Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to sample a more than a few of the thousands of WordPress plugins available that expand the functionality of a WordPress blogsite.  In case you’re wondering, plugins are simple WordPress add-ons that are easily installed and add additional features – typically a utility (such as backups) or a bell/whistle of some sort.

Depending on the WP theme you are using, some plugins are absolutely necessary and add features that, frankly, should already be part of WP (or probably will be in the near future).  Some fulfill a specific requirement (such as social media or analytics needs). This list isn’t intended to be comprehensive – it’s just my default go-to list that I use when building a new site in WP.

So, without further adieu, here’s my list of must-have WP plugins:

Backup Utilities:  Who wants to mess with phpMyAdmin and do database backups manually? Let the plugin handle this for you.  I use two:  WordPress Backup backs up your upload, themes and plugins directories and can optionally send a zip file to you via email at regular intervals. This is especially valuable if you modify your theme files (you never know when you can break something in the theme editor screen).  I use this along with  WP-DBManager, which backs up the content database automatically, at intervals you set.

Social Media Plugins:  There are lots here to choose from, but my favorites include AddToAny, which adds a single customizable button or link at the bottom of your posts and/or pages (like this one). You can alter the colors or even add individual service icons in addition to the standard button. What’s better is that it also gives you an “email this” option as well – all in one elegant button.  Another must-have is TweetMeme Button (also on this site) which adds an easy retweet button to each post. You have options on size and placement too, along with analytics!  Also great for Twitter fans is Twitter for WordPress, which allows you to add your latest tweets easily via a simple widget.

Contact Form 7 is a super-easy-to-configure contact form for your site, with great flexibilty and even CAPTCHA capability (when you also install the Really Simple Captcha plugin).

Reveal IDs for WP-Admin:  Simply makes page, category and post ID numbers visible in the list views. Doesn’t sound exciting until you need to set specific page IDs for theme layout features. You may not ever need it, but it’s just good to have on hand.

Exclude Pages:  If your chosen WP theme doesnt give you the ability to exclude a page from navigation – you need this plugin. Exclude Pages adds a checkbox, “include this page in menus” (selected by default). When unchecked, the page will not appear in the main navigation menu.

Google Analyticator:  Makes it very easy to add Google Analytics to your WordPress site. Activate and insert your tracking “UA” number and you’re all set.

I could go on… but these are my favs.   Feel free to share yours in the comments.

When I mention to clients about how useful Twitter is for marketing and brand-building, they usually are surprised, or think I’m just a Twitter addict (guilty as charged!) trying to justify using the latest distraction. However, there are some real-life case studies of successful Twittering that can easily be observed… just by following and watching how the Twitter Masters (as I like to call them) tweet. There’s a lot of great case studies I could point to, but one very famous personality stands out as a fantastic example of how best to use Twitter:  physician and best-selling author Deepak Chopra ( @Deepak_Chopra ).

First  – a caveat… I tend to think that you can’t be “good” at Twitter unless you at least like Twitter. If you think it’s stupid or a time suck, you probably won’t get much out of it. That said and out of the way, it’s really obvious that those who are great at Twitter also clearly love it….and Deepak Chopra is clearly into Twitter.  So what is it about Dr. Chopra’s tweeting style that works so well?

1.  Original thoughts (tweets) that uplift his Twitter followers. In this case, the “uplift” part here is really important. Dr. Chopra’s message of mind-body connection, spirituality and self-awareness wouldn’t sound too authentic if he were complaining about a cancelled flight or making sarcastic political comments.  Instead, he’s educating newcomers as to what he’s about and reinforcing the public’s perception of him… and it seems to be totally sincere and real.  If a snarky insult comic is adopting this approach to his own tweeting, he should be supplying copious amounts of snark. If a nutritional consultant does the same, there won’t be bitchy tweets about the line at McD’s… you get the idea.

2. Retweet material! This sort of touches on #1, but much of Dr. Chopra’s tweets are just… great:

Now that’s retweetable! Supply lots of useful stuff – depending on what your particular audience defines as “useful”, of course.

3.  Engagement with others… and a lots of it. This is a really successful and famous person who personally answers many who are sending him questions – and is no snob about it (as the following screenshot will attest). He’s basically ministering via Twitter:

Engagement is easy… a retweet, sharing a resource, answering a question… conversing.

4.  Providing answers to the original Twitter question, “what are you doing?”. Dr. Chopra’s Twitter profile has occasional updates as to his day, recording his radio show, hopping a flight, etc.. The effect is humanizing without being boring or self-important.

5. A bit of gentle self-promotion: Dr. Chopra’s profile features occasional tweets about TV appearances, travel and info on his soon-to-be-released book. Note I said occasional… not frequent. They are easily findable in the midst of all the other conversation – and it’s not at all sales-y.

So there you have it – a brief Twitter success case study… who do you think are  “Master Twitterers”?

PS – Click here to  follow Deepak Chopra on Twitter.

It’s late on Saturday night, and yes – Im feeling a bit too lazy to write something original, so I thought I’d share some of my favorite blog articles for the week…

WebWorkerDaily spotlights a new phenom in the world of career management: portfolio careers.  The idea is that many today (including yours truly) have a work life that consists of a string of loosely related projects that could be described as a portfolio. The post mentions the upcoming book And What Do You Do?: 10 Steps to Creating a Portfolio Career by Katie Ledger and Barrie Hopson, in which portfolio workers are described as “free-range humans” who are not “penned into an unhappy job-cage.”   Sounds pretty accurate to me.  Check out the full post here.

ProBlogger is a must-read if you are thinking of starting a blog – especially one that makes money. Darren Rowse posted a 3-part series on how to actually make real money with Amazon Associates (no small achievement, that).  He’s made a bundle and he’s sharing some tips… here,  here and here.  I’m guessing that there’s an ebook in the future on this topic and I will buy it.

Zen Habits has a wonderful post about striving for minimalism and a few pointers on how to get closer to it  – with one basic principle:  Omit Needless Things.

At the risk of this turning into a painting-in-a-painting sort of thing – IttyBiz’s Naomi Dunford posted her fav blog posts of the week.  I particularly enjoyed her views on giving things away for free, sales pages  and her copious swearing.  I don’t know if the post is from this week, but I read it this week and that’s all that matters.

Finally, Smashing Magazine posted this nice overview of corporate blog design trends, emphasizing how the design supports the purpose, such as product promotion, reputation management or corporate responsibility.

Enjoy!

With all the buzz surrounding social media, RSS, video and every other online outlet… one standby that gets taken for granted is good ol’ email. We all use it (and some of us love it), but it also can be a source of enormous frustration that can eat up a lot of the workday. Much of inbox-related angst is easily avoided with a few simple changes in what you use for email and how you process it.  In no particular order, here’s my “Top-Ten” tips for helping email help you…

1. Use a proper email service. Seriously, making a change here can make all the difference in how useful email is to you. Best part is that the best email services are either free or low-cost. Are you using free MSN or (God forbid) AOL?  Stop!! They are awful and they stick ads in your outbound messages. Who needs that, when you can use GMail or Google Apps for free (and is a million times better).  Other excellent email choices: FastMail.fm, Rackspace mail or runbox.com.

