Location Independent Living Now

Put Your Email Marketing On Auto-Pilot

2010-09-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

This post has been reposted by Gary Gray aka garydotgray from articles by Jim Edwards.

Put Your Email Marketing On Auto-Pilot: "
One of the most important aspects of marketing (besides consistency) is having a flow and a rhythm to your promotions. We as human beings operate as “pattern recognition” creatures, meaning we respond and react to “patterns” in both the positive and negative. As small business owners, we need to find patterns that make it easy for us to market our businesses effectively, while still leaving time to actually operate the business itself.

Email autoresponders, specifically “sequential” email autoresponders, allow you to automate your online marketing while also creating an effective flow and rhythm to your promotions.

Email autoresponders create an automatic follow-up sequence of email messages that go out to recipients at intervals you determine. That means you can put together a series of emails for customers or prospective customers, and then deliver those messages to them at intervals you choose. Most sequential autoresponders also allow you to “broadcast” to your entire database whenever you have important news, updates, or specials to share.

To understand the effectiveness of sequential email autoresponders for a local business, let me share a quick story with you…

A friend of mine has a small seafood restaurant as a client in Georgia. The restaurant recently put their website online, which included a simple offer for email updates for anyone interested enough to sign up. The restaurant then contacted some of their friends and past customers and asked if they’d like to join the email notification list. With only 60 people in their database, they made a simple 2-for-1 offer through their email newsletter on a Wednesday afternoon (managed by their autoresponder) and got 30 coupon redemptions in about 72 hours.

In other words, they got 30 couples and families to come into their restaurant with very little advertising expense.

Moral of the story: even with a small list, a local business can leverage the power of email marketing and the automation of sequential autoresponders to make money and communicate better with current and prospective customers.

Local businesses can implement autoresponder marketing quickly in one or more of three ways:

new customer follow-up
email newsletters
tips and resources

The key is to only send valuable information to your customers and prospects that they want, need, and expect. Never send email to anyone without their permission.

So that begs the question: How do you get customer or prospective customer emails? Answer: ASK, but ask intelligently.

Have a reason for them to sign up to your list that they can understand and appreciate immediately.

Do you intend to offer them online-only specials, coupons, tips or updates?

Take some time to really think this through before you start asking for emails because a self-serving, compelling reason to give you their email address is the key to success.

As for specific services you can use to set up a sequential email autoresponder, you can find many of them online.

“Constant Contact”, which caters to the small business market, offers most, if not all, the features you could ever need in an autoresponder at very reasonable prices.

No matter which service provider you choose, make sure they offer the ability to set up multiple lists or sequences, as well as the ability to broadcast subscribers in your database.

Very few online tools offer more bang for your marketing buck than a good, solid email marketing strategy built around autoresponder marketing. With some careful planning and a sound strategy, even the most basic campaigns carry benefits far in excess of the time, energy and effort necessary to implement them.

———–

For more Small Business Marketing tips from the

Real world of Digital Marketing, log on to

“Small Business Marketing Weekly” at

=> http://www.SmallBusinessMarketingWeekly.com
"

Quickly Increase Your Small Business Website Sales

2010-09-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

This post has been reposted by Gary Gray aka garydotgray from articles by Jim Edwards.

Quickly Increase Your Small Business Website Sales: "
- By Jim Edwards

Most small business websites represent the online equivalent of a printed, tri-fold brochure. Everyone copies everyone else in their industry. They all say the same things, display similar pictures, and convey the same message. In fact, you could easily take the company name off most sites and interchange with others and nobody would notice. Most small business owners treat their website as an extension of offline advertising or worse, a marketing after-thought.

But with the Web’s importance in local marketing growing on a daily basis, this lazy attitude toward your company website means online marketing suicide!

If your small business website needs a boost, or you plan to put up a website for your business soon, the following tips increase your chances of success dramatically.

Use Effective Headlines

Imagine a newspaper with no headlines. It can’t work! Just like a newspaper, every page on your website or small business blog needs a headline. Headlines tell your visitors the topic of the page and quickly help them determine their interest level. The most effective headlines often center around specific offers, not general statements. My experience shows you only get 3-9 seconds to capture people’s attention before they click off your site and a good headline stacks the odds in your favor.

Make a Clear “Call To Action”

Most rookie sales people (and veterans too) fear asking for the sale. They beat around the bush with customers to avoid rejection. This same fear permeates most small business websites. You must tell peoplespecifically what you want them to do on your site: click here to make a reservation; click here to contact us; pick up the phone and call this number; get in your car and come into the store. Don’t make people guess and make it very clear what, when, and how you want them to do it.

Sell The Benefits

A famous drill salesman once said “People don’t buy the drill, they buy the holes!” He meant that people don’t buy the product or service, they buy a desired result. Yet, most small business websites talk only in terms of their company or product features. People don’t care about your company as much as they care about their own needs.

Talk in terms of how you fulfill those specific needs. Devote a large part of your sales message to the results people should expect and the benefits, tangible or otherwise, of dealing with you.

Make Specific Offers

Why do you think grocery stores run so many coupon ads?

Because those ads make specific offers that drive people into the store. They’re the equivalent of testing different bait on your fishhook to see what you can pull into the boat.

Most businesses don’t make specific offers of any kind. They assume people know what they offer (because they offer what everyone else offers) and customers will just “know” to contact them.

Special offers drive people to action. No matter what type of business you operate, get in the habit of making specific, unique offers. Most people default to offering a discount, but why not offer extra value instead?

Ask yourself:

“How could I add massive REAL value to our customers without it costing us a ton of time, energy or effort?”

“How can we get them MORE of what they already want?”

Make it so they don’t have to think (“no-brainer”) and it feels like a real deal.

Just these simple steps can massively increase sales on your small business website sales with very little effort.

For more Small Business Marketing tips from the

The Real World of Digital Marketing, log on to

“Small Business Marketing Weekly”
"

Google Instant Search for Marketing

2010-09-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

This post has been reposted by Gary Gray aka garydotgray from articles by Jim Edwards.

Google Instant Search for Marketing: "
Google recently introduced their “Instant Search” feature which starts to populate search results the instant you start typing into the search box. At the same time, Google suggests alternate search terms as you type to help narrow your search without forcing you to enter entire search phrases.

The main idea behind this new feature is to save users a few seconds on each search and cut down on misspellings for search terms, business names or product names. Users may not notice much difference in their overall experience, however, for small businesses and online entrepreneurs, this new search method carries a few interesting ramifications.

Since Google clearly ranks as the “900 lb. Gorilla” of the online marketing world, acting as de facto gateway to the Web for millions, any change to their system makes businesses nervous. Many have expressed concern that this latest change will force users of Google’s AdWords program, the search giant’s lucrative pay-per-click marketing arm, to pay for more expensive keywords.

They reason that since the most popular search terms appear in the search box first, and that most people will opt to accept Google suggestions, those most popular searches will carry the highest click prices. In other words, businesses that depend on Google to show their ads fear that Google will force them to pay more money by recommending more expensive keyword searches.

I disagree.

The suggested search term feature actually appeared on Google quite a while ago, and all that’s really changed is Google starts to display the actual search results AS you type. With the old 2-step process, Google made suggestions as you typed and then you clicked the search button to see the search results. Instant Search just creates a FAST way to see the results for different search variations without forcing you to click the button each time to see those results.

This process makes it simple to see the results, change your mind, and not wait for the results each time you change the phrase. My experience shows that most people always start with a broad search and then narrow it by including more descriptive terms (often called “long-tail” keywords) to better find what they want. This new process won’t change that. In fact, it will give people more chances to refine their searches on-the-fly by providing Google more details of what they want.

Instead of posing a threat, I believe this new Instant Search feature creates an opportunity for any business to perform high-speed market research to look for possible opportunities and trouble spots. The following four steps will help any small business use Google’s new feature for instant results.

1. Go to Google and search for your business as if you were a consumer.

2. Make a note of the keyword suggestions Google offers as you type.

3. See if those suggestions give you any ideas for your own marketing (since they should represent the most popular phrases).

4. Note which competitors show up and where you appear in relation to them.

These 4 simple steps make a great barometer for taking a read on your local market, fast. Who appears consistently? Who shows up hit-and-miss or every once in a while? Who shows up in Google Maps? If your competitors show up and you don’t, you’ve got some work to do!

Bottom line: as a small business, use Google’s new Instant Search to quickly get the big picture when it comes to your business, industry, and local competition.
"

7 Pillars of Marketing a Local Business Online

2010-09-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

This post has been reposted by Gary Gray aka garydotgray from articles by Jim Edwards.

7 Pillars of Marketing a Local Business Online: "
When I first started writing for The Virginia Gazette in 1998, the Web was a giant mystery. Almost 13 years later, it’s still a mystery for most! With the emergence of Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Google, Linkedin, and a host of other sites, getting started with online marketing seems more daunting than ever. Yet, as consumers flock to the Web daily to research local products and services, visibility for your business via the Internet literally spells success or failure. Bottom line: online marketing is NOT optional anymore and you need every one of these 7 pillars to succeed, especially in a local market.

Pillar #1: A Website You Control

You must operate with your own website which enables you to make basic changes to it yourself, preferably right through your web browser. Waiting for a “webmaster” to update text and pictures does not qualify as a smart use of your time or money. WordPress, an open-source (free) publishing platform, makes an excellent choice for managing and organizing virtually any size website.

Pillar #2: Google Maps

Google now stands alone as the “900 lb. Gorilla” of the online search world. However, most don’t realize that “Google Maps” is the most basic component of local online marketing with Google. Get all the details at http://Google.com/places/. This tool is one of the fastest ways to get found in Google and, best of all… it’s free!

Pillar #3: Basic SEO

SEO stands for “search engine optimization” – which means making your website relevant when someone searches for your business name or terms related to what you sell. Building all the content, information, and text on your site around a central theme is the #1 thing you can do to increase your chances of ranking well in Google and other search engines.

Pillar #4: Make Value-Added Offers

Most people don’t make offers on their websites. Their web pages look like everyone else’s and say basically the same things. You must make offers on your site that spur people to action. Offer a discount or faster service. Give an incentive to come in today. Most importantly: make your offers big, bold and obvious on your site while giving people a reason to do business with you right now!

Pillar #5: Drive Traffic

You won’t make a dime with your website if the right people don’t see it. The fastest way to drive traffic is to buy it, specifically with the Google AdWords pay-per-click program. Pay-per-click means you only pay when someone clicks your “sponsored” ad on the search engine listings, and Google’s AdWords is the largest pay-per-click advertising network. However, make sure you set up a “geo-targeted” campaign when starting out so only people in your local area see your ads (instead of wasting time and money showing your ads to people who could never patronize your local business).

