUST get permission!
Test the power of social media. One blogger’s results
Article Writing

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) [forum link]
User-Friendly SEO – seven tips of on-page SEO that demonstrate how good SEO, good writing and good design work together to create an exceptional product.

General Chit Chat [forum link]
Daily threads to keep us all in contact and up to speed! For those working from home, it’s nice to have a place to go to relax and socialize in a drama free environment!

I even made the time to put together a tutorial for the private Client Area! I’m going to be loading up the screencast software so that I can do more of the “watch and learn” type of tutorials. It’s good to be a client of GingerWench.com!

I look forward to seeing YOU in the forums! Have a great weekend everyone!

One of the things that confuses people the most when they first start using Facebook to gain exposure for their business is the Profile/Page/Group dilemma. What’s the difference, and which one would serve your needs best? I’m going to do my best to answer this in the most simple terms, in regards to what you expect to gain from your Facebook activities.

I’ve Heard I’m Missing Out On Traffic If I don’t “Do Facebook”
This is probably the main concern my clients come to me with. They know they need to have a presence on Facebook, but they’re not sure how to go about it. When they go to the homepage of Facebook, they’re immediately faced with decisions that they’re not prepared to make.

You may not want to participate on Facebook on the “Personal Profile” level, so why do you need to open an account as a personal profile – can’t you just start a page for your business?

The simple answer is no, you can’t. You have to start out with a personal profile. You don’t have to use it, and you don’t have to fill out all your personal information. You might want to “Friend” me though!

Consider the personal profile as a gateway to being able to create a Page for your business.
With the recent changes to the Facebook Pages, you can do everything you’ll need to do, “AS” the page itself. This is a great way to magnify your branding efforts because as you travel around Facebook commenting on other Pages, you’re doing so as your business and your Page link is left behind each time (opposed to the old way where we had to interact from our personal profiles which weren’t easily linked to our pages).

Pages, Groups and Profiles, Oh My!
Once you’ve accessed your personal profile within Facebook, you have the option to either make a Group, or start a Page. You may even be tempted to do both. Don’t let the information overload get to you! Consider your goals for using Facebook for business, and let them decide which route to take. Realistically, it’s rare that a small business is going to need both a Page and a Group.

Use a Facebook Page for Branding and PR Purposes
You’ll get much better results from your Facebook efforts by using a page for these purposes. Schedule events and send invites to everyone that has “Liked” your Page. Interact with customers, provide customer service and add personality to your business – Facebook Pages are best suited for these goals. Cultivating a relationship with your target market is easiest through a public Page, even if they haven’t ‘connected’ with you yet.

Facebook Groups Allow You to Offer a More Private Interaction
The Group function on Facebook allows you to interact with your audience in a more private setting. You can set permissions so that Group activity is Private or Public. Probably the most important difference about Groups now that the Pages are so different, is the fact that when you participate in a Group, you’re doing so from your personal profile. This may be more suitable for smaller, targeted segments of your audience. Groups also have a chat function that you may find useful for committees and/or focus groups, and are built on the premise of real time interactions without much in the way of ‘archiving’ your group’s activity.

Functionality must be considered when choosing between a Page and a Group
On a Page, you have the ability to create photo albums to organize your photos any way you’d like. Groups don’t. Pages have your posted links, photos, and notes categorized and linked to in the left hand column for you and your visitors to easily access. Groups don’t. People and other Pages can “Like” your Page without having to also be your “Friend”. As a Group, you can only add people on your “Friends” list on your personal profile, any others would have to first ‘Request to Join’, and then be approved by Group Admin in order to gain access. The Pages are pretty much “set it and forget it” easy as far as gaining followers.

Build Relationships with your Facebook Page, Nurture them with Groups
In the most simplistic terms I can muster, it almost seems to me as though a Facebook page gives you an overall opportunity to grow your online presence (ease of joining by any of the 5M+ members without further action by you). Groups, on the other hand, are a tool to use once you’ve identified a need to pay special attention to a smaller segment of your audience (by offering tighter control over who gains access, and bringing your interactions down to a more personal level by connecting from your personal profile).

If you’re looking for more detailed information on the differences between Facebook Pages and Groups, check out Facebook Pages vs. Groups written yesterday by Jessica Young.

Do you need a Facebook Page, or a Facebook Group? If you’re still not sure, leave a comment and maybe we can come up with a solution for you together!