2. Discover IMAP. Most standard emailboxes you get from your web host or ISP are POP3 (Post Office Protocol) mailboxes, which allows you to download your messages to one place at a time, and doesn’t synchronize across your devices.  IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol – basically means that all your email folders are synched on the server so what you have on your computer matches your other computer and your smartphone. Best IMAP?  GMail & Google Apps, also Fastmail.fm.

3. Take your time! Everyone is usually rushed when they write emails… but it still counts as writing, and it’s worth a few extra minutes to be sure you are being understood clearly. Better to spend a few extra minutes now than endure a 3-day volley of misunderstandings and clarifications.

4. If you get an important message… acknowledge it. If you don’t have the time to write a full response, just take a second and let the sender know you will get back to them later.  Saves them from wondering if you ever got the message.

5. Use a email signature. This seems like an obvious basic, but many people still (even in a business setting)  don’t do this. Include a marketing message if you want, but definitely include contact info… it makes responding or adding your details to an address book more convenient.

6. Use your mail service’s spam-fighting system. Again, GMail. Google Apps and Fastmail.fm do this wonderfully. No need to depend on anti-spam applications when your mail system does it all for you on the server.  I have several domains that funnel mail to my main mailbox, which means I get a LOT of spam (about 10 to 15 K messages per week) – and  almost every one is caught by Google Apps – you can’t beat it.

7. Consider using other mailboxes you have for non-critical messages. I get a lot (oh, a LOT) of email newsletters and blog updates… and all of them go to an address I set up expressly for that purpose.  I do read them daily, but they don’t get in the way of important client and project-related mail.

8. Check out alternatives to Outlook. Many web-based email systems are great, and you can get to them no matter where you are. Another option is Mozilla Thunderbird. It’s free, lean, mean and has everything you need without clogging your system memory. Lots of plugins available for added features, too.

9.  Check email only 2 – 3 times per day, and not first thing in the morning. To be honest, I couldn’t work this way, but many do and swear by it. If you find that managing your email is disrupting your productivity… this is an option.

10. Use emoticons. Yes, they can be annoying and a bit juvenile, but they are very helpful in conveying the correct emotional tone in an email. A simple smiley-face can mean the difference between your message being perceived as sarcastic or sincere. 

What’s your favorite email management tricks?

Most of my clients are solopreneurs (like myself), small companies or non-profits. As such, their website development and maintenance budgets are small – so  much consideration is given to “bang for the buck” – in terms of function vs. form with initial site development and ongoing maintenance.

It wasn’t too long ago that I did only custom designed websites – that they would have to have ongoing assistance to maintain (usually by me). However, the upside was that the client would have a truly unique site that reflects the company’s brand and allow for complete design freedom, plus they could rely on me to do quick content updates as they needed them.

In the past two years or so, the playing field has shifted entirely. With the current version of WordPress  and the low-cost availability of beautiful, sophisticated WordPress layout themes, I can offer a robust CMS (content management system) along with the huge search visibility advantages of  a blog - and a professional-looking design. Ironically, all these advantages actually reduce the cost of site development, because they are baked-in to WordPress itself.  So, for most clients,  the superior WordPress option is actually less time consuming  to develop AND will deliver better search visibility AND a much lower cost of ownership (most content maintenance can be done by the client).  The only downside of using WordPress for business websites is that it is, after all, a templated managed content system with a set layout – you can’t just slap anything anywhere on the screen.

People don’t shop for website services every day, so I usually have to educate clients as to what may be best for their needs and goals. Once clients get to know the options and their pros and cons,  they usually decide to forgo the design freedom of a custom website for the technical and cost advantages of a WordPress-based site. In almost all cases, that is the better decision for short term costs (development), marketing (search visibility) and long term services cost (maintenance).

So, what’s more important to you in a website? Form or function?

If you are a Twitter veteran or a novice – you have probably been frustrated by the absence of user management tools within Twitter. Even a mildly enthusiastic Twitterer soon finds themselves wishing they could group users they follow, track clickthroughs, or simply make it easier to track outgoing or incoming messages.  HootSuite is a web-based tool that already offered great management tools such as scheduled tweets and multiple profile management. The new HootSuite 2.0 takes Twitter management to a whole new level.

Many Twittizens use desktop apps such as Seesmic or TweetDeck to group their follows and monitor messages. The downside of these apps is that they are desktop-based – so you lose your groups if you are on different computers (unless you want to set them up all over again). Plus, the performance of these apps can be inconsistent at times (especially TweetDeck).  Having a web-based solution is obviously the optimal way to manage Twitter, and although the new HootSuite was just released this week, I have found that the interface is  intuitive,  fast and reliable.  You can do all your Twitter reading and tweeting within HS without ever needing to visit the Twitter home page.

So what can you do with HootSuite? The quick list includes features almost any Twitter user would want, plus a few that you never thought you needed, but will become addictive once you start using them!

• Manage those you follow into custom groups and tabs – with quick links to send replies and DMs
• Monitor DMs and mentions in custom columns
• Easily track custom keyword searches in columns
• Create a custom column – then embed into your website to share with your readers
• Multiple profile support + multiple editors = indispensable if you have a virtual team using Twitter for customer service or brand development
• Post any RSS feed to Twitter – with custom prepends and refresh rates (this is absolutely necessary if you have a blog)
• Stats on clickthroughs. Post exclusively via HootSuite and all your shortened links are tracked. See what interests your followers most.
• Scheduled tweets

HootSuite has this nice overview video to demonstrate the features… check it out!

Also, be sure to follow @HootSuite on Twitter to keep up with the latest updates.

This is just too funny – reminds me of the many times I’ve tried to explain it to “Twitter-resistant”  friends & family.  However, Kevin & Dave are waaaayyy more entertaining…  enjoy!!

You can follow Kevin Spacey at http://twitter.com/KevinSpacey.  David Letterman not yet among the converted yet, as far as I know.

I always struggled (like many solopreneurs) with making the time to create email newsletters, which is ironic since I help clients with e-newsletters all the time! It’s not for lack of topics to talk about or the ability to create the e-newsletters – it can just be time consuming. However, with blogs and RSS,  you can not only repurpose your writing but also automate your newsletter creation process using your blog’s RSS feed and a email marketing provider like AWeber that offers this capability.

Basically the idea is this: you already post to your blog – creating articles of interest to your audience. So, why reinvent the wheel when you create your e-newsletters? Your blog has an RSS feed (as all blogs do), so use it to automatically generate your newsletter content without rewriting or redesigning. This approach not only saves you time, but will keep your email marketing schedule on track with no extra work on your part. Once the initial process is set up, it literally will run itself… all you need to do is continue to post to your blog (there’s no way to automate that process just yet!).