Pillar #6: Local List Building

Building up a local following you communicate with using online tools rates one of the smartest and most cost-effective things every local business can do. Whether through email, text, Twitter or Facebook (or some new tool), communicating with a targeted group and providing value-added information and offers can bring huge rewards. One coupon with the right offer to the right audience can turn a ho-hum Thursday into a blockbuster sales day.

Pillar #7: Consistent Follow-Up

The biggest online marketing mistake I see people make is NOT following up with prospects and customers. Use email and other communication tools to keep in contact with your prospects and customers and give them reasons to do business with you (by making offers) while providing useful information they want. As a wise man once said, “The fortune is always made in the repeat business.”

“Small Business Marketing Weekly” will expand on each of these “7 Pillars of Marketing Local Business Online” in the coming weeks.
"

A Better Twitter

2010-09-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

A Better Twitter: "

Twitter news! For all my LILN readers

This post has been reposted from the Twitter blog by Gary Gray aka garydotgray

Twitter is the best way to discover what’s new in your world. From football to film to philanthropy, people are using Twitter to discover what’s new about what they find interesting.

Twitter has always been about getting a lot in a little. The constraint of 140 characters drives conciseness and lets you quickly discover and share what's happening. Yet, we've learned something since starting Twitter—life doesn't always fit into 140 characters or less.

Today, we’re introducing a new, re-engineered Twitter.com that provides an easier, faster, and richer experience.

On the site, you’ll see the familiar timeline, yet underneath each Tweet is a handful of information, deeper context and even embedded media. Simply click on an individual Tweet and a details pane slides out on the right and reveals this content.

You can find out more about the enhancements on this information page. Here are some highlights:

New design. The site has a cleaner timeline and a rich details pane that instantly adds more impact to individual Tweets while still maintaining the simplicity of the timeline. And, experience infinite scroll -- you no longer have to click “more” to view additional Tweets.
Media. Now, it’s easy to see embedded photos and videos directly on Twitter, thanks to partnerships with DailyBooth, DeviantART, Etsy, Flickr, Justin.TV, Kickstarter, Kiva, Photozou, Plixi, Twitgoo, TwitPic, TwitVid, USTREAM, Vimeo, yfrog, and YouTube.
Related content. When you click a Tweet, the details pane shows additional information related to the author or subject. Depending on the Tweet’s content, you may see: replies, other Tweets by that user, a map of where a geotagged Tweet was sent from, and more.
Mini profiles. Click a username to see a mini profile without navigating from the page, which provides quick access to account information, including bio and recent Tweets.

These changes will roll out as a preview over the next several weeks starting with a very small percentage of registered accounts tonight. During the preview, you'll be able to switch back and forth so you have time to grow accustomed to the way things work. Eventually, everyone will have the updated version of Twitter.com. We are incredibly proud of the work the Twitter web team has accomplished. We hope you are too!

Earl's visit - before and after

2010-09-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

Earl's visit - before and after: "

Reposted from A Sparrow's Home by garydotgray

Thanks for your kind concern and prayers regarding Earl! We came through without much damage - high winds, heavy rain and one tree down in our yard. Fortunately we didn't lose power although some parts of the Island did.

Nova Scotia, our neighbouring province, felt Earl's force quite a bit more than the Island. Some people are still without power there.

Here's a little video to show you the day before the storm - a lovely day at Pamure Island beach - and then Pt Prim on the day of the storm.

(Please pause the music in the sidebar to enjoy the sound effects of the storm)

Kathleen, my dil, headed over to Nova Scotia for some of Earl's wave action. She joined Rinda's girl Katherine, and her husband Andrew both avid surfers.

Doesn't that look like fun?!!

The storm certainly cleared the humidity and high temperatures of last week . The sun is streaming through my kitchen windows and the forecast temperature for this afternoon is a lovely 22C (74F).

Hope you're all enjoying this Labour day holiday!
"

Social Network Profile Set-up & Management

2010-06-20T18:15:00.000-07:00

Social Network Profile Set-up & Management

FREE WATCH NOW!!! Live stream marketing seminar

2010-04-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hi

Short, simple and to the point.

@keithwellman is streaming his Gateway To Wealth event LIVE for FREE! I am watching it right NOW at http://bit.ly/1Z8BV3 Join me? #G2W

Grab a seat now here

Thanks,

Gary

Shooting Flip Video or Digital Photos? Get yourself in the shot with XShot!

2010-02-16T08:51:00.000-08:00

Welcome Everyone

Phil Montaro has posted the following review post on his "The Anywhere Office" site.

If you want to do video (dosen't everyone?) and you are a crew of one, then this gadget is all you need to support you and you cam of choice.

Check it out...Thanks Phil!

Smiles :o)

Gary

Shooting Flip Video or Digital Photos? Get yourself in the shot with XShot!: "

Recently while using my Flip camera to shoot some video for this blog I came across a problem. I was shooting the post about “working outside your office” so I wanted to move around and decided to hold the camera so I could be mobile and not be stuck with the static shot I would get from using my tripod (like I normally do). There were two issues with this approach:

My arms are only so long so I couldn’t hold the camera out far enough to get much of me and the background in the shot
The camera shook a lot so the video jumped around a bit

As I always do when looking for the solution to a problem I searched Google and found a solution – the XShot 2.0 camera extender. This amazing device is only 9″ in length and weighs 5 ozs. when closed but folds out (like an antennae) to 37″ long and can hold a camera up to 1.25 lbs. It includes a standard tripod mount on the end that swivels up to 180 degrees so you can attach your point and shoot digital camera or your pocket camcorder (like the Flip video), simply extend it and get yourself and others in the shot! I was jonesing on trying it out so I contacted XShot and they were kind enough to send me one so I could give it a try and review it for you.

Watch this video below where I do a quick demo of how it works:

Ever since I’ve had a digital camera I’ve always done the single-arm stretch to take photos of myself and others without having to ask someone else to take the picture. These have been some of the best (and fun) photos I’ve taken – but the problem was always how close the camera was and you could only get 2 people in the shot. Not anymore thanks to the XShot! It’s solid, extremely light, and at full extension can get several people in the shot as well as the background. The swiveling camera mount on the end allows you to reach high spots in crowds and concerts, take photos from fun angles and in other places difficult to reach. I’m looking forward to trying some of these situations out and will post more photos and videos to the blog when I do.

The XShot makes it easy to take pictures and videos on the go to post on your blog or social networks and it’s great if you want to do video interviews at trade shows or other events where setting up a tripod is difficult. Best of all it fits in your pocket or camera bag so it’s a prefect tool for your Anywhere Office! It’s a great tool not only for travelers and photographers but also for bloggers, people involved in social media and entrepreneurs. It sells for $25 and along with my Joby Gorillapod and my Flip Video Camera will now be a permanent part of my mobile video setup.

For more info visit the XShot’s website. Check out their Gallery and Video pages to see some great examples of all the different creative ways people have used it – including video while skiing and paragliding!

I love a creative solution to a problem and XShot has certainly come up with one. Post a comment below and let me know what you think . . .

"

You’re Not Worth Anything Right Now

2010-02-02T18:06:00.000-08:00

You’re Not Worth Anything Right Now: "

Image by Great Beyond

“I’m worth far more than that!”, you might be thinking. But are you really?

This is a tough topic for me to write about. I’ve gone on record before saying how great things were in early 2009. A year ago, I was writing marketing plans for startup companies to take before million-dollar investors and getting paid $1,500 a pop for them. I was getting projects to the tune of $600-$700 every couple weeks. Money was flowing, my pen was flying (well, the cursor on my computer screen anyway – who uses a pen anymore?) and life was good.

And you know what? When I think of being Location Independent again, that’s what I think about – and I bet you do too…

It’s the dream life of many an aspiring entrepreneur: you set your own hours, work in your pajamas (or your boxers on a hot day) and collect plenty to live on and even buy some pretty things. You’re happy, your clients are happy and the work keeps you busy and generally in a great mood.

The big problem is so many aspiring entrepreneurs think they’ll be able to start right there, right at that point.

You want to storm into you boss, yell “I QUIT!”, photocopy your butts on the way out and be done with the office life forever. Then you pick up some steaks for dinner on the way home and you arrive to an inbox that is jam-packed with high-quality, agreeable clients who want to pay top-dollar for your services.

Yeah, that doesn’t really work that way.

You have to struggle, you have to claw. You have to – *shudder* – network. You have to kiss up to clients to get good feedback and half-decent testimonials that you can give to your next prospect. You have to take low-paying gigs just to get off the ground and you may have to hang around that office a little longer and laugh at your boss’s jokes.

Think of starting a business like losing weight – one pound at a time. You don’t start a diet and look fantastic the next day. Unfortunately, when it comes to lifestyle design & location independence, this can be the expectation.

In my case, I might as well be starting out all over again after four years of grinding it out. As a freelancer, just about all of my work was done through other marketing firms, meaning I have no access to past clients, the testimonials are for the firm, not me, and the clients’ names and credentials all belong to the firm.

As far as the world is concerned, I didn’t do a thing for four years but the firms I worked for sure have cranked out some quality work, apparently. I’m a nobody. I might as well have spent the last two years living in my parents’ basement alone because there’s no evidence that I even existed professionally. Lesson learned.

So I’m in the same boat all you other aspiring LIPs are in but the good news is that we have plenty of opportunity, we just need to go out & snag it. Here’s what we’re going to do about it:

We’re creating a killer portfolio…

It can be mock-ups or little jobs that you’ve done already. Doesn’t matter. You need to have something to prove your worth. Make up a bunch of companies if you really have to. Good, small clients see the talent through the lackluster credentials and will be willing to take a chance on you.

We’re starting a blog…

Ah yes, the ultimate “me too” advice. Everybody tells you to start a blog. They’re right. A blog gives you a venue to showcase your talent. It gives you the psychological advantage of knowing you’re working on something, at least.

It also gives you the chance to network without having to attend 7:00am Chamber of Commerce breakfasts where everybody is trying to sell to everybody else and nothing gets done for 2 hours (been there, done that ).

I didn’t wake up one morning and decide to start writing for the blog here at Location Independent Professionals. I built up a reputation and relationship with Lea (on Twitter, in fact) and used my own blog to establish some credibility. You can network with tons of people who might come across your blog and opportunities will start opening up because of this.

We’re hopping on a job board like Elance or Guru...

A big “thank you” goes to Sarah (my fellow blogger here) for emailing this suggestion. Ironically, I had already started using Elance before she emailed me but it’s still a great idea.

For bigger, more established professionals however, Elance looks awful. People see Elance as a place where bidders undercut each other for cheap, lousy work. Certainly that happens, but you know what? I’ve been undercut in the “big professional” world too. I’ve seen cheap, lousy work there too. Elance is full of big-time opportunities and so are other job boards.