Photo Credit

The functionality of today’s WordPress Plugins is amazing, it really is. Take for example many of the Twitter based plugins. Some make it possible to have each of your posts to Twitter also post to your blog. As a blog post.

One Twitter post of up to 140 characters does not make a “content rich, topic relevant” blog post.

I’m not about to go on and on about Search Engine Optimization here (although I totally could!). Suffice it to say that a recent case study by SEOmoz has confirmed my original suspicions in regards to the effect of social media on how we’re ranked by the search engines. Aside from any possible penalty for creating “duplicate content”, there’s the human factor that as a blogger, you must take into consideration.

If people want to follow you on Twitter, they will. No need to waste space in their RSS Readers, or email inboxes with your “blog posts” consisting of nothing more than one ‘Tweet’ at a time. How would you feel if you took the time to visit someone’s blog because a headline caught your eye, only to find out that the headline was in fact also the content (as is usually the case when you allow an app to feed your Tweets into your blog in this manner)?

I know how I’d feel. I’d become instantly annoyed, and I’d write off that blog as being nothing more than regurgitated material from another site. Basically, that’s what a Tweet as a blog post is.

Seriously, if your only content in a blog post is a Tweet, your Search Engine Optimized meta description will probably wind up being longer than your content! How can this in any way, shape or form be considered ‘quality, relevant content’? But then again, I guess if I were being realistic here, anyone that’s sending their Tweets to their blog as posts is probably not going through the steps to optimize their sites for the search engines anyway.

Use Your Tweets to Enhance Your Posts, Not Dominate Them

If there’s something so valuable in one of your Tweets, that you want to share it with your blog’s readers, then by all means, use a plugin like Twitter Blackbird Pie to quote the Tweet in your post.

Here’s what a quoted Tweet looks like using the Twitter Blackbird Pie plugin:

Moar coffee please! Just finished another consult. I'm toasting all my clients with some French Roast tonight! #itsallaboutrelationships

February 22, 2011 2:55 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@wwginger

GingerWench

Then… EMBELLISH. Take advantage of the ability to use more than Twitter’s limited 140 characters to express your opinion. Help your readers get to know you through sharing your expertise, and showing your personality. This is blogging, after all.

Use your activity on Twitter to feed you ideas for blogging. Coming up with ideas for posts is one of the most common stumbling blocks for bloggers, when it doesn’t need to be! There are endless topics being discussed daily on the Social Web. Use Twitter as a tool to improve your blogging, not replace it entirely.

It’s All About the Relationship

You have one chance to make that first impression on a site visitor. Do you really want that first impression to be limited to 140 character chunks? Display your Twitter stream in your sidebar, it’s efficient, and let’s people know that you do in fact participate in the Social Web.

If those visitors see that you’re discussing the topics in your Tweets in further detail on your blog, well that goes a long way towards creating credibility for you. “Oh look, Joe Blogger actually is interested in the things he Tweets!” leaves a better impression than “Oh look, Joe Blogger can’t be bothered to go into more detail on any of the stuff he Tweets. I wonder if his Tweets are even relevant at all!”.

Don’t take the lazy, easy way out of blogging at the expense of your reader’s experience. Give the search engines, and your readers what they want… quality, RELEVANT content.

Just because you can have your Tweets sent to your blog as posts, doesn’t mean you should. I welcome your thoughts and comments on this Twitter-versy. Am I being too harsh? Do you really see nothing wrong with force feeding content to your blog in this way? Is there some use for sending your Tweets to your blog as posts that I’m totally missing here? Comment below, let me know because I’m dying to find out. Seriously.

In today’s “Social Web” environment (formally known as ‘the Internet’), a small business needs more than just a web site to create an awareness of their product or service. Today, you need a ‘presence’ on the Internet that far exceeds the capabilities of a static web site. You’ve heard of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, but you’re not really sure how any of them can actually help you. You’re not alone.

I hear the same things from my clients over and over again in regards to Social Media.

“I started a Facebook account for my business, but I have no idea what to do with it.”

“My eyes glaze over every time I look at my Twitter page.”

“I don’t have time to check all these different sites every day!”

It’s overwhelming, isn’t it? You want to take advantage of all that social media has to offer, but how do you get started? How are you supposed to manage all these accounts and actually participate in them all?