Setting this up is not as geeked-out or difficult as you may suspect – here’s a quick overview:

First – you need to be working with an email marketing service that offers this feature, and not all of them do. Among the major self-service companies, only AWeber, iContact and MailChimp offer this feature.  Constant Contact, although one of the largest and most widely used, does not as of yet.  As a side note, you probably also want to choose an email marketing provider that offers autoresponders as well (as AWeber, iContact and MailChimp do).  My preference is AWeber, as they have fantastic client support and a host of sophisticated features including shopping cart integration. However, if you are looking for something that’s easier to use at a lower price point, iContact and MailChimp are excellent choices.

This how-to overview focuses on AWeber, as that’s the service I use, but the process is basically the same no matter what provider you choose.

1. Within your AWeber account, Go to Messages then Blog Broadcast... then click the Create A New Blog Broadcast button.

2. Enter in the URL (web address) of your blog’s RSS feed. If you use Feedburner, use the Feedburner address, as the feed traffic will be tracked.

3. Type in the email’s subject line. With AWeber, you can enter in the recipient’s first name (if you collected it) so that your email subject line can be personalized – for example:  “Jane, here are your latest blog updates from Mary“.  You can add other variable items too like dates or blog titles.

4. Select an email layout template you like. If you are handy with HTML you can also design your own or make changes to the one you pick.  You can also add other content that will be included with the mailing.  Also be sure the RSS data fields are present so that the feed-generated content will appear correctly within your mailing.  Your template will display the feed content fields – they look something like this:

Be sure to not alter the highlighted fields above – they need to be there to define the area in which the feed content will appear.

5. Select your delivery settings. AWeber offers a lot of delivery options – and most are self-explanatory.  Note that when you are starting out with this, it’s probably best to NOT launch automatically, as you may want to review it or add other content before you send out your broadcast.

So how does all this magic happen? In the case of AWeber, your blog’s feed address is checked every few hours to pick up the latest posts (that have not yet been broadcast). The message is compiled according to the parameters you set, and whenever those specific parameters are met, the broadcast message is automatically created and placed into queue for you to review and launch to your list.

For example, I have my RSS-generated newsletter set up to compile every 1st & 3rd Sunday of the month at 5:00am. So on every 1st & 3rd Sunday of the month – at some time after 5am – I log into AWeber, check the new broadcast message that is in queue, make any adjustments – then launch.

Other options include sending every “X” number of new posts, a particular day (or days) of the month or week.  You can also have the message launch automatically without your involvement at all – much like the Feedburner mailing service…. but with much more personalization and control.

RSS Power Tip:  If you post to your blog frequently and categorize your posts  (you should)… use your blog’s category-specific feeds to create specialty topic newsletters!

Again – there’s a bit of setup work at the beginning – and then – e-newsletter nirvana! Just check in with your email marketing provider at the mailing times you set and the work is already done for you!  Just don’t forget to post to your blog. 

One of my favorite blogs, Web Worker Daily, recently featured a series of posts about the necessity (or not) of developing a personal brand. I know that every solopreneur struggles with this, whether it’s viewed as a fun aspect of being in business for yourself… or an uncomfortable marketing necessity.

The posts delve into the obvious questions, asking about the level of self-expression (or self-exposure, depending on your point of view) needed to achieve a branding or marketing goal. What caught my attention was that the posts  illustrated very different points of view and comfort-levels with the concept of transforming one’s own personality, tastes, opinions and lifestyles into what is essentially just marketing material.

The one post, A Book and a Network: Inspiration for Personal Branding Success, was definitely in the “pro-branding” camp – citing Michael Port’s books that espouse full self-expression and pointing to Food Network stars as examples of how being truly yourself and beaming your  unedited personality to the world are the keys to success -  making it easier to attract ideal clients and build a more successful business.  There’s a great point there – as faking it will breed resentment and stress, no doubt.  However, it should also be noted that  stars of the Food Network are, eh -  TV stars - and not generally expected to behave like obedient dullards – or technical service providers. So I’m not sure if that was the best illustration for the rest of us.

The second post on the subject of personal branding, Personal Branding vs. Self-Awareness, took a very different approach. The author,  Georgina Laidlaw, makes the case that “Personal Branding” can devolve into drama-manufacturing – just to garner some attention and feed the media machine. She cites the example of Madonna’s affair with baseball star Alex Rodriquez (and their respective divorces) as an extreme example. Ironically, the “personal brand” can also become a strait-jacket, inhibiting open mindedness or risk-taking:

I see success as being appreciated for who I am and what I can do, so I balk at the idea of avoiding saying or doing certain things because they might erode the integrity of my personal brand.

I think a middle ground (as usual) is the best approach. I’m an enthusiastic Twitterer, have a Facebook profile and love my blog. I really try to keep it informative and human (I’m guilty of spewing an unsolicited political view now & then), but not very personal. In fact, I don’t think anyone could really learn much about my life specifics  by looking at my profiles. I do hope people can get a good and favorable impression of how I can help their businesses, and maybe a picture of my personality and values.

As a side-note… I’m darned careful about involving others in my online networking. Example – I met a friend for lunch last week, but did not tweet about it specifically, as maybe my lunch date didn’t want the world to know where she was that afternoon. We joked about it over lunch – and yes tweeted afterward (with permission) – but it is a consideration that can easily be overlooked in the drive to become more and more visible online.

Check out the articles – great food for thought! What’s your attitude toward personal branding?

A Book and a Network: Inspiration for Personal Branding Success

Personal Branding vs. Self-Awareness

Personal Branding and Self-Censorship Online

The other day, I tweeted ranted against audio and/or video that automatically plays when the page loads in the browser – without user control. Much to my satisfaction, some of my fellow Twitterzens agreed!  I find that sometimes it’s necessary to talk a client down from wanting to add something to a site that while may have a neat bell/whistle effect, but really just adds a lot of cost and can actually repel visitors. There’s a few other things that web publishers should “just say no” to….so, without further adieu, here’s my top-5 website & blog no-nos:

1. Auto-play video/audio on page load (as mentioned above). Unless your intent is to assist vision-impaired visitors, you are most likely just annoying ALL of your visitors.

2. Excessive Flash animation – or worse yet, an all-Flash website. Flash effects look cool, but add big buckage to a project’s cost.. and with little payoff.  Flash (unless tastefully and simply deployed on small areas of the page), impedes SEO as well.  In most cases, its not necessary or helpful.

3.  Sticking with the narrow page design conventions of 5 years ago. This is a quick way to have your site look  really dated. A few years back, narrow pages (550 – 650 pixel widths) were a way to stay visible scroll-free with older PCs and low-res monitors. Now, with most newer laptops and monitors in wide-aspect, the super-narrow page just isn’t necessary. Most site owners need the screen real estate that goes with wider page designs.

4. Black or very dark backgrounds (behind text). This is rarely a good idea. Unless you don’t have a lot of text content, or if your site is an art portfolio of some sort, forgo black backgrounds.

5. Keeping the same design untouched for more than 3 years. This is purely my opinion, but having the same design for more than 3 years is stretching it – 3 years is eternity in Internet time. If your budget can’t bear a total  overhaul, consider a layout update or a new color scheme.