The secret, in the beginning at least, is to take the smaller jobs first. For a writer, that may mean writing 35 content articles on horses (been there, too). Take the ones you hate but kick some major butt at them. Build up that profile, get that great feedback and the big dogs will be willing to listen to your bid on their monster project later on.

Most importantly, take whatever you can get. Check your standards at the door. While I wouldn’t advise you do anything you are morally against, in the beginning you do need to grab anything that comes your way. It may feel demeaning, but everybody has to pay their dues a little bit. It’ll be worth it in the long run.

The biggest point is that you prove your experience. You are only worth what your client perceives you to be worth. If they don’t think you’re worth $5 an hour, you’re not worth $5 an hour. Work your tail off and build up some experience. Then when you demand what you are worth, people will take notice.

Potential LIP Businesses: Virtual Assistants

Potential LIP Business: Freelance Writer

Welcome Guardian Readers!

2010-01-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

Welcome Guardian Readers!: "

If you’ve come here from our recent feature in The Guardian Travel section, then welcome to our site and our community!

If you’re new to the concept of Location Independence, it’s about being able to live & work from anywhere you choose – which usually means you can and need to be able to:

Earn an income online via a business and/or passive streams of income

Travel the world at the same time, or simply work from home or the coffee shop down the road

Navigate your way around the ever-changing technology & social media “scene”

We’ve got a lot of resources to help you – and our #1 mission is to enable anybody who wants to, to become location independent. Here are a few you might like to check out:

The (original) blog for Location Independent Professionals

Our new blog for Location Independent Parents (or aspiring ones!)

Our Location Independent eBook which shares our story & a practical roadmap for how to get started and become location independent yourself

The recently-launched Location Independent TV site with episodes & clips from our life on the road.

To see all the sites & resources in our network, click on the drop-down box up in the right-hand corner of our site. And if you’ve any questions, drop us a line on Twitter or on Facebook.

No related posts.

59 Second Course in Thinking & The Switch

2010-01-04T22:36:00.000-08:00

59 Second Course in Thinking & The Switch

10 Best Habits for Great Content

2010-01-01T00:23:00.000-08:00

10 Best Habits for Great Content: "The New Year provides a great opportunity to reset writing habits that will allow you to build better content and a stronger website. Becoming a better writer does include writing better content, but other traits and habits are equally important for providing great content on a consistent basis.
10 Tips for Content Writing Habits

1. Be Accountable [...]"

Phil Montero 2.0 – Why 2 heads are better than one!

2009-12-10T22:32:00.000-08:00

Phil Montero 2.0 – Why 2 heads are better than one!: "

I recently entered a fun video contest sponsored by HotHardware.com and Viddler where they asked you to upload a short video telling them about your personal hardware or tech gear and why it enhances your world. The prize was a Flip UltraHD Camcorder. These amazing video cameras shoot in HD and are small enough to fit in your pocket (a perfect addition to The Anywhere Office). I’ve been wanting one for a while so when I saw the contest I just had to enter! After some brainstorming with Jason we came up with a fun idea that not only highlighted some great tech but also explained the productivity boost I get from using it. There were some very creative entries to the contest but happily about a week ago they announced me as the winner (waaahoo)! Here is my winning entry:

If you’re not familiar with their website, HotHardware.com features computing/hardware news and reviews f0r technology enthusiasts and IT professionals. They have a wonderful active community and I highly recommend you sign up for free and join in the discussions.

In a recent post I talked about the importance of “sandbox time” and play when learning new technology. This contest entry is a perfect example. I’ve been wanting to learn more about editing video with Sony Vegas for some time. Instead of diving into a work project where I would be under a deadline and worried about making mistakes, I used this contest entry as a way to do something light and fun. I learned a lot of great editing tricks in order to quad myself and get the timing right on the various shots.

Well, I got my Flip camera in the mail yesterday (I was very excited when the UPS guy came to my door – I love getting my hands on new technology) so I thought I would post one of my first videos with it here so you can see how it plays!

Viddler.com still has uploading HD video in beta and my account hasn’t been granted that feature yet – so what you are seeing above doesn’t do the Flip it’s full justice – once they enable HD on my account I’ll repost this video in full 720 HD glory!

You can look forward to a lot more videos coming soon – the Flip makes it fun and easy – the way technology is supposed to be!

Sandbox Time – The Importance of Play When Learning New Technology

2009-11-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

Sandbox Time – The Importance of Play When Learning New Technology: "

One challenge many teams and organizations face is getting their people to use and embrace much of the amazing collaboration software and technology that is available. In working with virtual teams, we find that many people tend to fall back on email rather than shared online work spaces – or opt for traditional conference calls rather than using web meeting or conferencing services.

Find Their Comfort Zone

The biggest stumbling block is getting your team comfortable with the new software or service and truly understanding the benefits it provides.

In short, why would it make my life or job easier?

Far too few companies provide training on these technologies – so you and your colleagues are forced to figure it out as you go along or after a very brief tutorial. This sink-or-swim mentality causes many of these powerful tools to go untouched and impedes productivity.

The secret to turn this all around is simple . . . play!

The Power of Play

Play is a non-threatening way to remove stress from learning and encourage exploration of the features of new technology. Create some type of project for your team that’s fun and everyone will be excited about using the new tool.

Want your team to start using SharePoint or some other type of web-based discussion board or collaboration space? Why not setup a place where they can share recipes, bios, and information about their hobbies and families?

Want them to use WebEx or some other meeting service? Create time to have a regular virtual water cooler where they can share photos, create a poll about which books or movies are their favorites, or pass control of the desktop around to write a story together (with each person typing their paragraph into Word) or give a tour of favorite useful websites.

Play Let’s People Succeed and Fail – Safely

Let’s face it, no one wants to explore using a new technology or tool with the pressure of a project deadline; or the possibility of looking foolish in front of peers and co-workers if you are not using it correctly. I’m extremely comfortable with technology, always have been, and I attribute that mostly to the fact that I play with it and explore it’s features before trying to use it for something important.

When trying to learn Sony Vegas for video editing I didn’t create some critical video for my business website – instead I took some family footage and created something fun to share with friends. When looking to learn more about desktop publishing I didn’t immediately create a company newsletter – I created a mock CD cover for my band.

The only limit is your imagination!

Ask the people on your team, they may have some great ideas for fun projects. This is extremely useful for virtual teams: using a fun, playful approach to learning new technology not only leads to greater technology adoption and increased productivity, but also encourages informal communication and team building, which in turn increases trust and accountability.

It’s not just about choosing the right tool – it’s how you thoughtfully apply it. So find ways for your team to play with the tools you want them to adopt and you’ll be amazed at how quickly they find new ways to apply them to their work process and teamwork.

Have you used “play” in your work environment? Post a comment below and tell us about it!

(Thanks to Webex for featuring this as a Guest Post on their Ideas in Motion blog. I highly recommend this blog where they share ideas and tips for innovation and working smarter)

Amazon Delivers Kindle for PC — Works Great on a Netbook

2009-11-11T08:14:00.000-08:00

Amazon Delivers Kindle for PC — Works Great on a Netbook: "
Amazon’s Kindle for PC beta application arrives this morning. The software supports Windows XP, Vista and 7 machines, while Amazon says that a Mac version is coming soon. What’s ingenious about this app — as well as the iPhone app before it — is that you can read Amazon Kindle books without buying the Kindle hardware. With a Windows version, Amazon is expanding their potential customer base to 85% or more of computer users. Reading books on a computer certainly isn’t the same experience as reading them on a light eInk device or a handheld, but I could see this swaying more money into Amazon’s bank account. Fortunately the application is NOW AVAILABLE IN CANADA as of November 17, 2009.

I downloaded and installed the beta app on the Windows 7 partition of my Toshiba NB205 netbook this morning. Once I signed in to my Amazon account, I was able to see all 44 of my archived book purchases with full color covers. Books can be sorted by Title or Author. A double-tap downloads the book and you’re off and running. Page navigation can be done by mouse, arrow keys or Page Up/Down keys. There are 10 font sizes to choose from and you can modify the page width using a “Words per line” slider. Kindle for PC does support Whispersync, so the software will pick up from the last read position if you were reading on a Kindle. Or you can read on your PC and your Kindle will synchronize to that point when you move from PC to Kindle.

Notes, highlights and bookmarks also sync to the PC, but with this version of the software, there’s no way to make notes or highlight text on the PC — you can bookmark pages, however. Amazon is also planning to add search and zoom / image rotation to Kindle for PC in a future version. Of course, you shop directly for Kindle books, but not within the application. Clicking the “Shop in Kindle store” button opens your default browser where you can then send samples to or purchase full titles. Now that my software is registered, I see a “Kevin’s Kindle for PC” delivery option for content. It’s worth noting that Windows 7 users with touch supported hardware gain one bonus now and one in the future. The current app supports touch zooming with a two-fingered pinch. In an upcoming release, Amazon will add page turning with finger swipes.

Since I have a Kindle, I’ll still rely on it for my daily reading. I generally take the Kindle everywhere, but on the off-chance I don’t bring it, I usually have my netbook with me, which will make for decent backup reading device. I’ll still likely use Kindle for iPhone as well, but that would be for a different scenario. When I have five or ten minutes of just standing around, the iPhone does the trick. If I can sit somewhere and I’ll want to read for a longer period of time, the netbook will be my tool of choice. And if I have my Kindle with me, it will likely trump both options, provided I have enough light to read the eInk display. The only exception might be a graphic novel of some type as the PC app supports reading color.

Global Tools and Downloads

2009-11-02T20:19:00.000-08:00

Global Tools and Downloads: "

Thanks for following along in this global series. The last part I would like to share with you are some of the Global Tools I use to keep this all going smoothly. If it weren’t for the following tools, I would not be able to live the fun nomadic life that I do. Take some time to review the list and implement any of the downloads that fit for your business!

Recommended Global Tools & Downloads

WordPress- This is who I use for my blog. I highly recommend it because it is easy, even for first time users. Just having WP is ok, but knowing how to make it function so you get a greater audience is why you pay a professional.

Skype- I use Skype for my weekly client coaching calls, and also to communicate with my family. If the other users are signed up with skype, your calls are free. You can also purchase Skype credit to make calls to landlines and cell phones. I use this to check in with my friends and family, or to call potential clients that do not have Skype already. The calls are only two cents a minute to any country so consider setting it up even if you just want to stay connected with international friends!

Firefox- I have saved a ton of time since changing my browser to Firefox. I can save my pages without having to re-open them later. This, alone, has saved me hours of research time and redundant opening of windows. Use it. Love it.