You can’t be tied to your computer all day monitoring your social media accounts. It’s almost easier to write it off completely, justifying the absence of a social presence simply because you know that if you aren’t able to keep up with it you might actually hurt your business more than you’re helping it. (You did realize that, right?)

Relax. It’s not rocket science, but it will require a commitment on your part. I can supply you with the tools you’ll need to manage the social media activities required in order to promote your business and create brand recognition, but you have to be willing to devote some of your time and attention.

Today I’m going to focus on some of the tools I’ve used to help me manage my own social network. At the end of this post, I’m including some very informative blog posts by people I admire who happen to know a thing or two about making the most of whatever time you can devote to social marketing activities, bookmark this post so that you can come back and read them, there is a lot of very valuable information!

Managing your social Network – Tools of the trade

Before I send you off to check out some of the tools I use to manage all of my social networking accounts, I want you to think about your brand. Branding yourself and your business is a process, one that can be effected by something as simple as your username. Using the same username across all of your social networking sites provides a consistency to your branding that makes it easier to be found by your clients, and potential customers. When possible, include one of your keywords in your user name.

HootSuite

Finding the right fit when it comes to managing your social network can be a process of discovery and testing. There are desktop applications like TweetDeck, and Seesmic has both a desktop application and a web site interface. Most even have mobile apps so that you can manage your network while on the move.

Whether you prefer an application that runs on your desktop, or a web site interface is a personal preference. If you have the time to test them, doing so is the best way to figure out what will work best for you.

Personally, I prefer a web site interface that I can keep open in one of my browser tabs as I go about my business. I prefer HootSuite because I can manage my Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts, all from one tab. (As you can see by the picture here, HootSuite includes a few other social sites you can manage with their one tool as well.)

The last thing I need while I’m working is yet another program running in the background, which is the main reason I prefer a web based interface. The HootSuite mobile app for my iPad is another reason I’ve chosen to remain with HootSuite, it’s a dedicated iPad app (I don’t like that apps originally meant for iPhones, they’re too small visually).

When HootSuite is open in one of my tabs, I’m free to surf, blog, and work in Photoshop without taxing my computer’s RAM. I can see how many “new Tweets” are in my stream as the number updates in my open tab. Once click over to my HootSuite tab, and I’m looking at my live stream, any mention of my Twitter name, my direct messages, AND my Facebook Page activity, as well as any LinkedIn activity. For me, HootSuite has consistently held my loyalty for managing multiple social media accounts.

HootSuite is free to use for up to 5 accounts. After that there is a $5.99/month fee.

HyperAlerts

HyperAlerts is a service that you can set to send you email notification whenever someone posts to your Facebook Page’s wall, or comments on one of your posts. Before the recent changes to Facebook’s Pages, this was a much needed service. Now that Facebook is sending Page owners these notification, you may not feel you need HyperAlerts, but I still use it because I don’t want to miss any activity on my Page, and I get to see the entire conversation in the HyperAlerts emails. If you find your Facebook Page activity notices from Facebook getting lost in your email, you may want to consider giving HyperAlerts a try.

HyperAlerts is a free email notification service  for Facebook Pages.

Klout

You’ve probably heard me talk about how many of the Social Media activities can effect your reputation on the Internet. The power in your social network lies in the ‘influence’ you have. Klout is a web service that measures your social networking activity, and calculates your ‘influence’. Even if you’re not interested in building a powerhouse social network, you can gauge your activity here and use the statistics provided to devise an plan for improving your social media results.

Klout is a free web service that measures your influence on Twitter, Facebook, and soon LinkedIn.

MailChimp

Although it’s not a “Social Networking” site, per se, MailChimp is one of the most important ‘social’ tools in my arsenal. Email is, by definition, a social activity, right? Building lists that focus on specific interests is something I recommend to everyone with a web site. MailChimp is my preferred tool for building lists, tracking results, and presenting high quality HTML formatted emails. Sending out a newsletter or special offers can be one of the most important steps to creating a relationship with your visitors and client base.

Besides the fact that MailChimp offers all of the tools to make your email and newsletter activities easy and effective, they’ve got you covered as far as the legal requirements dictated by the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

MailChimp is an email marketing service. It’s free until you get 2,000 subscribers, with pay as you go, or monthly plans for larger lists.

Things To Consider When Contemplating Social Media Participation

Should You Be on Twitter?

Erika Napalitano shoots from the hip, which is why I like her blog. She’s absolutely right, not everyone will benefit from time spent on Twitter. See what this SEO copywriting, social media and branding Pro has to say, you might find that you don’t need to bother with Twitter.