Remember – just because you can doesnt mean you should!

RSS (Real Simple Syndication) is a great way to keep on top of the news (any news!) from anywhere on the Internet. I am sometimes asked how to add new, automatically updating content to a website – and RSS provides easy ways to do just that. While there are several methods to add a single RSS feed’s content to a web page or blog (such as FeedBurner or custom scripts), how do you easily add content from several sources at once? You can actually create a “Feed Mix” of your favorite news sources into a single RSS feed – and then display its headlines (and content, if you choose) on your blog or website – much like the mix of  tech news headlines you see on the sidebar here. (  –>)

Feed Informer makes RSS “mixes” easy. You can sign up for a free account and quickly get started to combine your favorite news sources (using the sources’ RSS feed URL addresses) into a single RSS feed. What’s even better is that you can select both the method and the appearance of how the feed will be displayed. If you have a WordPress blog, this couldn’t be easier. Simply use the RSS widget, add the Feed Informer combo feed URL you created, and voila – instant, self-updating headlines on your site.

Feed Informer takes pains to make the process super-easy and intuitive, walking you through, step by step  – providing helpful info along the way. Check it out!

Just a quick reminder that there’s only a few days left to save up to $75 on my new Personalized Technology Coaching service. The special introductory rates expire on June 30th.

Personalized Technology Coaching allows you to get the answers you need now to your virtual office, technical support and website-related questions.  Schedule a time of your choosing, and fill that time asking as many questions as you want about any tech-related resource question you like… how-tos, demos, training, and if needed, even remote support (where I can directly access your PC) are included.  Use your scheduled time for:

• Virtual Business Resource Consulting
• One-on-One Training (Applications, Blogging, etc)
• Technical Support
• Product Demos
• …or a bit of each!

Schedule an appointment before June 30th and save up to $75.00.

The Delaware Valley Virtual Assistants Association (DVVAA)  is hosting a special teleseminar event with Craig Cannings, founder of  VA Classroom. The topic: The Emergence of the Product Launch Manager:

Many virtual professionals are currently working with clients who are launching new web products (ie ebooks, coaching series, software products) on a regular basis. In this important teleseminar, we will uncover the key steps required to successfully launch a product online. This will not only be helpful as you support your client’s product launches, but will also give you the framework for creating and launching your own web products!

About Craig Cannings:  Craig is the founder of VA Classroom, an online training center for Virtual Assistants looking to expand their skills with social media and internet marketing.  Craig has been training and managing a diverse group of Virtual Teams since 2003.  He managed a large virtual staff while working as a Director of Business Development with a successful Internet Company.  His first hand experience in working with fabulous Virtual Professionals has provided much of the inspiration for launching VAClassroom.com. Craig’s primary passion in life is spending quality time with his 4 main “gals” –  his wife and three young daughters!

Where: Teleclass… you just need a phone!
When: Thursday, June 25th 2009, 8:00pm Eastern (5:00pm Pacific)

A MP3 recording file link will be sent to all registrants after the call.

Click here to register! The call-in details will be immediately emailed to you.

Anyone who uses email on a regular basis (or like me, depends on it as I do oxygen & water), has had the experience of being misunderstood in a message. I try to take the time whenever possible to carefully craft my wording so I am not only understood clearly, but also understood in the correct emotional context.  In that effort, I’m very guilty of being a profligate user of emoticons (they work) despite the fact that they can be annoying and sometimes, a bit juvenile.  ;-P

I’m guessing emoticons may not have helped Elizabeth Becton. Elizabeth (and you had better call her ELIZABETH) is an Administrative Assistant to Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA).  When she received a scheduling request via email, well…  watch the video and decide for yourself what went wrong. Be sure to watch the whole 6 mins… it doesn’t end the way you might expect.

As for the legislative assistant and accidental celebrity Elizabeth Becton, I hope she gets a day at the spa or some other stress management strategy… and soon.  If you want to stay in the loop on this evolving story, you can join the Elizabeth Becton Fan Club on Facebook.

Don’t miss this complimentary one-hour, two-part, lead-generating webinar presentation!

Part I:  Turning Contacts into Sales with Carla Wilson: Contacts don’t magically turn into sales – it takes some organization!  Learn how to organize your database and marketing to increase your conversion rates and make more sales!  Longtime Executive Assistant and business owner, Carla Wilson, will share her 3 Secrets for Turning Contacts into Sales!

Part II:  Social Media 101 with Mary Motz: Ever wonder what the fuss is about social media – and how it can help your business? Join Mary Motz as she presents this quick “Social Media 101“. You will have a better sense of the most important networking tools out there… and how they can work together to raise your visibility.

Please join us for this complimentary webinar.

When: Wednesday, June 24th,   11:30am – 12:30pm ET. (8:30am PT)

If you can’t make it, that’s okay! Click here to register and we will send you the session recording!

Coaches, Virtual Assistants and other Solopreneurs often struggle with a variety of technology and resource issues – especially in the startup phase of their businesses. With a multitude of options available for everything from websites to IP phone services… shopping cart systems to domain names, the blizzard of options and choices can be confusing at best.. and costly at worst.  You want the best resources for your business, but how do you know what’s good advice and what’s just hype?

After 7 years in my business, I’ve answered a multitude of questions from clients simply looking for honest, hooey-free advice about how to build an online presence and make their businesses more efficient. With my Personalized Technology Coaching, you can schedule a time of your choosing, and fill that time asking as many questions as you want about any tech-related resource question you like… how-tos, demos, training, and if needed,  remote support (where I can actually access your PC) are included.

Personalized tech coaching is  flexible – get all your burning questions addressed and save both time and money.  You could use your scheduled time for:

• Virtual Business Resource Consulting
• One-on-One Personal Training (Applications, Blogging, etc)
• Tech Support (I can access your PC  directly, if needed)
  
• Product Demos
• …or a bit of each!

In addition, I share my screen with you, (using GoToMeeting) so you can see how I address your questions and we can both visually review the topics we’re discussing. I can also (optional, of course) record the whole session (audio-only or audio + video) – so you can refer to it later if you like.

Book a session by June 30th – and save up to $75! Visit the details page to learn more.

Here’s a few snippets of the highlights from my fav tech blogs from the past week… enjoy!

Unless you’ve been under a rock all week (or just offline a lot), you certainly heard about the new Facebook username mania. The launch last night, despite dire predictions of crazy land rushes and crashed servers (200,000 were snapped up in the first three minutes), seems to have gone without a hitch… and even a yawn??  [ Mashable & CNet News ]

Web Worker Daily featured a post about getting press attention on the cheap. Much of the article focuses on non-press-release methods that put you in contact with reporters directly, as with Peter Shankman’s Help A Reporter.

twitpocalypse.com

Buzzword watch:  “Twitpocalypse”… it’s everywhere! Im as big a Twitterholic than anyone, and I still couldn’t summon much concern about it. Here’s Mashable’s definition:

The Twitpocalypse is similar to the Y2K bug. Very soon the unique identifier associated to each tweet will exceed 2,147,483,647. For some of your favorite third-party Twitter services not designed to handle such a case, the sequence will suddenly turn into negative numbers. At this point, they are very likely to malfunction or crash.