Gmail- Outlook isn’t global, gmail is. I have switched out and never felt better. Global is better. I can check email from anywhere, forward several accounts to one, share documents, have a calendar, and store my contacts. They *of course* have better search tools for your email, as well. Save time, get gmail.

Twitter tools- There are several tools that integrate with social media and make your life easier. I use a few that integrate well with Twitter because that is my main tool. Currently, I use Su.pr to track my posts and shorten my address. Ping.fm is great if you want to simultaneously update facebook, twitter and linkedin (plus a variety of other tools). For checking in on updates, I use Twhirl. It is easiest to do multiple Retweets, or to thank people that are saying great things about you. Another twitter tool you might want to check out is Destroy Twitter. This is another integration tool and you can manage your tweets through your dashboard.

Play around with these tools and see which combination work best for you. The ease of use and time saving should help you to better manage your global tools so that you can spend your time more efficiently. I’d rather you be seeing the world and enjoying your life, so get to downloading!!

Thanks so much for participating in this blog series. It is my hope that you now feel more equipped to take your business online and go global. There are many other tips and tricks you can find my visiting my website. Feel free to be in touch, leave a comment, and let me know future posts you would like to see on this sight.

If you’ve got a question, I’ve got an answer! Leave ‘em below! Also, if you have other tools you would recommend, please add them here so we can all benefit!

A Life Lesson By Rick Butts

2009-10-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

Hi and welcome back

In the book "The Leader In You" the writers devote a whole chapter to attitude.

The saying goes "change your attitude and you can change your life".

Rick reviews one story from the book "The Four Hour Work Week" that helps us to see the importance of our attitude.

Have a look...

As Rick says "it's all about FREEDOM"

for more of what I like:

check out my site.

and/or join my NETFRIENDS

email me anytime @ garydotgray

Till next post.

Smiles :o)

Gary

Learn How to Create Your Own Membership Site - Free Report

2009-10-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

Learn How to Create Your Own Membership Site - Free Report: "

If there was one emerging trend spoken about more than anything else in the Make Money Blogging track at Blog World Expo it was ‘membership sites’. A number of sessions were directly on the topic while quite a few others touched on the topic (including the ones I spoke on).

It seems more and more bloggers are looking to expand in this way - whether it be by setting up teaching courses, starting paid forums or setting up areas where they offer subscribers exclusive content to paying subscribers.

By no means is it the only model to make money online - but it is one that more and more bloggers are looking towards and one that we’re even seeing more mainstream media doing also.

Yaro has this week relaunched a free report on the topic of Membership Sites - The Membership Site Mastermind Report.

The reports shares how Yaro uses membership sites to make a six figure income, how he runs the technology side of things, gives insights on how he gets members to stick on his sites and more. It’s a free report to anyone who gives an email address.

Yaro will be relaunching his Membership Site Mastermind course in the next week or so - but this report is free and contains useful information even if you go no further than downloading it and not going on with the full course.

PS: Get more free teaching on Membership Sites from Yaro in these two videos here and here. Also check out an interview Yaro did with Daniel Scocco on his $10,000 a month membership site.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Learn How to Create Your Own Membership Site - Free Report

Wordpress 2.8.5 Upgrade

2009-10-23T05:26:00.000-07:00

Wordpress 2.8.5 Upgrade: "

* Wordpress 2.8.5 Upgrade
Content powered by Maria Reyes-McDavis Social Media Marketing Blog *

Wordpress has released the latest version of it’s popular blogging platform that increases security and provides necessary fixes within its coding. All bloggers who are able (figure that out below), should upgrade to ensure your blog is not vulnerable to security risks.

Why Upgrade?

The version is considered a security upgrade and is mandatory for all Wordpress blogs run on self-hosted servers. The developers are calling this released a hardening release because it tightens up your blogs security. According to Wordpress.org the release addresses these key problems:

A fix for the Trackback Denial-of-Service attack that is currently being seen.

Removal of areas within the code where php code in variables was evaluated.

Switched the file upload functionality to be whitelisted for all users including Admins.

Retiring of the two importers of Tag data from old plugins.

To make it plain and simple, it fixes what needs to be fixed for your own good

Before the Upgrade

You should never just upgrade your Worpdress blog without doing due diligence before the upgrade, regardless of how large or small the upgrade is. Here’s a checklist I tell clients to follow before you begin your upgrade to help avoid any unnecessary drama:

Make sure all plugins are compatible with the upgrade. While you really only have to do this with major upgrades, like going from 2.6 to 2.8 — I say, why not just do it all the time to avoid issues. Complicated plugins can break with the smallest upgrades (like WP-Forum, WP Wishlist and WP eCommerce).

Head on over to the plugin page and see if anyone has reported issues;

and, search Wordpress.org for any reported issues.

Make sure your theme is compatible with the upgrade. Same issue as with plugins, not all themes are created equal. An upgrade can cause your theme to lose structure and cause custom coding to malfunction.

Head on over to your theme designers main page and search for reported issues;

and, search Wordpress.org for reported issues.

Always backup your blog database first. Always. If you own a Wordpress blog and do not know how to do this, you are a sitting duck. Take the time to learn it, now. If you’re using a hosting service like GoDaddy, you can easily backup any database with a click and if you don’t know how, call them — now. Wordpress also provides manual backup instructions that are fairly easy to follow.

Deactivate all plugins while upgrading. This will ensure that if you have missed potential conflicts in your due diligence, you won’t cause any serious problems. The key here is to then reactivate them one-by-one to ensure everything is groovy. You can simply “select all” and deactivate in one full swoop.

Do the Upgrade

You have three choices when deciding to upgrade:

Do an automatic upgrade through your hosting provider;

Complete the manual upgrade, detailed instructions here;

or, use the automatic upgrade feature within your blog dashboard.

Our team always completes the manual upgrade. It gives us more control over the process and ensures the upgrade is not hung up through the blog itself.

Get on with life…

That’s it! Now go and do something groovy for yourself

Barnes & Noble Nook is Official — Knocks the Kindle to the Curb

2009-10-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

Barnes & Noble Nook is Official — Knocks the Kindle to the Curb: "

The much ballyhooed e-book reader from Barnes & Noble is now officially announced. The Nook is smaller and thinner than I originally thought and from the photos and promotional video is pretty darn nice. The 6-inch E-Ink screen is indeed augmented with a small color LCD touchscreen at the bottom. This screen is used to interact easily with the Nook, making it simpler to operate than other readers.

The Nook has free 3G via AT&T which is used to shop for and download books to the reader. The Nook can be synced with other Barnes & Noble readers and devices, making it as versatile as the Amazon Kindle. Nook owners can lend e-books to friends for 14 days by “squirting” them to the friend’s reader, cell phone or computer. B&N is also touting the availability of free content available while in B&N stores.

The Nook can be pre-ordered now, but a firm shipping date has not been specified by B&N. The Nook is $259 with free shipping.

Specs:

Height: 7.7 inches

Width: 4.9 inches

Depth: 0.5 inches

Weight: 11.2 ounces (317 grams)

Wi-Fi

3G – AT&T

2GB internal storage, microSD slot

MP3 player

3.5mm headphone jack

internal mono speaker

USB charging, 3.5 hour charge time

Android OS

Growing mobile data use turned up heat on carriers in Q3. Read the, 'Mobile Q3 Wrap-up.'

Google Analytics Becomes More Powerful, Flexible and Intelligent

2009-10-20T19:08:00.000-07:00

Google Analytics Becomes More Powerful, Flexible and Intelligent: "

Google is rolling out some useful enhancements to its already useful and powerful Google Analytics tool. These new features give the Analytics tools more power, flexibility and intelligence.

Here are the highlights of the new features of Google Analytics:

Addition of two new goal types for measuring user engagement and branding success that allows webmasters to set thresholds for Time on Site and Pages per visit. Up to 20 goals can now be defined.

Improved tracking of mobile websites and mobile apps on mobile devices even if the device is running Javascript or not. This was made possible through the addition of a server side code snippet on mobile websites using Google Analytics

Addition of Advanced Table Filtering feature for advance data analysis and for filtering rows in a table based on different metric conditions

Creation of Custom Report with the option to select Unique Visitors as a measurement against any Google Analytics dimension

Multiple custom variables, sharing segments and custom report templates for enterprise adaptation of Google Analytics. These tools provide customization options for enterprise Google Analytics usage

These are the highlights of the enhancements that were done to Google Analytics but the most interesting new feature is perhaps the Analytics Intelligence. This new feature provides automatic alerts when there are significant changes in the data patterns of site metrics and dimensions on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Analytics Intelligence will prompt you on the most significant indicator that you should pay attention to. This will give you more time on doing corrective action to the issues highlighted by Google Analytics.

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

Google Analytics Becomes More Powerful, Flexible and Intelligent

Top 4 Takeaways from Blogworld Expo - #BWE09

2009-10-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

Top 4 Takeaways from Blogworld Expo - #BWE09: "

The last two days, I attended BlogWorld Expo, held in Las Vegas. The show covered a wide range of topics interesting to bloggers and podcasters, including topics for bloggers who want to turn their new media efforts into commercial successes, newbies wanting to get started and companies trying to develop strategies and processes for working with social media. I focused my time on the tracks relating to turning your blog or podcast into a commercial success.

From those tracks, I came away with four key takeaways for bloggers and podcasters who are trying to become commercial successes at what they do.

1. You have to be willing to work hard. Whether you’re trying to break through or already well known, you need to put in the hours to make it work. The evidence suggests that the most successful bloggers 3-5 times every day. Whether it’s blogging, podcasting, video, or micro-blogging, consistently producing lots of content is a key component of success.

2. You need to be the expert, or a least perceived as the expert. And you need to put in the time to stay ahead of others in your field. Expertise leads to credibilty which can lead to trust and conversion.

3. You need to develop and follow a process for successful new media marketing, capturing attention, engaging your audience, building influence and ultimately getting your audience to take action. I saw a great presentation on the topic from Jason Van Orden and will be providing detailed notes in a later post, so stay tuned.

4. Most of us need produce a signature product to be commercially successful. Making money via advertising just doesn’t seem to pay enough to make it work unless you have a huge audience. Whether it be an ebook, a coaching class or a continuity program, product seems to be the way people make good money. If you can develop a successful continuity program, that seems to be the most lucrative product.

Windows 7: A Graphics Powerhouse

2009-10-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

Windows 7: A Graphics Powerhouse: "Microsoft's new operating system takes a step towards the dream of GPU computing."

The Lost Art of Focus: Multi-tasking vs. Mono-tasking

2009-10-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

The Lost Art of Focus: Multi-tasking vs. Mono-tasking: "

Further research continues to indicate that focusing on more than one task at a time actually decreases productivity and may jeopardize the fundamental quality of our work and communication. But this data seems to contradict what many people hold as the vision of a fully engaged and adapted 21st century worker.