Twitter, Facebook, Digg: Can You Join Too Many Networks?

The reality we all face is that there is only so much time in the day. You may want to take advantage of all the social networking possibilities out there, but if you’re realistic, you know that’s not possible. The best approach is to consider your market. Which social networking sites best ‘fit’ your reasons for using social media?

How Brands Can Make the Most of Facebook’s New Pages

Yes, there have been changes to the Facebook Pages this week. *shock* Keeping up with all the changes being made on Facebook is a task in itself. Here’s a quick wrap up for you that brings you through the new layout, how the admin works, and how to use these features to further brand yourself using the tools on Facebook.

Personal Branding 101: How to Discover and Create Your Brand

Have you heard the term “branding” enough lately? I’m guessing you’re probably sick of the term by now, but I want you to think about something for a minute. You now have the opportunity to gain recognition and create credibility just like the huge corporations do, because you’re using the same media outlets as they do. We’re all swimming in the same pool these days, so stop procrastinating. Set aside some thinking time, and define your plan to brand!

That’s enough for one day, don’tcha think? I realize there’s a ton of information here, so I suggest you bookmark this page for reference. Or, perhaps you should excersize some of the required “commitment to Social Media” by really considering the tools I’ve offered here.

Has this blog post helped you? How are you currently managing your Social Media activities? Please share your experiences in the comment section below, and let me know if I’ve missed something!

Remember, you could have received this blog post in your email, or in your RSS reader. If you’re interested in less text and more summary, consider signing up for my ‘occasional’ ShareLetter where I recap the info I share here on my blog and through my own social networks. I’m committed to sharing what I find useful, and I use today’s Social Web to do it!

Few things follow you through childhood, right up through adulthood. One thing that hasn’t changed for me is my love for that sarcastic furry fatty, Garfield. I’ve owned his “Mondays Suck” posters, coffee mugs and t-shirts because I’m a believer… Mondays do suck. Well, they used to.

I admit to having a slightly unique perspective, because I’m fortunate enough to be able to work from home… on weekdays and weekends. As a result, having to return to “the office” on Monday morning doesn’t hit me as hard as it may hit you.

This morning wasn’t much different than other Monday mornings for me. I got up, made coffee, and sat down at my brand new computer (Thanks, hubby! Happy Valentine’s Day!) and proceeded to check my social networking sites to see what everyone was up to. This is my equivalent to meeting co-workers at the break room table for that mandatory first cup of coffee.

Chatter on Twitter about WordPress developments over the weekend, Facebook posts with all new fresh content to devour… I realized that Mondays didn’t suck anymore. With interaction between my online peers, clients and friends, I realized that Monday has turned into a feeling of enthusiasm for a new week beginning.

I’m enjoying the constant stream of new friends I meet through my social networks, and am happy to have started participating in LinkedIn and StumbleUpon more. The only reason I can think of now why Mondays might suck is because there just aren’t enough hours in the day to consume all the rich and helpful content I’m finding!

A new, Wenchy Valentine’s Day Wallpaper

To celebrate Monday not sucking, I made another Valentine’s Day wallpaper. Enjoy the Wenchy goodness! Oh, and if you’re offended by artistically implied nudity, you’re gonna wanna skip this one.

Click the image above to view full size 1366x768

Update 2/15/2011 12:52am

Well, Valentine’s Day is over. Sorry you missed the bonus desktop wallpaper in time for the holiday! There’s still a couple of weeks use in my original Valentine’s Day themed Desktop Calendar though! Consider signing up for my ‘occassional’ ShareLetter so you don’t miss out on timely surprises!

One of the services I offer my small business clients is creating Social Networking pages that match their sites. Today, I’m going to take you through setting up a Facebook Page for your business, so that I can implement your “brand” (and manage the Page for you if that’s what you contracted me for) through Page Profile image, thumbnail, and search-able text that will help others on Facebook find you.

*The process below assumes that you already have a personal Facebook account. If you don’t, you’ll need to create that first.

Don’t worry, I’ve made it “4 steps” easy for you, and I’ll never have access to your personal Facebook profile!

Before you’re able to make me an Admin on your page, you’ll need to send me a “Friend Request”.