Oh.  Well, now I know. If you have time to waste, read more about this terrifying catastrophe here, here or here.

Diane's Blueberry-Blackberry Crumble Pie - YUUUMMMM!

Diane Eblin, besides being one of my wonderful clients, is a very serious blogger… a very seriously gourmet gluten-free foodie blogger. Her site, The W.H.O.L.E. Gang,  boasts a huge treasure trove of mouth-watering gluten-free organic recipes for all sorts of treats, from humble egg salad to an elegant Bananas Foster.

Diane’s food blogging began with an account at Typepad. Typepad is a great place to start with blogging, and I still recommend it for those who don’t want to be bothered with version updates or having to install or host a blogsite on their own. It’s a great out-of-the-box solution. However, Diane’s site grew into a serious enterprise and with that growth came the need for more flexibility and screen real estate.  WordPress with the Thesis Theme was the perfect solution. WordPress offered the flexibility and Thesis offered easy layout control and unparallelled search optimization.  Thesis also fit Diane’s design goals of more screen space and a clean look that could also retain the branding and color of the existing W.H.O.L.E. Gang blog.

To start the transition, I installed WordPress and Thesis on a test server which allowed me to work with Diane on testing the design customizations and tweak the look so that the “going live” with the new site would be as seamless as possible. We even did a test content import. Posts, tags, categories and pages imported cleanly. The only aspect of the transition which required a lot of work was relocating the beautiful photos Diane took of her gluten-free creations. Diane took that on herself, which saved quite a bit on the project time.

When we moved the blog over “live” – all we had to do was set up WordPress, import the latest content, upload Thesis and its customized files to the new host server.  A few tweaks with adding sidebar content and widgets – and all was done!  The transition was smooth with absolute minimal (less than 1 hour) downtime.

Thanks, Diane for working with me on this project – you made it a lot of fun!!

Visit Diane’s new The W.H.O.L.E. Gang blogsite.

You may have heard that there’s a nasty PC worm making the rounds on the web, called Gumblar.cn, or more recently, Martuz.cn.  This worm can infect your computer by your merely viewing an infected website  – no clicking necessary, also known as a “drive-by” infection.

Users of Internet Explorer are particularly vulnerable, but all PC users need to immediately update their anti-virus applications and do a full system scan.

The worm is rapidly affecting thousands of legitimate websites. It’s “drive-by” delivery can go unnoticed by even the savviest computer users  (I have been impacted as well – as some of you know). It was also reported that large sites including Tennis.com, Variety.com and Coldwellbanker.com were affected.

What does Gumblar/Martuz do?

If your PC is infected, your Google search results will be corrupted, replaced with links that point to malicious and fraudulent sites. This will be difficult or impossible to notice visually. In addition, it looks for FTP (web server) passcodes, which it will use to infect other websites.

How to prevent getting Gumblar/Martuz?

1.  Make absolutely sure your anti-virus is running and completely up-to-date.   You should have it on all the time, to allow it to update virus definitions continuously.

2.  As a precaution, change your passwords for websites – especially if you use FTP (File Transfer Protocol)  to access a webserver. The widely-used open-source FileZilla FTP application seems to be especially vulnerable.

3. It has been reported that vunerabilities in Adobe Reader and Flash Player that are being exploited in the attack. It is recommended that users disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader (or Acrobat) and to upgrade to the latest version of Flash Player.

4.  Firefox users, when attempting to view an infected site, will get a stark “Reported Attack Site” warning. Don’t click “ignore this warning” and view the site anyway.

5.  Known infected websites will be displayed as “harmful to your computer” in Google search results. Don’t click through.

What to watch for…

Weird search results or unexpected click-thru destinations. If something seems weird, it is. Update and run your anti-virus scan.

For more information, check out these links:

• http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10244529-83.html
• http://blog.scansafe.com/journal/2009/5/14/gumblar-qa.html
• http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-303166.html

I hope this is helpful!

The Chompr - The perfect unitasker for Memorial Day BBQs....

As Im trying to take it easy this Memorial Day weekend, I thought I’d share snippets of some of my favorite blog articles from the past week…

The always-informative Andrea Kalli posts about those pesky  Twitter background upload issues… and I thought it was just me! Andrea compares the two most common fixes.

Formspring’s blog featured a weeklong series of posts, “Online Forms That Convert” – all packed with great tips for assembling effective, user-friendly forms for your website. My fav discussed how to design forms for PPC (pay-per-click) and landing pages, optimized to convert.

P.S.: If you haven’t checked out Formspring… do yourself a favor and visit now – its a fantastic web form service.. none better, in my view.

Unclutterer’s Unitasker Wednesday – this one’s always a chuckle, featuring a real item for sale – a unitasker - an item with a sole and usually ridiculous purpose.  Past Unitasker Wednesday honorees include The Chompr , a contraption intended to tidy up hamburger eating, the iSleep USB pillow – (eh – a pillow that connects to your computer with a USB cable)  and an electric paper plane launcher.  This week:  Poop Freeze Aerosol Freeze Spray.  Didn’t know you needed that, I bet.

Are you a social media holdout? No more excuses… even Pope Benedict XVI has a Facebook page and an iPhone app! (Mashable)

Want to smarten up your Twitter follow list? Check out Mashable’s list of 70+ Authors to Follow on Twitter.

Ok, one more Twitter article – this one walks you through setting up campaigns in Google Analytics to track the success of your Twitter efforts. (Codswallop)

Happy Memorial Day!

Most who know me also know I’m a huge Twitter fan.  It’s not only a social media, it’s a genuinely useful and flexible tool that can be adapted to almost any purpose.  As Twitter is everywhere in the media these days I notice new users (and some not-so-new users) venting about suffering another’s apparently bad twitterquette… typically the unanswered tweet, the unrequited follow…. or the un-follow.

I think a few reminders are in order…

1. Twitter is not email. Yes, you can DM and @ other users.  However – one should consider that if the recipient has a lot of people that they follow – messages can easily be lost in the flow or overlooked, or sometimes not delivered in a timely way (although message delivery is way better then it used to be).  If you really want someone’s attention- and need a response – email them instead.

2.  Don’t feel offended about being unfollowed. It’s possible someone just feels overwhelmed with their tweetstream and needs to cut back (it happens) – or maybe you did actually annoy them (tweeting 100 times a day will get you unfollowed by many).  There’s just no point in worrying about it. If large numbers are unfollowing – maybe you should rethink your Twitter habits.

3.  Not everyone wants to auto-follow. Not everyone wants to follow a gazillion people. Just because you follow someone (who you may not know personally or have no connection with) decides not to reciprocate the follow, doesn’t mean you should take offense. Which brings me to #4….