The people who engage in media “multitasking” are those least able to do so well, according to researchers. This recent BBC article examines the results of a study done at Stanford University.

And this NPR radio segment also highlights some enlightening research into multi-tasking.

But in today’s workplace, and even just in our day to day lives in the information age, a certain amount of multi-tasking is unavoidable. So it seems the skill to develop is knowing when, where, and what to multi-task. Ali Hale weighs in with what I feel is a reasonable and well thought out opinion in her article ‘Multi-Tasking vs. Mono-Tasking’:

So how do you know when you should “multi-task” and when you should “mono-task”? And how do you manage to do the latter? Some things lend themselves brilliantly to multi-tasking. These tend to be activities which are purely physical, or which by their nature take a set amount of time to complete – however well you focus.

All of this has given me food for thought – as I am a person who is prone to multi-tasking and have convinced myself that I am pretty good at the juggling routine. In fact, I half-jokingly said to my brother just the other day, ‘I’ve got to focus, no more multi-tasking, from now on I’m only going to do two or three things at a time.’

So, here’s a little eye-opening challenge if you feel the same way: try this online game called MULTITASK and see if it might start to change your opinion.

Inspirational Destinations: Location Independent in Costa Rica

2009-10-02T05:42:00.000-07:00

Inspirational Destinations: Location Independent in Costa Rica: "

Image by Peter Sheik

In this month’s Inspirational Destinations post, we’ve interviewed the author of the brand new Little LIP Guide to Nosara about Costa Rica as a Location Independent destination.

It’s a place already pretty popular with LIPs and Nancy Sun explains why…

Can you briefly introduce yourself & your business?

I am a new location independent professional. This summer, I let go of my Wall Street career to become a certified yoga instructor and professional freelance writer. Online, I am parlaying my 10+ years of personal blogging experience to launch the health and wellness blog HappinessPie.com. Its mission is to inspire conscious living on and off the yoga mat.

You wrote a great guide on Nosara, Costa Rica for us, how long have you spent in Costa Rica so far & what made you first visit?

I have visited Costa Rica three times; my last trip ended in August and lasted just under 3 months. My first visit in Winter 2007 was by accident: I was planning to go to Thailand but by the time I finally got employer approval, however, ticket prices had skyrocketed!

In search of closer, more budget-friendly tropical waters, I booked a flight to Costa Rica. I immediately fell in love with the country and have been spending increasingly longer periods of time there. I am returning this November for 6 months!

I am not alone in my love of Costa Rica. This summer, the country was named “The Happiest and Greenest Place to Live” by the New Economics Foundation. The Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica also recently received a lot of attention as a ‘blue zone’ where people are scientifically regarded to live the longest, healthiest lives. The town of Nosara is located on this peninsula.

How LIP-friendly is Costa Rica in your experience? What about Spanish? Is it a must-have or can you get by with just the basics?

I find Costa Rica to be very LIP-friendly. All the towns I have visited have Internet cafes and high-speed wireless is increasingly common.

LIPs have greatly benefited from Costa Rica’s $1.92 billion tourism industry. It is currently the most visited country in Central America. There is also a real estate development push here to market the country as a great place for a vacation, second, or retirement home. As such, many towns are creating infrastructure to accommodate the ‘first world’ technological amenities that LIPs need to thrive.

Linguistically, Spanish is not a ‘must have.’ English gets many people by. In fact, I have had many friends who’ve spent years here and bemoan that their Spanish should be better. That said, even attempting basic Spanish is looked well upon and can get you far. I’m not fluent myself and have not had any problems.

Image by Wha’ppen

Nosara sounds like a fantastic place – where else would you recommend in Costa Rica?

I would recommend Santa Teresa / Malpais, which recently got press for being the site of American football player Tom Brady and Supermodel Gisele Bundchen’s second wedding ceremony. That said, however, Santa Teresa is far from glitz and glamour – it is a small, friendly, and heavily surf-oriented beach town that is very LIP-friendly with several free wifi hotspots.

Well-known American tourist spot Tamarindo (and its surrounding beaches) is also highly LIP-friendly though more commercialized. Burger King and the American pizza chain Papa John’s have both recently set up shop. Puerto Viejo is alluring for those who want to see the Caribbean side and seek calmer, snorkel- and scuba dive- friendly waters.

As a place to visit, I recommend Arenal: the view of the volcano and its surrounding l hot springs, Tabacon ($$) or Thermopolis ($) are worth a weekend trip.

As a tourist, what’s been your best experience so far?

I’ve had many good experiences in Costa Rica: I’ve done the requisite rainforest zipline and canopy tour, jumped off waterfalls in Montezuma and learned to surf almost daily while gazing at sunsets over the Pacific ocean.

My best experience, however, was an impromptu 5-hour hitchhike I made from Nosara to the neighboring beach town of Playa Grande. My friend Jordan and I missed the public bus and rather than take a taxi, decided to see how far we could get depending on the kindness of strangers.

The verdict was ‘all the way.’ In addition to watching the passing scenery, I loved seeing who stopped, who didn’t, and meeting everyone who nudged us in the right direction in-between. I even made a video about my experience.

This hitchhike was a great experience as it was one of many events this year that helped me make my decision to live unconventionally.

Image by ChrisGoldNY

What challenges or drawbacks would you mention for anyone (LIPs) considering living or visiting Costa Rica?

LIPs should protect their valuables and passports. While Costa Rica has a low violent crime rate, petty theft is high. I have come across quite a few travelers who have had items stolen – even if that means just your flip flops on the beach!

Foreigners can get lulled into a false sense of security here because the locals are friendly, many of the towns are small, and they themselves are in a vacation state of mind. Don’t be fooled!

There is still an economic disparity between first world travelers and many of the locals in this developing country. Always make sure your residence is secure and lock your laptop, camera, mp3 players, etc. in a safe when not in use.

Any final insider tips or words of wisdom for LIPs visiting or wanting to live in Costa Rica?

While in transit from one town to another, let go of any expectations of the time you will arrive. Direct public buses may stop for locals and you might find a deep riverbed intersecting the very road you need to cross.

Be flexible and patient; things always work themselves out. You will get to your final destination – even if it means getting towed by the Costa Rican Off Road 2008 Champion in the Four Cyclinder Jeep category (as once happened to my friend)!

As the Ticos say, pura vida!

Are you interested in visiting Costa Rica as a Location Independent Professional? Do you want the low-down on one of the best places to head to, written by Nancy (interviewed above)?

We’ve just released the The Little LIP Guide to Nosara, available for instant download.

Next Generation Is for the Cloud?

2009-10-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

Next Generation Is for the Cloud?: "

Could anyone rely on the clouds some years ago? And nowadays we have an innovation that can save much time and lots of money.

The term “Cloud” was first borrowed from telephony. Telephone companies were able to offer Virtual Private Network (VPN) based services with the same guaranteed bandwidth as fixed circuits at a lower cost because they could switch traffic to balance utilization as they saw fit, thus utilizing their overall network bandwidth more effectively. The term “telecom cloud” was used to describe this type of networking, and cloud computing is conceptually somewhat similar.

The concept of cloud computing dates back to 1960 when John McCarthy said that “computation may someday be organized as a public utility”. The term cloud had already come into commercial use in the early 1990 and in 1995 General Magic launched a short-lived cloud computing product. By the turn of the 21st century, the term “cloud computing” began to appear more widely and nowadays it includes three categories such as: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

A cloud service has three distinct characteristics that differentiate it from traditional hosting. It is sold on demand, typically by the minute or the hour; it is elastic – a user can have as much or as little of a service as they want at any given time; and the service is fully managed by the provider.

A cloud can be private or public. A public cloud sells services to anyone on the Internet. A private cloud is a proprietary network or a data center that supplies hosted services to a limited number of people. When a service provider uses public cloud resources to create their private cloud, the result is called a virtual private cloud. Anyway the goal of cloud computing is to provide easy, scalable access to computing resources and IT services. The majority of cloud computing infrastructure consists of reliable services delivered through data centers and built on servers with different levels of virtualization technologies. The services are accessible anywhere that provides access to networking infrastructure.

Cloud computing customers do not generally own the physical infrastructure serving as host to the software platform in question. They consume resources as a service and pay only for what they really use.

Cloud computing is criticized for limiting the freedom of users and making them dependent on the cloud computing provider. Even if data are securely stored in a cloud, many factors can temporarily disrupt access to the data, such as network outages, denial of service attacks against the service provider, and a major failure of the service provider infrastructure.

In spite of the fact that cloud computing limits the freedom of users and makes them dependent on the cloud computing provider, it still remains a reliable service accessible anywhere that provides access to networking infrastructure.

Kristina Frangulyan is a Marketing Specialist at Monitis Inc. She has graduated the faculty of philology and a pedagogy (Armenian, Russian, Spanish, English). Her interests include Search Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media , Marketing itself.

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

Next Generation Is for the Cloud?

E-learning, cloud computing, distributed work, and telecommuting (Techwatch Radio interview)

2009-09-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

E-learning, cloud computing, distributed work, and telecommuting (Techwatch Radio interview): "

I had the pleasure of joining my friends Sam Bushman and Jay Harrison, the hosts of Techwatch Radio, last Saturday on their weekly tech talk show. I’ve been a fairly regular guest on their show over the last 5 years and always enjoy the discussions we have. What I love about their show is that, much like this blog, they take a practical approach to technology and living a digital lifestyle.

The program consists of fast-paced news, callers, guests, and features such as the website of the week and the do’s and dont’s of tech. Sam and Jay focus on balancing technology in your life and letting hi-tech serve you, not own you! Their fun, casual way of simplifying complex issues will help the average person get up-to-speed on the tricks and tools for the times we live in.

Last week I joined them for the second half of the show and we discussed elearning, managing remote workers, the growth of telecommuting, why I’m drinking the Apple Kool-Aid (and switching to a Mac soon), cloud computing, and the shifts involved with successful distributed work. You can listen using the player below and I invite you to comment on this post and share your thoughts on these topics and our discussion.

Techwatch Radio can be heard Saturday mornings from 10-11am ET. You can listen live from anywhere online or download past shows from their RSS feed. I subscribe to their podcast and listen on my iPod Touch so I don’t miss a thing!

Girls Go Geek with Felicia Day & Kathleen Zuelch

2009-09-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

Girls Go Geek with Felicia Day & Kathleen Zuelch: "

For the past couple of months, I’ve been working with my team at MGImedia.ca to produce and host a series on Xbox LIVE in the U.S. Four weeks after each show “airs” on LIVE, we’re featuring it on our own site called Girls Go Geek. It’s been loads of fun doing this series, mostly because I get a chance to officially geek out with some of the finest ladies in the biz. Check out our first two shows, pasted below for your viewing pleasure. Please feel free to share the episodes, just so we can all get the word out about these amazing ladies.