Once you’ve received notice that I’ve accepted your Friend Request, you’re ready to start by following the 4 easy steps below. I’ve included screen shots to make it *super* easy! (If you’re somewhat familiar with Facebook Pages, you’ll probably be able to manage this by simply checking out the pictures.)

Step 1: Create A Facebook Page

Choose a category for your Facebook page using these guidelines.

Click the image above to go to Create a Facebook Page. If you have trouble deciding what category best fits your page, Facebook wrote a note that will help you! Once you’ve chosen your category, enter your company name (or product or website), whatever you type here will be the Title of your page. Choose carefully, as this cannot be changed! (Well, maybe… if you know Mark Z. personally. And he likes you. A LOT.)

* Actually, there is a way to change the name of your page, but I *strongly* recommend you don’t. The name of your page is part of the URL, so if/when you change the name, all of the links (and bookmarks) sending you traffic will result in an error. Don’t make people search for you and possibly find someone else!

If you’re not sure what to name your page, think about the discussions we’ve had regarding your “brand” and Search Engine Optimization Key Words.

Once you’ve decided on your page’s name, click “Get Started”…. which is funny, because you’re almost done!

Step 2: Edit Page

"Edit Page" link on the left

Once you click “Get Started”, you’ll be taken directly to your new Facebook page! It’s blank, but it’s created. Look at the left-hand column, and find the “Edit Page” link directly underneath where the pretty page graphic that I make for you is going to go.

Don’t worry about filling in all the missing information on your newly created Facebook page. As part of your page set up, I fill that information in for you. I use keywords throughout the text included on your Info Tab that will help prospective customers find you when they perform a search on Facebook. Lucky for you, I do this in a way that doesn’t make you sound like a stuttering fool.

(Some “Search Engine Optimization Experts” like to repeat key words for ‘weight’ without any consideration for the ‘readability’ of the text they’re corrupting. I practice something I like to refer to as “Organic SEO”. Simply stated, I use genuine verbiage that is relevant to your site. By the time I’m done, your page will offer prospective followers exactly what they need to know about you, and they won’t be annoyed by nonsensical, repetitive garbage text that makes you seem like you’re talking to a deaf person.)

Step 3: Manage Admins

Click "Manage Admins"

Once again, you’re going to ignore all those blank text fields. I’ll fill those out for you. (Isn’t it nice not to have to worry about this stuff when you have someone like me working for you?)

Focus on that left-hand column again. Click on the “Manage Admins” link and you’ll be whisked away to the next step.

Yes, you heard that right… you’re almost to the forth and final step! This isn’t as scary as you thought it would be, is it?

* Although you’re not going to bother with them now, take note of the other links on this page. If for any reason you decide that you want to make changes to the text that appears on the Info Tab, or maybe implement a Facebook Ad, you’ll use the links on this page to do so.

I strongly recommend that as the page owner, you analyze my performance in administering your page by clicking the “Insights” link. When you’re ready, we’ll set up a meeting to discuss this further. There is a treasure trove of information there that will help us to make any necessary adjustments to your page’s use.

Step 4: Assign Admin

Enter my name (Ginger Wench) in the blank text field where it says "Start typing a name or email".

When you clicked “Manage Admins” you were taken to the page in the screen shot above. The first admin listed is automatically the page owner. That’s you! Move along, nothing to see here.

The second box will be blank. Click inside the text box, and start typing my name as “Ginger Wench”. I predict that you’ll get to around “Ging…” when magically, Facebook will pull up my profile (unless you happen to have a lot of friends named Ginger, I will probably be the only one lol). Choose my name, or continue typing. Either way, you should end up with my profile picture and name listed as the second admin.

Click “Save Changes”. This will send me a notification that you’ve made me an Admin on your Facebook page.

Guess what?

You’re done!

I will take care of everything from this point on! We’ll talk more about the importance of your personal participation on the page, but for now you can sit back, and enjoy knowing that your business (or product, or website etc.) can now play in the big pond with all the big fish, because YOU TOO have a Facebook Page! Yay!

Visit my Facebook page to get an idea of what they can look like, and see how I use them. Don’t forget to click the “Like” button so you’re able to see my updates and resource links. (I give away free desktop wallpapers exclusive to my Facebook Followers, did you know that?)

Is there an aspect of setting up your business’ Facebook page that I didn’t address here? If so, please leave a comment below. Believe it or not, I do my best to keep my posts short and scan-able… in the process I sometimes forget things… I realize this lol, so don’t be shy!