4.  Only follow people you are genuinely interested in. There’s a lot of random “follower building” – all on the assumption that people will auto-follow. You may build your follower count to some level with this tactic, but will they really care?

Twitter works best when users keep in mind that there is no one way to use it and everyone’s got their own preferences and style. When it comes to Twitter, just lighten up!

I’m putting the final touches on my latest re-decorating of this website (again). This site runs on WordPress, which makes it a snap to do…two hours start to finish. I was inspired by summer fabrics, beach umbrellas & the like… hence the stripes in sea-blues and aqua.

The new look  (and all the extra real estate that comes with the wonderful Thesis theme) will be a great place to showcase some of the new services and products I will be unveiling over the summer.

Be sure to sign up for my mailing list on the sidebar to get the latest news… you will also get a PDF copy of my presentation Social Media for Business.

If you have ever been reading your favorite blogs and wonder how their authors and commenters get those little square pictures to appear next to their comments, you should get yourself a Gravatar – (short for Globally Recognized Avatars).

Gravatars allow you to to link a little square image to your email address, so that whenever you post a comment to a blog post – using your email address – the picture automatically appears.  The site you are posting the comment on must have Gravatars enabled for them to display. Most WordPress powered sites (like this one) are Gravatar-friendly. Gravatars are also “MPAA” rated, so site owners can screen out ones that aren’t suitable for their audiences.

So how do you get one?  It’s really really easy to do!  The hardest part is deciding what your image should be.  Next, simply visit Gravatar.com and sign up with your email address. After verifying your address, you can log in and upload your image. The image doesn’t have to be presized or cropped – once you upload the picture there is a simple tool that makes cropping easy, and the sizing is done on their end… no image editing software needed.

If you comment on blogs frequently, this is a free, easy and fun way to reinforce your brand – or just add some visual pizazz to your comments! Comment here and take your new Gravatar for a spin!

In the course of working with clients who are just beginning to launch email marketing campaigns, I often get asked how frequently a marketing message should be mailed. Once a month? Once a week?  Tuesdays and Saturdays?

This is a great question, and there’s a lot of opinions. I think that the answer will vary depending on what it is you are selling and to whom you are selling it – and the timeliness of the content.   If you frequently add new items to your offerings – or if you are running a sale – people want to know!

However, far too many email marketing messages aren’t that, well, newsworthy.  A favorite online store of mine has recently escalated their email marketing – so that I get a message from them DAILY.  All the messages, while spotlighting different items, feature basically the same message… I don’t want to get a daily email from anyone (besides my clients and friends, of course).  I don’t even read them. They just aren’t special anymore.

And therein lies the danger… while I like the retailer and will not unsubscribe, I also started to ignore their messages…not the effect they were hoping for, I’m sure.

The rule of thumb I suggest:  if you have real news to share, send it! Other than that, anything more than once a week is generally too much, and you risk annoying (unsubscribes) or just plain boring your subscribers.

If you’ve used any web apps recently, you probably noticed an option to log into your favorite sites using OpenID.  OpenID provides users with a single login and password for accessing a variety of sites, alleviating you from the need to track a multitude of usernames and passwords for different services.

OpenID simply replaces a website’s standard login with it’s own. As an example, Twitterfeed users will click on “Login”, enter their OpenID URL, something like:  http://username.openid.com/ (URL depends on the OpenID provider you choose) and you will be taken to that OpenID site to complete the login process.  So, instead of memorizing many passwords, you only need to remember one.

So, how do you get an OpenID? There are many providers, and you may even already have one if you are a user of Blogger, Wordpress.com, Yahoo, AOL or many more. Alternatively, you can set up your own OpenID at any provider – lists of providers can be found here and here. I personally use MyOpenID. I like the settings options that allow me to control the level of authentication needed. It even has a phone authorization feature which when set will actually call your phone to approve a site login.  Another very cool option allows you to use your own domain as an OpenID identity. You can check a comparison of service features here. If you are interested in the technical end of OpenID – Wikipedia’s article on the subject is very detailed.

In summary, if you are tired of maintaining password lists, give OpenID a try!

I’ve posted in the past about Jott, a voice-to-text service that allows you to call a number, speak a message, and have it delivered anywhere with a text transcription to your emailbox. Besides the incredible usefulness of this (as anyone who gets great ideas while in the grocery checkout will attest), Jott is just great at voice-to-text transcription.  Jott takes my too-fast, slang-ridden Philly accent and seems to get it right every time. It amazes me.

Jott describes their transcription process as automated, but with a human backup. If your message is a bit too colloquial for the automated process, it’s routed to their quality assurance team for a patch-up before delivery.

In addition to its excellence with voice-to-text accuracy, Jott has recently rolled out additional services that integrate with more of the tools you already use:Jott Voicemail:  Takes your mobile phone voice mail and sends you an email (or SMS) with the message text, so you can read what the message is about before calling back. Jott Voicemail has a separate fee, but if you are a heavy voice mail user – it’s worth it!

Jott Assistant: Dictate notes  to be emailed to you, or speak new calendar appointments, reminders, tasks, or email messages to colleagues or groups. Jott links with your favorite web apps and social networks, including social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and web apps  including Google Calendar, Toodledo, Remember The Milk, Smartsheet, 30 Boxes,  Heap CRM and more.  There’s too many to name here… check the Jott site for details.

Jott for Blackberry:  Get an email on your BB and don’t feel like typing a response? Respond with your voice! Click “reply with Jott” speak your email reply… and your recipient will get an email…. and will not be the wiser that you didnt type the reply.  My initial tests of the service were so accurately transcribed, I feel confident in using it without fear of an <ahem!> unfortunate misinterpretation.

More Tools:  Jott also has tools for the iPhone, SalesForce, Outlook and even QuickBooks!

Jott offers very reasonable plans including pay-as-you-go for as little as $6.95, or a Pro Plan for $12.95/month. There’s a one-week free trial.  Check it out!

Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law Professor, Wired columnist and author of  Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy was on The Colbert Report this past week, trying to explain to Stephen how outdated American copyright laws are, creating a “failed war” on copyright infringement and a big distraction from solving far more serious national issues.The premise of  Remix is that greater value  is created for all when content is shared freely  – allowing others to collaborate with it (remix) and, in turn, create new content to be freely available.  A hybrid economy is then created, combining free, shared content with a revenue-generating distribution structure.

Author Lawrence Lessig tries to convince Stephen:

This blog post is a tiny example of Mr. Lessig’s point.  Content from others (Lawrence Lessig, Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central,  YouTube and Wikipedia) is being used by – me – to create this blog post… thus creating both content value for me and more publicity for them.

Also, based on from Stephen’s reaction to this idea (“no remixing!”), I may get sued soon.

I suppose it’s a New Year’s thing, but last week I got the urge to do a quick redesign of my website. It had only been about 8 months (?) since my last one, but I’m always inspired by new colors and new layouts and it’s always fun to try on a new dress.    Since I’m using WordPress – the  redecorating was really easy, and only took about 2 hours with the color, font and widget tweaking. The WP theme I chose was reflective of my goals for the year  – simplification and automation wherever possible. The Typebased theme fit the bill.