Should You Use a Localized Domain Name?

2009-09-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Should You Use a Localized Domain Name?: "

I’m regularly asked about local domain names and whether they are worth using on a blog.

My answer usually revolves around the question of ‘what audience are you trying to reach?‘ Let me explain.

When I first secured my own domain name I chose a .au (Australia) domain without really giving much thought to it. I figured as I was an Aussie I might as well include that in the domain and as the .com version of the domain was taken I though it was the next logical step. That was a naive decision and one that I regretted later (although it did have some benefits too).

There were a number of impacts of having a local domain:

the blog ranked relatively well in Google.com.au’s results - being an easily identified Aussie site it seemed to get priority when Aussies were searching for terms related to it

the blog didn’t rank as well on Google.com - .com domains (and other non localised ones) seemed to get ranked higher in other international versions of Google

confusion with readers - time and time again I heard from readers that they kept forgetting to add the .au. As a result they ended up on other sites and some gave up on even coming to the site.

Ultimately it was a mistake for me because my goal was to connect with an international audience rather than just and Australian one. I ended up with some good Aussie search traffic which was nice but it could have ranked better internationally which probably cost me traffic.

Take Home Advice: As a result, I generally advise people to go for a local domain name IF they are trying to reach a local audience. If you’re looking to connect with an international audience go for the .com or another non localised domain like .net or .org (.com is my #1 preference though).

The other reason to get a localised version of a domain in addition to the .com is as a defensive move OR if you think you might produce a local version of your blog at some point in the future. Having the local domain means someone else can’t get it and it gives you the option of expanding into local markets (as Gawker blogs have done with some of their more popular blogs).

Do you use a local domain name? What are the advantages or disadvantages from your perspective?

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Should You Use a Localized Domain Name?

Do You See Your Situation In Any Of These Fascinating Case Studies?

2009-09-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

Do You See Your Situation In Any Of These Fascinating Case Studies?: "We’ve got 3 eye-opening interviews to share with you today.
All on the breakthroughs offered by the Simple Writing System. To make more money… to dominate a crowded niche… to start a hot new career… all fueled by a new ability to persuade, influence, and sell.
First up: Case Study #52
Forcing business owners to pay Big Bucks [...]"

TechWatch Radio 234

2009-09-27T10:01:00.000-07:00

TechWatch Radio 234: "TWR20090926 * Twins Tech * Revisiting Lynda.com * e-Learning * Nintendo Wii drops price * Special deal on the older Gamecube. * http://tinyurl.com/Buy-comGameCubeTWR * GUEST: Phil Montero, TheAnywhereOffice.com * http://www.TheAnywhereOffice.com"

Mobile Tech Minutes — Evernote

2009-09-22T15:12:00.000-07:00

Mobile Tech Minutes — Evernote: "

Evernote is a true platform agnostic, note taker / collector supreme. It runs on just about every mobile device out there and makes grabbing information a snap. I show the basic operation of the program and demonstrate how it makes it easy to find nuggets of information. Of course, Evernote is cloud-based, so information grabbed anywhere is instantly available on all of the devices you might use. Pay attention to the security aspects Evernote raises for those in the habit of leaving sensitive documents up on the computer screen. I show how I can capture a full page of a document on a computer screen in a second or two, and have a searchable copy of it on every device I use. You may find it unsettling.

Read our latest analysis piece, 'Mobile Sites Show Little Improvement.' Only on GigaOM Pro.

Lessons Learned On The Road That Benefit A Stay-At-Home Lifestyle

2009-09-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

Lessons Learned On The Road That Benefit A Stay-At-Home Lifestyle: "

Image by Topyti

Over the past 9 months, we’ve experienced what it’s like to be living a nomadic lifestyle and then come ‘home’ again to a more settled existence.

Call it reverse lifestyle design if you will but it’s certainly been a unique experience – and one that most nomads and location independent professionals will likely experience at some point in their lives.

With all the excitement of being pregnant, giving birth and coping with a newborn, coming ‘home’ to the UK was a welcome relief (something I didn’t expect myself to feel. Ever) but now we’re starting to get itchy feet again and are seriously planning our first trip as location independent parents, with the babe in tow.

Although much of the advice you’ll read about nomadism, location independence and lifestyle design is focused on the tips, tricks, resources & the mindset you need to become nomadic, being location independent isn’t just about the permanent travelling lifestyle – it’s about having the freedom to choose where, when and how you work and live.

And we’ve learned plenty of things whilst on the road which we’ve found just as beneficial when settled in one place…

Budgets

I regret very few things in my life so far and of the three that I can think of, two of them are too personal to share here. The one I can share however, is that I truly do regret spending so much money as a corporate rat-racer. I can’t even begin to think what I did with the ridiculous salary I earned as a 25 year old – often twice as much as most of my peers.

All I know is that I left the rat race with very little of it still sitting in my bank. “If only…” is not a phrase you’ll catch me using often but if only I’d saved half that salary, we’d be flying first class everywhere.

Since becoming location independent, we set a weekly food budget in each new destination we visit. This is largely to avoid any careless mishaps or miscalculations with foreign currency but also so we can compare the cost of living in the various places we visit (and report back on them here!).

We’ve continued doing this since being back in the UK this time and what’s eye-opening are the frivolities you purchase without a thought when you have a home base…bits & bobs for the house, clothes, gadgets and stuff that you don’t need. Setting and attempting to stick to a budget, at least gives you pause for thought with every purchase.

Lesson learned: If you’re trying to become location independent, money (or not enough of it) is quite possibly a sticking point for you. Get into good habits right now and set & stick to a budget, if you can. At the very least, always have a clear idea of where your money goes each week and where, if necessary, you can make savings.

De-cluttering

When you need to pack everything you own into a 60 litre bag and cart it with you to your next destination, it’s much easier not to purchase superfluous things you see whenever you walk into a shop with pretty things. When you’re on the road, a declutter before you leave each destination is almost a necessity so that everything fits back into your bag.

Since we’ve been back in the UK, we’ve de-cluttered the house three times: twice before the baby and once since the baby was born. No doubt we’ll have another big clear-out before we head off on our first trip again.

This is a great practice to get into, whether you’re nomadic or not, for several reasons:

It can make you money if you sell your stuff on ebay

It means you’ll have less work to do the next time you decide to pack up & head off

It feels great to streamline your stuff

Lesson learned: Get into the habit of clearing out your life regularly; it’s not only great to create physical space, it also helps create mental space and keeps you and your life streamlined and agile.

“I Want That”

Tied in to both the first and second points, since becoming location independent we’ve developed a strong aversion to buying stuff for the sake of it – we’ve pretty much conquered the “I want that” mentality although take me into a gadget shop and it might surface quite quickly again!

We’ve also applied this to having our baby – instead of spending a small fortune buying all equipment known to man-kind before she was born, we opted instead to buy the bare minimum to wait & see what we really needed once she was here.

We’ve caught ourselves falling into the trap of buying stuff for the sake of it a couple of times – and each time, we’ve ended up regretting the purchase a few days later.

Lesson learned: Adopt the habit of questioning yourself whenever you make a purchase. Ask yourself whether it’s really vital that you have whatever it is you want and whether it’s going to make life easier or it’s just something you want for the sake of it. Is it an asset or a liability?

No Mindless TV

More recently, watching almost zero TV has had more to do with our lives being based around a newborn’s schedule than anything else but when we’re overseas we rarely watch TV. We may watch some local programmes to get a flavour for the culture and vibe of a place and we sometimes watch the local news & weather.

Compare this to the average Brit or American who probably spends a good deal of their non-working time watching TV and indeed our own habits before we left the UK. I’m not going to sit on my soapbox and rubbish anyone who enjoys watching TV but it’s more a case of questioning where you spend your time – particularly if you’re currently unhappy with your lot in life.

Lesson learned: TV can be a great way to switch off but there are far more productive and valuable things you can be doing with your time than mindless goggle-boxing. Action rather than inaction is the only thing that’s going to get you to where you want to be. If you don’t do it for yourself, no-one else will.

Business Meetings

One habit we developed whilst on the road was to schedule regular business meetings with ourselves. This helped to set some sort of schedule to our week and kept us focused on the business side of things with all the distractions that our new surroundings often brought.

We both have fun projects to work on, so it never really feels like work – but that doesn’t mean we don’t take it seriously and to do that requires us to maintain focus on our strategies and regularly review what’s been happening.

As many work-from-home entrepreneurs will recognise, sometimes it’s easier to do things like this when you’re not actually at home; it means you set & stick to a scheduled time and don’t let it just fall by the wayside as something that can wait.

Lesson learned: Setting regular review meetings of your business is a valuable practice to adopt; not only does it provide you with a schedule to stick to, it gives you a regular opportunity to review what’s been working and what’s not, so you can adjust your approach accordingly.

Thirteen Steps to Write and Publish a Free Ebook In Thirteen Hours

2009-09-22T07:05:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Steps to Write and Publish a Free Ebook In Thirteen Hours: "

Have you ever considered producing an ebook for your blog readers? In this comprehensive post Ali Hale breaks down the process of how to do it.

There’s never enough time. In an ideal world, you’d be posting to your blog frequently, writing great guest posts, building relationships with other bloggers, and responding to every single comment … and all that’s more than you can manage. You might have considered writing an ebook as a companion to your blog, but you just can’t find the time or the energy for it.

You already know all the reasons to do it: you’ve downloaded your share of free ebooks from other blogs, and you’ve seen that:

Free ebooks can be used as what Sonia Simone calls “cookie content”, to entice newsletter sign-ups

Free ebooks can be a great traffic draw: they get twittered about and linked to

Just having a free ebook available on your site will subtly shift readers’ perceptions: they’ll see you as one of the “big guys” of the blogging world

But, of course, an ebook is harder to create than a blog post. A 25-page ebook is 4,000 words or more; you have to edit and proof-read carefully (once people are emailing that ebook to one another, you can’t fix that embarrassing typo or broken link); you’ll need PDF and ebook cover software if you want it to look professional; you have to launch it with a bang…

Writing an ebook isn’t an easy undertaking, and it’s something a lot of bloggers never do. That’s why, if you do write a high-quality free ebook, you’re going to stand out.

Here’s how I wrote, published and launched my free ebook in just thirteen hours and how you could do the same. My time broke down like this:

Writing an outline: 30 minutes

First draft of content: 4 hours

Adding some graphics: 1 hour 30 mins (mostly my boyfriend’s work!)

