Are you taking advantage of the free service, Google Alerts? Often people know of it to use for tracking business names or brands online. It is also important for tracking your personal brand.

Google search for Nicolette Lemmon

Over the past year, I have been tracking the number of times I have received a Google Alert for my name. There were over 3 every month. The type of mention ranged was from my blog posts to having my 1996 book, Almost Famous: How to Market Yourself for Success, being sold on E-bay. A couple times my name was popping up in the UK, again for my book being sold there as well.

The great thing about Google Alerts are that they’re free. Another is, you find out if there are any other people with your name. This is especially important when applying for a new career move. If a recruiter does a Google search and comes up with not such good info on a person with the same name, your resume could be dismissed without any further verification.

So, do this today:

1. Go to www.google.com/alerts and sign up to receive notifications about your name, and nickname version, too.
2. Do a Google search on your name.
3. Go to Addictomatic.com and put in your name, your Twitter moniker, and to see where your brand appears across social media networks.

There are other ways to check on your personal brand, but these will make you more aware of how you are appearing online!

Yes, the spirit of being in business is alive and well in a 6th grader’s heart! The other day my daughter, 12, was discouraged over a lack of money after having bought gifts for family at the holidays and gone to a couple movies since, her cash was depleted to just $5.

So, she created her own “lemonade” stand but decided to sell orange juice, snow cones and Hershey’s kisses! Being “Mom,” I asked if she should wait until the weekend because more people would be around the neighborhood then, rather than a weekday. She shrugged and decided to try it anyway and enlisted a girlfriend to help.

This is not the first lemonade stand my daughter has conjured up, but it was definitely a different menu!

She pulled out all the stops because she only had two hours from school until it got dark to set up and sell. The two girls dressed up and they used her puppet show frame as their stand.

What expectations would you have, being battered with this economy? Not to make any sales, to get a couple bucks from friendly neighbors?

My husband and I were shocked – $23 dollars! Not bad for two cute grade-school kids.

Isn’t it worth jumpstarting your spirit of entrepreneurship and seeing what ideas you can create to generate some revenues, virtually out of your imagination?

…the spirit of entrepreneurship is alive and well even in this economy!

When special dates come along, like an anniversary, it is sometimes shocking to think how time flies. This month is our 26th anniversary and it seems crazy that Lemmon-Aid Marketing Services (now LemmonTree Marketing Group) was started that many years ago in a kitchen with less than $2,000. I decided my first, most important purchase was a computer and in 1984 that meant a tiny screen with green type!

Now, this many years later, I can’t live without my two flat screen monitors so I can have multiple documents up at one time.

Here are a few things that starting a business in 1984 and looking at today that are incredible:

No e-mail ….. Now there’s Twitter
No cell phones ….. Now there’s Blackberry and iPhone
No laptops ….. Now there’s Netbooks
No websites….. Now there’s Facebook

How did I create and sustain this 26-year old company? Through embracing change, using our creativity to come up with new solutions, and always watching for new opportunities.

The lesson for this entrepreneur as a small business owner looking back over the ups and downs of a marketing consulting firm: Keep the spirit of entrepreneurship alive!

It is the spirit of an entrepreneur that helps to weather all the economic, social, technological and demographic changes. It is this same spirit that demonstrates to all that there are new ideas on every horizon.

More importantly, to stay in business today, everyone should embrace the entrepreneurial spirit to propel their organizations through constant change and ride the waves of outrageous fortune!

Check out our 25th anniversary timeline that we developed for our celebration last year…it’s a hoot to look back over the past 25 years.

This week I was sent the link to “I Do Dog Tricks”,  a microsite that is sponsored by Heartgard, a company that sells heartworm prevention medicine for dogs. It was so clever and fun to interact with the little 5-lb Yorkie that I tweeted it, emailed it to people who I know have dogs they adore, and showed my 12-year-old daughter who loved it!

"I Do Dog Tricks" Microsite

The microsite has a great domain, www.idodogtricks.com and three simple links, ‘Protect Me’, ‘Tell a Friend’, and ‘Heartgard.com’. The ‘Protect Me’ link was a demonstration of how to easily give the medicine and offered a link to getting a coupon (unfortunately it was expired). The ‘Tell a Friend’ allows the visitor to put in your name, email address and your friend’s email address. I have not heard back from the few friends that I thought would enjoy it, so I’m not sure if this feature is still functioning.

The ‘Heartgard.com’ link shows a corporation called Merial that has different names in three different countries. So, that was a little more confusing. However, when clicking “United States,” a nice site for Heartgard does come up with an offer for a coupon that expires in 2010!

The Lost Opportunity

In doing some quick Google research, thinking that it might be a recent promotion, I was shocked to find out that the site was started in 2006! So, that explained why when I went back to get the coupon from the ‘Protect Me’ link, it listed an expiration date of December 31, 2007!

The concept to promote heart worm prevention in dogs by using this microsite was well done. And, the star is Jilli, an adorable Yorkie who also has a great trainer/owner!

However, someone at Heartgard or Merial, must have abandoned the microsite to Internet archives without realizing the longevity of a creative idea.

While Jilli continues to entertain and enchant people like me seeing it for the first time in 2010, I was happy to send it around to a few more dog lovers and share the link on Twitter.

What do you have that is sitting on a website or microsite that you’ve abandoned for updates but consumers may still be accessing?

Looking for tips on creating microsites? Check out these blog posts:

Part 1: The Continuous Rise of the Micro-site
Part 2: The Essentials of a Good Microsite
Part 3: The Mini Website is Born

Direct link to the video
For all the videos, visit http://mycuresource.com/CUSustainability.

Join the conversation on CU Sustainability to create more thought leadership to propel the credit union industry into more success.

As a strategy for 2010 success, each comments on providing extra services such as member education seminars and becoming involved in community events. According to these marketing professionals, Credit Unions have an opportunity to deepen relationships and grow organically by increased service and product penetration with their current membership. You will find they also believe that Credit Unions are invaluable financial partners to consumers in an unstable economy which should generate member referrals.

Direct link to the video
For all the videos, visit http://mycuresource.com/CUSustainability.

Become part of the conversation on CU Sustainability to share your thoughts on the ability of credit unions to survive and thrive.