How To Use Follow Friday For Maximum Twitter Influence
Donna Maria shares three simple tips to help you use Follow Friday for maximum Twitter influence.
The Sale Is Made Before People Get To Your Website
I talk to many people who are investing a lot of resources in their websites. Since you cannot sell anything without a good website, this is a good thing. What many people don’t embrace, however, is the fact that e-commerce at a website happens after a sale is made. In other words, a sale is…
The Importance of Owning Your Core Marketing Outlets and Content
Donna Maria reminds small business owners not to rely on third parties like Twitter, FaceBook, Posterous, YouTube, etc., for their core marketing outreach.
Running Journal: Day 47
Donna Maria uses this Running Journal to share how physical exertion enhances her life and her business, one day at a time.
On Twitter, It’s Not Just About Content; It’s About Accessible Content
Donna Maria shares a simple technique you can use to expand your sphere of influence on Twitter.
Expand Your Sphere of Influence With Twitter Hashtags
Donna Maria shares how Twitter hashtags can expand your sphere of influence.
The Value of the ReTweet
Last year, at my invitation, several members of IBN gathered in our private online networking area to discuss how we could support each other on Twitter. It was decided that on Fridays, each participant would select a person, comment on one of their blog posts and then ReTweet the post on Twitter. The goal was…
4 Ways Your Email Newsletter Can Drive Traffic to Your Blog, FaceBook and Twitter Pages
Donna Maria shares tips on integrating different media outlets for maximum engagement with your customers, clients and friends.
Indie Business Radio: An Interview With Shiv Singh
Recently, I interviewed Shiv Singh live on Indie Business Radio. Shiv is the author of Social Media Marketing For Dummies (affiliate link). He is also the Global Social Media lead at Razorfish, a brand engagement company. Shiv thinks that, in some ways, the term social media is a misnomer. In fact, in his social media…
6 Ways Small Business Owners Can Assess Return On Social Media Investment
One of the reasons using social media can be challenging for small business owners is because it is often difficult to quantify the return on social media investment. For example, if you invest a certain amount of time and/or money on social media outreach, how do you assess whether it was a good investment of…
Why Twitter Is Not A Waste Of Time For Small Business Owners, In 29 Words
Many small business owners conclude that Twitter is a waste of time without devoting a legitimate amount of time to learning how to use it to discover its potential value when applied to their unique situation. I recently read this post at ReadWriteWeb. It summarizes the results of a study (of sorts) on the value…
How To Increase Your Product Sales And Visibility Through Site Parties
I hosted IBN’s first Site Party on Cyber Monday and had a great time doing it! The best news is that our featured Indie, Charlene Sevier, sold 11 pieces of her beautiful handmade jewelry in under 60 minutes! As you may recall from this post announcing the party, Charlene makes combines a passion for beads…
Join Me For Our First Indie Site Party!
I am pleased to announce IBN’s first online Indie Site Party on Monday, November 30 — Cyber Monday — at Noon New York time!! Our first party will be hosted at our social networking site and will feature IBN member Charlene Sevier, The Bead Dreamer, of Newport News, Virginia. Indie Site Parties are just like…
Indies On Assignment: Assignment No. 1: Beef Up Your Brand!
In the 1980’s, a popular commercial for a chain of fast food restaurants featured two elderly ladies praising the “bigness” and “fluffiness” of a hamburger bun. A third lady looks more closely and hollers, “Where’s the beef?” The circus-like music in the background reminds of us how ridiculous it is to praise a flashy hot…
Eye Contact: Optimizing The I to Eye Connection
This is a guest post by Luci Weston of Here We Are With Luci, sharing topics and solutions to make your life better, brighter, and easier. If you would like to submit a guest post for my blog, please read the guidelines here. Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook offer new ways to socialize that are simple,…
Six Strategies For Being An Effective Media Outlet For Your Small Business
In order to be an effective media outlet for your business, you should abide by some basic journalistic principles. While the technologies that support journalistic endeavors are constantly changing, the basic tenets of good journalism have remained constant for hundreds of years. The challenge for you is to use those principles to establish the branded…
Twitter List Widgets Use RSS To Help Small Business Owners Expand Their Reach
If you enjoyed my article containing 10 ways small business owners can use Twitter Lists to expand their sphere of influence and build trust and credibility, then you’ll be happy to know about this new Twitter widget creator allowing you to quickly and easily aggregate specific List content into a widget that can be displayed…
Announcing The Media Is Y-O-U!
Announcing The Media Is Y-O-U, a one-day intensive, hands on social media training workshop designed especially for Indies! If you’re an Indie Business owner, you know how important it is to use the Internet to spread the word about your products and services. Today, doing that is easier than ever with my one-day intensive, hands…
Should You Use Your Real Name Online?
Yesterday, I Tweeted my experience linking from a small business owner’s Twitter page to her website, and not finding her name anywhere. There was also no phone number and no address, yet her products were sold via a shopping cart at her site and her newsletter subscription form required subscribers to enter a first and…
Top 10 Ways For Small Business Owners To Use Twitter Lists
[This post was inadvertently published yesterday. I recalled it, but not before Feedburner picked it up. I apologize for the inconvenience.] A few days ago, Twitter announced Twitter Lists, a great new feature that allows users to create pubic and private lists of people on Twitter. If you read Item #9 on Top Ten Actions…
Even The Media Doesn't Need The Media
This past Sunday, Mike Soltys, a media relations vice president at ESPN, announced the termination of ESPN sports personality Steve Phillips. As you may know, Mr. Phillips has been embroiled in a nasty sex scandal. I don’t watch ESPN, but I’m quite sure that ESPN must have announced this action on the air at some…