Redrafting and editing, inserting all links: 3 hours

Appendix of resources: 1 hour

Creating a cover: 1 hour 30 mins

Converting to pdf: almost instant!

Final proof-read and link-checking: 15 minutes

Launching and spreading the word: 1 hour 15 minutes

I spread the tasks above across four days: I’m a freelancer so my schedule’s quite flexible, but I do have to do a bit of paying work once in a while!

And here’s your 13-step guide to doing the same:

Step 1: Get an Idea

You need a clear concept for your ebook. An ebook isn’t a blog post – but it’s not a blog either: don’t make it a general overview of your niche (especially if it’s quite broad). Pick one category from your blog, or a topic which would make a series of blog posts.

I’d wanted to create a free ebook for a while, but it was one of those things I thought I’d get around to “when I have a bit more time”. Then I came up with an idea for a mini-series of two linked posts (Reframing Work #1: Ditching Drudgery and the Conventional View of “Work” and Reframing Work #2: Min Hours, Max Cash – or Do What You Love?) which would lead very naturally to the ebook (Quit Your Day Job). I decided I was going to go ahead and launch it, a week after the first post in the series. This led to…

Step 2: Tell Your Readers

Tell your readers that you’ll be bringing out a free ebook in a week or two weeks’ time. It’s amazing how a deadline – and public accountability – can motivate you!

You might want to make the announcement in a post, on Twitter, or to your newsletter list. Communicate a sense of excitement: tell readers you have a “treat” or “goodies” coming up. This is part of the pre-launch process of getting a buzz going. I personally find the word “freebie” can have a bit of a connotation of something cheap and rubbishy – but you might think differently!

Step 3: Write the Outline

If you write long blog posts, you might already be in the habit of outlining before you begin. With an ebook, this is crucial: you don’t want to write for hours only to find you’ve wandered far off-topic. Neither do you want to sit staring at a blank screen, wondering what you’re going to say next.

Open up a blank document or sit down with a piece of paper and write an outline before you go any further with your ebook. Everyone has different ways of doing this, but one which works well for me is:

Spend five minutes mind-mapping: write down your ebook’s title or theme in the centre of a piece of paper, then jot down all the points that come to mind

Eliminate any points which are too broad for the ebook’s scope. Order the rest in a logical sequence (I just jot a number next to each)

Type or write out the list in order. These are your subsections or chapters in the ebook.

Jot down at least two bullet points for each section, or a couple of sentences: these are the main points you’re going to make. Sometimes, you’ll want subheadings within each section.

If you think of a great idea for a graphic, or a resource (book, blog, etc) to recommend, write that down here too.

It might sound complicated, but if you sit down for an uninterrupted half-hour, you can easily get a complete outline written.

Once you’ve got a list of sections and subsections, think about roughly how long each will need to be. Aim for a total of around 4,000 words: this is about right for a 25-page ebook set in a large font: I like 14 pt Calibri (Word 2007) or 11 pt Verdana.

Step 4: Draft the Content

This step is the one which many bloggers find daunting – writing enough words to fill an ebook. If it seems overwhelming, try thinking about your ebook as a series of linked blog posts (with each subheading starting off a new post). Your outline really helps here, because it breaks writing your ebook into manageable chunks.

And these four tips should help too:

First: Get Rid of Distractions

It’s crucial that you avoid distractions while you’re writing. That means keeping away from emails, Twitter and Facebook till you’re done. You don’t need to write the whole ebook in one go – but try to give yourself a block of at least two hours to work on it, or set yourself the goal of drafting a certain number of sections.

If your family or housemates are likely to interrupt you, try heading off to a coffee shop or library for a few hours.

If you find it hard to concentrate, try using a full screen text program (I like Dark Room), or switch off your internet connection!

Second: Don’t Edit As You Write

This is your first draft, so forget any worries about the quality of your writing. Don’t keep editing sentences to try to make them perfect – just move on. You can come back and rewrite later: your current task is simply to get a complete draft down.

Third: Don’t Stop to Look Things Up

Don’t stop to look up links, quotes or statistics that you want to include. Just make a note to yourself in the body of the text. I tend to enclose these in square brackets [like this]. Stopping part-way through a paragraph or sentence breaks your flow … and it’s very easy to start looking up one quote and get distracted!

Fourth: Don’t Format While Drafting

Your finished ebook is going to be a visual masterpiece, with a cover page, section headings, subsection headings, bold text, italic text, lists, maybe tables and specially-formatted blockquotes…

Your first draft, however, should have few or none of these. It’s easy to get distracted with formatting, and it’s also inefficient to format before all the text’s written – you’ll find yourself changing a lot of things around.

Keep your formatting to a bare minimum while you’re drafting. You might find it useful to format headers and subheaders (make sure you know how to use styles in Word – don’t edit each header separately) – but the rest can wait.

Step 5: Add Any Graphics

Once the draft is complete, add any graphics that you want to include in your ebook. The type of graphics you use will depend on the topic of your ebook, but you might want to consider:

Charts to show statistics in a visual, instant way

Diagrams to explain complex concepts

Illustrations or photographs to complement the text

Small graphics to highlight tips, warnings or quotes

Don’t make the mistake of just using pictures to break up the text. If you use a large font size and use design elements well (just as you would in a blog post), then you don’t need to stuff your ebook with pictures. Graphics used for the sake of it don’t add much to the reading experience, and finding or creating suitable images can use up a lot of your time.

When you’re looking for graphics, be mindful of copyright laws. If you’re using images from Flickr licensed under Creative Commons, make sure you credit and link to the owner in the ebook. If you have a small budget for the ebook, you might consider buying stock photos from istockphoto or fotolia.

You should get your graphics in place at this stage because you may want to change around some of the text to explain or to tie in with the images you’ve chosen.

Step 6: Redraft and Edit Your Text

You’ve got your first draft done – the hardest part’s over. Now it’s time to revise, edit and polish your ebook until it shines!

As with the first draft, you need to find some uninterrupted time and space for this: it’s all too easy to make mistakes or forget to remove those “[notes to self]” when you’re getting interrupted.

It also helps if you follow a step-by-step method, working on one aspect of the redrafting and editing throughout the whole document, rather than trying to perfect each page as you go along.

My process for redrafting and editing is as follows:

Edit for Structure

Edit to Add Quotes, Examples and Links

Edit for Flow and Tone

First: Edit for Structure

Your first round of edits deal with the “big picture”: making sure that your chapters or sections are in the right order and cover all the points you wanted to make. Start at page one and read, fairly quickly, through the whole ebook. Look out for:

Sections which would work better in a different order

Places where you’ve repeated yourself in two different sections

Sections which are too short (you may need to expand and give more detail)

Sections which are too long (cut any waffle!)

Second: Edit to Add Quotes, Examples and Links

Once you’ve got the broad structure right, you can decide where best to enter quotes and examples. This will depend on the format of your ebook, but some things you may want to consider are:

Using an example, quote, tips box or case study to break up a long section of text

Creating a pattern: eg. opening or ending each section with a quote or case study

Putting all the links at the end of each sections for easy reference (even if you also link in the body of the text)

You may find that you need to move around a few sentences or paragraphs in order to make the quote, example or case study work well.

Third: Edit for Flow and Tone

Rewrite any sentences which sound clumsy or which are ambiguous. You might like to try reading your ebook aloud: this often highlights any over-long or complicated sentences!

This is also a good point to check that you’ve used a consistent tone of voice throughout your ebook. Did you start off chatty but then drop into a more formal style? If you’re not a naturally humorous writer, make sure that any jokes or puns you’ve included really are funny.

Step 7: Format Your Ebook

Now that the text is complete, go through and get everything into the right format. Set all your headers and subheaders, making sure that you use the “Styles and Formatting” feature of Word (or your chosen word processing program). Don’t set the font size and style each heading manually. It’s not only inefficient, it stops you making an automatic table of contents – more on that in a moment!

(You might want to read up on Styles and Formatting, if you’re not sure how to use this feature.)

Choose a modern, easy-to-read font for your text and for your headings. Make both text and headings quite large – bigger than you’d use in a document for work or school. As I mentioned in Step 3, I like 14 pt Calibri (Word 2007) or 11 pt Verdana.

As well as formatting your section headings, you’ll also want to use some of the formatting options that you’re familiar with from blogging. This might include:

Using bold to emphasise key points, and italics for emphasised words

Setting out quotes in a different style (eg. indented, or in a box) from the main text

Using a magazine-style “pull box” for quick tips

Breaking some paragraphs into lists, to help keep the reader’s attention

You’ll also want to put a header or footer on each page with, at the very least, the page number. Consider including the title of the ebook in the header/footer on each page (in case readers print it out). You could also put your name, your copyright notice, or the URL of your blog.

Note that if you’re including a cover (and I recommend that you do), you can tell Word to use a different header and footer on the first page.

Step 8: Add a Table of Contents and Appendix

An easy way to make your ebook instantly stand out from the crowd is to add a table of contents and/or an appendix. Professional ebooks (and paper books!) have these – so why shouldn’t yours?

If you’ve used Word’s Styles and Formatting feature to set up your headers, it’s really easy to add a table of contents. Just insert a new page at the start of your ebook, and (in Word 2007), go to the “References” tab, then click “Table of Contents” on the far left.

Word will automatically lay out the table with the headings, subheadings and page numbers. If you change the ebook after creating the table of contents, simply right-click on it and “update”. This is the table of contents from my ebook:

Appendix

In my ebook, I wanted to supply some ideas for further reading at the end. These didn’t fit with the body of the text, so I created an appendix.

Depending on your ebook’s subject, your appendix could be:

A quick tutorial on something which some of your readers will understand but others won’t (you don’t want to put this in the middle of your ebook as those who “get it” will start skipping)

A list of recommended resources, like websites, blogs, books, products, services…

A “cheat sheet” for readers to print out – popular in technical fields

A list of notes and references for each section – often in more scientific books

Creating an appendix is simply a matter of starting a new page and putting the header “Appendix” (or, if you want multiple appendices, “Appendix 1”, “Appendix 2” etc.)

Step 9: Create Your Front Cover – And a Graphic

All the hard work of writing and formatting the text is done: here’s the fun part – creating your ebook cover!

I’d recommend spending a couple of dollars when creating your cover. Look through istockphoto or fotolia for a great, eye-catching image. Ideally, you want something without too much detail (as you’ll be using a thumbnail of the cover pic on your blog, to advertise the ebook).