On a side note, if you are in the market for great WordPress themes to use on your site, I highly recommend WooThemes. The themes are beautiful, bugless and very reasonably priced (Typebased is one of their free themes). Their customer service is great too.

Oh, I’m so late in doing this, but I’m finally “formally” launching my (sort of) new website, VA Newsday.  It’s exactly what you think – a news website for and about virtual assistants.  It was a great chance to for me to create a site in WordPress that uses a premium theme (thanks, WooThemes!) with customizations and some social network marketing thrown in.

In short, it’s a work in progress, and I hope to be adding much more to it this year.

VAs – please send me stories – I’m always on the lookout for news tips!

I’ve already posted this at my VA news blog, VANewsday… but I wanted to be sure to get the word out about about this wonderful idea:

The VACOC (Virtual Assistant Chamber of Commerce) just launched a lending team page through Kiva, a person-to-person microlending site. Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions to provide loans to the working poor in impoverished countries. Anyone can lend any amount (as little as $25) to an aspiring entrepreneur in a developing country.

You can lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world (hey, $25 is a WHOLE LOTTA MONEY in those areas). You choose who to lend to–whether that’s a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq–and as they repay the loan, you get your money back.

If you join the VACOC lending team of Virtual Assistants, you’ll be joining forces with us to work together to alliviate poverty. Once you’re a part of the team, you can choose to have a future loan on Kiva “count” towards our team’s impact. The loan is still yours, and repayments still come to you, but you can also choose to have the loan show up in our team’s collective portfolio, so our team’s overall impact will grow!

A fantastic idea! Check out the VACOC announcement here… or go directly to the VACOC/Kiva Team page here.

I recently discovered (by accident) that Skype  now supports caller ID in the USA. This is big news to me, because the “0000000″-s that come up on caller ID by default had prevented me from using Skype for routine business calls.  I pay a flat $2.95 per month for unlimited calling to the USA & Canada – hard to beat – especially when you consider the great call quality and conferencing features Skype offers. Now I make regular use of it!

In order for the caller ID to work, you need to pair your Skype account with a number that you want to appear as your caller ID. Skype allows you to choose between your cell phone number or an online number (SkypeIn) you can purchase for as little as $30/year when combined with one of Skype’s subscription plans. 

With this new feature, Skype  is now a great calling alternative or add-on to a regular calling plan.

Tip: Check out Pamela Systems’ Pamela Professional – a great feature add-on (Extras) to Skype that allows unlimited, high-quality call forwarding and expanded Skype voice mail features.

I saw the following headline in my feed reader:

Comcast to cap monthly consumer broadband

After I recovered from choking on my coffee, I read the full story, courtesy of Webware.com (now part of C\Net)… and it ain’t pretty:

Starting October 1 customers of Comcast’s residential data services will have an invisible barrier on their monthly data usage. Under the new guidelines of Comcast’s Acceptable Use Policy announced Thursday, that cap will be set at 250 gigabytes per month, per account.

Users who go over the limit will get a courtesy call from Comcast’s customer service for the first instance. However, under the new policy a second-time offense means the service is immediately suspended for an entire calendar year.

The cap - at 250GB per month, sounds like a lot – and for a casual user, it is. But for anyone with a home office with some online backup systems (such as Mozy) - this can be a real problem.

So what happens when a customer breaks the 250GB barrier?

Users who go over the limit will get a courtesy call from Comcast’s customer service for the first instance. However, under the new policy a second-time offense means the service is immediately suspended for an entire calendar year.

Well, alrighty, then. How about some alerts or usage meters? Not so much…

Surprisingly the company is not providing any tools to help users monitor their current usage. An FAQ on Comcast’s support site simply suggests that customers do a “Web search” for bandwidth metering software that will track this amount for them.

Ok – to recap – Comcast will now place a low limit on bandwidth on our access, not tell us if we’re close to it, not provide any tracking or measurement – and then cut off service on the second “offense”.

So how about upgrade options for heavy users?? (From WebWare’s followup post) – uh… nope.

Will you be offering larger bandwidth packages for home businesses or “excessive users?”
Bill G.: No packages at this time is being offered for larger bandwidth.

As this is supposed to go into effect on October 1st, I have yet to get a letter about it from Comcast – I happened to see it on WebWare.com. 

I really hope Comcast reconsiders this - or comes up with a better accomodation for heavy users.

Maybe I need to look at Verizon’s FIOS.

UPDATE: Webware just posted a nice list of bandwidth meters – good to know.

I do most things online… banking, communicating, marketing, shopping… ok , I do most everything online. I’m adding one more item to that list: reading magazines…digital magazines, that is. With Zinio you can search among as many as 10,000 magazines worldwide, order your favorites and read them immediately using their Zinio Reader application.

Suprisingly, the reader works very well, and has a intuitive “page turner” interface to make it seem like the real thing. A sample issue of Business Week  that I tried was identical to the print version – so there’s no difference with content or advertising.

Zinio also offers a limited selection of single-issues for $.99, but a single-issue of any magazine can be purchased for close to the newsstand price.

If you are trying to go green, or just in a hurry for the next issue of your fav magazine, give Zinio a try!

I just woke up and checked my phone… my VP text alert had arrived… at 3:02am.  Glad I had the phone out of earshot. Perhaps this is an “interactive” variation of the Clinton campaign’s legendary “3 AM Phone Call” TV ad?  Participants can also enjoy the panicked, sickening feeling of getting an unexpected phone message in the dead of night… just like the next President will!

Voicemail is dead. This provocative pronouncement was posted at TechCrunch. I don’t know if it’s an occupational hazard of working remotely online all the time, but I have always preferred email over the phone. It’s non-disruptive to workflow and way more time-efficient. Apparently, TechCrunch agrees:

Typical voicemail messages today include things like “Please don’t leave me a voicemail, I rarely listen to them. Please just email me at xxxx@xxxx.com” Many people don’t bother setting up their voicemail accounts at all. Then there’s my favorite method, the one I use personally – let the message box get full and then don’t empty it. Caller ID still tells me who called, and I can simply call them back.

How many times have you called someone back and said “I saw that you called but didn’t listen to the voicemail yet, Is it anything urgent?”

Frustration mounts when a simple request or bit of information turns into a three-day phone tag fest – when a simple email would do just fine. 

So how to make the best of voice mail? TechCrunch suggests using a message transcription service- Vonage offers this option for 25 cents per message – and it’s WORTH IT.  Check out TechCrunch’s post.. what do you think?

Think Before You Voicemail  (TechCrunch)

If you’re a fellow twitterholic and want to use those cute alternative characters, like suns and musical notes… check out Andrea Kalli’s thorough tutorials here… she needed two posts as there’s so many to list!

Twitter Special Characters – Part 1

Twitter Special Characters – Part 2

Thanks, Andrea – and happy 4th to all!!

Social media marketing expert Chris Brogan posted a thorough to-do list for anyone who’s serious about promoting their business with their blogsite and on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.. Among the many useful suggestions include checking your site with diagnosis and search tools like WebsiteGrader.com or Summize - and simply posting on other blogs (a tried-and-true traffic building tactic).

Brogan also suggests old-fashioned good manners; avoiding blatant self-aggrandizement and promoting others as you promote yourself among the best ways to build goodwill (much like I’m doing here!).

A terrific article!
100 Personal Branding Tactics Using Social Media

Buzzword alert: bacn – yep, that’s “bacon” minus the O. It differs from its less-desirable cousin spam, in that bacn, while also a variety of delicious pork product, is defined as email that you solicited, but still may consider a distraction. Examples include automated messages from sites such as Facebook or CNN breaking news alerts. So, bacn could be categorized as living in the middle ground between your normal email and spam.

NPR: Move Over, Spam: ‘Bacn’ Is the E-Mail Dish du Jour

So now you know.

A new gadget for the Twitterholic in your life (me). With TweetBeep, you can create email alerts when domains and phrases of your choosing are “tweeted”. Slick features include user filtering and can report on domains even if they are in a shortened URL, such as TinyURL or Snurl.

Thanks to Mari Smith for the tip!

Follow me on Twitter.

Here’s a quick post to a new Sun Microsystems press release discussing another recent study demonstrating the enormous environmental and cost benefit to adopting telework programs and virtual workgroups.

Quick adoption by the business community of alternative work enviroments such as virtual offices can have a dramatic and immediate impact on the environment and energy costs. Partnering with an experienced virtual assistant can be a timesaver to any business learning to use the variety of tools to manage projects and teams on the web.

Review the Sun Microsystems press release here.

Most know that email accounts have some limit on the size of files you can attach to messages – typically it’s less than 10MB…which is not a lot in the world of YouTube and Podcasts. Many (like me) are fans of file transfer services like YouSendIt – which provides “drop box” service for any large file, bypassing the limits of email attachments (and sparing the recipient a clogged mailbox!).

The folks at YouSendIt just launched an Outlook plugin that sets all outbound messages with attachments above a certain size (that you choose) to be routed via the YouSendIt service. This saves time and allows the user to email with abandon without concern about file sizes… a great idea!

Thanks to TechCrunch for the tip.

One of the best kept secrets to efficient email management lies in the protocol (how’s that for a $10 word!) that the email system uses. Aside from free email accounts, if you have domain email (you@yourdomain.com) – you’re more than likely using the emailboxes included with your web hosting service.

What most don’t realize is that web hosting email is based on POP (Post Office Protocol). POP is great – but it does have one very important limitation… your messages are never fully synchronized across all the places where you read mail… your desktop computer, your laptop.. your mobile phone.

That’s where IMAP saves the day! With IMAP (Internet Mail Access Protocol), your message folders are synchronized and identical across all devices. So, a message you send with your mobile phone is accessible on your desktop, etc.. In this age of mobile messaging, that’s a real advantage.

So, if your hosting service only offers POP mail, how can you get IMAP?

There’s a growing number of email-only service providers that do nothing but email. Besides being better able to offer much larger mailboxes and better support, a separate email provider will offer IMAP. Some of the best providers are nominal in cost (and in the case of Google Apps – free):

Mailtrust (Varable rates – outstanding support and reliability
Fastmail ($39.95/year)
Google Apps (Free or $50/yr; free service offers up to 100 6.7GB mailboxes!)

To switch your email while keeping your web hosting, you need to make a “MX” update to your domain’s DNS (something that ProVirtual Solutions can help you with!).

Here’s a recently posted article on the GMail blog that will help describe the difference between POP and IMAP.

Anyone who makes their living using computers grapples keeping up with new upgrades I’m on my 7th cell phone, for example). Over time, most develop a vast “gadget graveyard” of once wondrous devices that lost their lustre or just became outdated over time.

What to do? Web Worker Daily profiled a new company called TechForward that has an ingenious idea…sell guaranteed buyback values on a new device (computers, MP3 players monitors and televisions). As long as the item is in good condition and all manuals are kept, you can get a darned good buck for your trade in. TechForward will salvage parts and/or dispose of the item in an environmentally responsible way…a nice reassurance that your gizmo doesn’t end up in a landfill.

It’s a great idea – and definitely an option to consider when I upgrade something (which is likely to be soon).

A few months ago, I did a teleseminar for members of DVVAA about free and low-cost alternatives to Microsoft Office. There are lots of options out there – and more becoming available every day!

This 32-page presentation provides a nice overview of what’s available for both in-office workers and road warriors. You may be surprised to find that you don’t need to spend hundreds for a full-featured office suite! Here’s a quick preview of the presentation:

Or… get a FREE PDF download! It’s much easier to read. Click the button…

Enjoy!

You can picture the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other…you see, some months ago I realized that the cost savings benefit of giving up my Palm Treo would outweigh the benefit of being able to read email in the supermarket. Well, THAT was 6 months ago, and now I’m jonesin’ for a shiny new Crackberry. Verizon won’t give me a discount on it until 2009 (OUCH!) so if I want one now, I will have to pony up the full retail ($430+ something). Agh.

I think I can wait… I think. Anyway, here’s a link to encourage me to stay on the low-cost wagon.

The Twitter Blog has a great explanation of the “@” reply feature. I had been using it, but it can be confusing, as it’s easy to assume that they go to the target user only. The thing to know is that “@replies” are visible to all, much like replying to one participant in a group conversation (the analogy used by the Twitter folks.

To reply ONLY to one user – you use the “direct” feature by starting your message with “d” – as in “d usernamehere”.

Good to know!

I’ve had a few bumps in the road, but my little website rebuild project is picking up steam. I finally managed to import my existing Typepad content. What seemed straightforward turned out to be rather quirky, but I managed to bring in the goods. Now I just need to beef up my content and a few extra tweaks….

I’m fast developing a Twitter addiction – I’m just hooked on tweets!

Well – thanks to a tip on Nancy Marmolejo’s terrific Viva Visibility blog, I found a great post listing some handy strategies for using Twitter for marketing. Now Twittering counts as work!

Follow me on Twitter

My so-cool client Helen Webber is offering a special sale on her Jazztime watercolor print series. Visit Helen’s print sale page and check out all her beautiful offerings.

What a wonderful excuse to post some gorgeous art on my blog!http://www.helenwebber.com/printstore/howtoorder_water.htm

If you struggle with juggling different IM networks and social media and all their applications running on your computer at the same time… do yourself a favor and check out Digsby. Digsby is a single application that delivers all the major IM networks: Google Talk, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ & Jabber – along with an email notifier AND Twitter, Facebook and MySpace alerts – all in a single interface. Digsby also announced today that it now supports Facebook chat in addition to notifications.

In addition, Digsby offers customizable widgets you can add to your blog or website that allows your visitors to IM you from your website. You can see it in action on this blog —>

Read the C|Net Review of Digsby here.