I’m no designer, and it took me some time to make a cover that didn’t look hopelessly amateur! You might want to enlist a friend with a good eye for design, though some quick tips are:

Use a big, clear font for the title of your ebook

Consider having a subtitle or strapline in a smaller font

Stick to just two or three colours

Come up with a few designs or layouts and pick the one you like best

Once you’ve put your cover in as the first page as your ebook, take a screenshot and save it as a .jpg. If you can afford to spend a bit more (currently $27), I highly recommend a piece of software called eCover Software Pro, which I’ve reviewed here. It allows you to “drop” that image onto a book-shaped template, so that it looks something like this:

It’s very straightforward and intuitive to use, and it’s a powerful way to send readers the signal that you’re a serious problogger.

Step 10: Convert Your Ebook to a PDF

When I first started creating ebooks, I tried out a lot of different free options for turning Word documents into PDF files. The problem was, they didn’t keep links unless the links were written out as a full URL – so www.aliventures.com would remain as a link, but Aliventures wouldn’t! This also meant that they didn’t keep in the links that “jump” the reader from the contents page to the entry that they’ve clicked on.

A few months ago, I bought version 8 of Adobe’s Acrobat software – which cost over $100. I realised that spending hours trying to put the links back in manually each time would cost me a lot more, in the long term. It is a big outlay when you’re starting out as a ProBlogger, so I’d recommend doing what I did – look on ebay for a slightly older version of Adobe (as I write this, 9 is the current version, so look for 8 or 7). This will be just as good for your purposes, and will cost a bit less than the latest.

You could also see if your workplace or college has Adobe Acrobat. Or ask on Twitter to see if a willing friend can convert it for you! (You’re welcome to send me a Tweet if I can lend a hand.)

The best free option I’ve used was pdf995, so if all else fails, give that a try!

Note: If you have Word 2007, you can use the “Publish as PDF” feature. I’ve not used this myself (since I have Adobe Acrobat) so I can’t vouch for how good it is or whether it will include all links. If anyone knows, do tell us in the comments!

Step 11: Final Proof-Read and Link Check

Once you’ve got your PDF file, go through and do one last check for typos. Try not to get tempted to do much editing at this stage … you could carry on tweaking for ever. Just check for anything that’s obviously wrong.

This is a good point to double-check that all the links are working – just in case anything hasn’t converted properly, or in case you put a link in wrong.

Step 12: Publish and Publicise

Publishing the ebook on your blog is easy, compared with all the work of creating it! You can either upload it using your blog software’s “upload” function (go to Media->Add New in Wordpress), or you can use an FTP program to do so.

Create a new post telling people about your ebook, using the cover image that you created (either with eCover Software Pro or as a “flat” looking image).

Then get the word out! Tweet about it, ask for retweets, send emails to blogger friends – though do make sure your ebook will be on-topic for their blog. You might even consider writing a press release to send to your local paper.

I decided to run a competition in connection with the free ebook launch, which helped to gather retweets and a bit of a “buzz”.

Step 13: Relax!

Finally, give yourself a well-earned break! Your ebook’s out there, and your blog’s getting a lot of new visitors. Get yourself a glass of wine, a beer or a mug of great coffee … and start thinking about your next ebook.

As well as writing ebooks, Ali Hale writes a blog on “getting more from life” at www.aliventures.com: you can get her twice-weekly posts straight to your feed reader.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Thirteen Steps to Write and Publish a Free Ebook In Thirteen Hours

Balancing Content, Polish & Study

2009-09-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

Balancing Content, Polish & Study: "

After having had another week off work to get myself back into the swing of things after a hectic two weeks in Florida, it’s back to work today! Whilst re-familiarising myself with where I was in my software project I noticed a small dilemma that also relates to blogging or pretty much any other online activity.

The Meaty Content

With any work there is always some kind of activity which is the most important ‘meat’ of the work. For a piece of software its developing the features of that software, for a blog it’s writing the posts, for an ebook business its writing the content of the book and so on. This activity is always something to spend a lot of time on because without it, you have no business.

Software that doesn’t do anything is not software, a blog with no posts is just a dead blog and a book with no words is, well, non existent :-) For any kind of business its important that you figure out what the meaty content is and prioritise your work around that. Often this work is harder to do than other stuff and so it can be easy to procrastinate and avoid it by keeping yourself busy with other less important work. However there is a time and a place for that too.

Adding the Polish

If you’ve ever started a blog, did you fall into the trap of spending an age fidding with your theme and plugins before actually getting any posts written? This is a common pitfall and is really just a way of procrastinating. However saying that, the polish to any business is still a necessary activity in the vast majority of cases.

Whilst a blog, software or ebook doesn’t really need to look good in order to do its job, it really does help – especially if you plan to make money from what you are producing. I don’t think there’s any doubt that this polish work needs to get done, the question is when should you do it?

It’s this question in my software project that prompted me to write this post today. Before I stopped work for my holiday I had completed the functionality of a specific chunk of work which I was pleased with. It works but it doesn’t look pretty. I am not done though as I still have another couple of important features to implement so I have the dilemma – do I continue working on those new features which need to get done before I can release or do I stop and polish up what I have done already?

With any work that is somewhat ongoing such as web software or a blog, you’ll soon find that you’re never really done with the content so it can be hard to know when to polish. If the work is more finite such as a book then the decision is clearer – you can get the first draft of your book written before you even think about polishing it up.

What I’ve decided to do is alternate to some extent. Now that I’ve completed a major chunk of work I’ll take a break from development to add some polish but I won’t try and do everything as that can be a never-ending job in itself. Once I’ve added a little polish I’ll develop another specific feature and then stop to polish and so on. For a blogger I would suggest concentrating on post content for the most part but setting aside some time every now and then to just polish things up the blog and keep doing this on a regular basis.

Keeping up Your Skills

With most online businesses there is some kind of learning curve at the beginning and then there is ongoing study. Obviously if you are starting something you have never done before then you need to invest in a period of study before you can really get any work done at all. In my case, I needed to learn the PHP language and a few web technologies – this took much longer than I anticipated.

If you’re starting a blog you might want to learn about blogging first but with anything like this, there is usually an inexhaustible supply of free information out there and its easy to get so caught up in the reading and studying that you never actually get anything done. I remember when I first started this business 2 years ago, and I broke down where my time was going I realised I was doing this very thing.

On the other hand, another mistake that people make is that they learn what they need to get started but then they just stop learning. This is a mistake, especially with an online business, because things change – technology changes, new sites, tools and trends come and go, and if you don’t keep up you’ll find yourself left behind. It’s always a good idea to keep yourself up to date using whatever sources are relevant to your work whether that’s a few blogs, an industry magazine (PHP Architect magazine and some blogs in my case), podcasts or whatever.

Balancing It All Out

Personally I find that the meaty content work is the hardest, and requires the most concentration and enthusiasm. It’s not easy for me to start developing something new and challenging at 4pm on a Friday afternoon but I can quite easily catch up on a few blogs at that time. There’s always some work that’s easier than others and always some times or days when you are more or less motivated than others.

Always set aside time for your most important work and do that work when you are at your best but also allow time for other work so that you don’t neglect the other little details.

Do You Really Know How To Use StumbleUpon?

2009-09-21T05:17:00.000-07:00

Do You Really Know How To Use StumbleUpon?: "

If you’ve been online for any amount of time you’ve likely heard about StumbleUpon. But do you really know what it is and how to use it to your benefit?

Well, that’s all about to change because I’ve got a free report for you called: Quick Start Guide To StumbleUpon.

This free report will teach you:

What StumbleUpon is

How to find the pop-up up rating box

What to avoid

How to convert a Stumbler into a regular visitor

Getting traffic from StumbleUpon for free

How to make money with StumbleUpon

And more!

Download Your Free Report Now

Social networking – a shift in the way we communicate

2009-09-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

Social networking – a shift in the way we communicate: "

Let’s face it you can’t read an article anywhere these days without someone mentioning social media, social networking, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook. These tools not only affect the way we connect to each other as people but also how we share information and communicate.

Businesses of all size have now adopted the use of social media from large corporations and small businesses to solo-preneurs and freelancers. Much in the way desktop publishing and blogs put the power to spread information in the hands of the masses – social media has provided unprecedented ways for us to connect and network with one another. Check out this eye-opening video I found on YouTube that shares some amazing stats about the social media revolution.

One of the common myths we often dispel with virtual teamwork is that using technology makes relationships less personal and you can’t build trust or get to know people who you rarely or never see. I don’t agree – using these tools like Twitter and Facebook allows you to connect (or re-connect) with people, stay in touch, and get to know each other.

I’m amazed at some of the amazing people I’ve met through Twitter. Through a simple series of short message I get insight into their thoughts, views, work, and life. By the time we talk on the phone, via Skype, or meet in person I feel like I know them already and our conversations are richer for it. Without geographical boundaries I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and collaborating with people from the UK, Finland, India, and all across the US. You can now work and make friends with people all across the globe – what a powerful and freeing experience that is!

If one understands the way social networks can deliver value, they have the opportunity to do more for themselves than ever before. What used to be a fairly linear world, one with ladders to climb rank, and lines to wait in for limited resources, are now built of vast and flexible networks, some loose and some rigid. Our social networks, both the old-fashioned type in real life, as well as the new constructs created by social software, give us the ability to do amazing things for ourselves and for others.

- Chris Brogan, Author of Trust Agents and Social Media Expert

Social networking has changed the playing field of business and you can’t afford to sit on the sidelines. If you haven’t jumped into the social networking fray – what are you waiting for? You don’t have to use them all but pick one and give it a try. This is no fad – although different services may come and go over time there’s no denying the point this video makes so clearly – it’s a new world and this is the way people meet and connect today. Whether you’re a person with a thirst for community and want to build your tribe or you’re looking to increase brand exposure and connect with potential customers, social networking knows no boundaries!

Social Marketing Trend: Mom Blogs

2009-09-11T06:05:00.000-07:00

I found this interesting post about trends, advertising and mom bloggers from NewspaperGirl.

I hope you find it as informative as I did.

Enjoy,

Smiles :o)

Gary

Social Marketing Trend: Mom Blogs: "

This post on social marketing appeared in the American Express Small Business Forum where I write for Small Business Trends each month.

“Working for trade is genius, especially in this economy” Nate Bagely, OrangeSoda

I was recently part of a social media retreat that included sponsors like Sorel and Frito-Lay. We had guides take us fly fishing and horseback riding. Brands donated products for us to try. All in the hopes that we would blog about them.

When I go to these events, I can instantly tell if a company understands the impact of this group. If they do, we’re treated like royalty. Otherwise, they think of us as a group of moms who have nothing better to do than try to get something for free. The fly fishing outfitters didn’t get it and so there won’t be reviews at all, or at least not glowing reviews.

Bigger brands often see the value of engaging bloggers. But for many small businesses working with bloggers is new and unknown. Yet it can be an effective marketing tool. At OrangeSoda we’ve helped businesses navigate this by helping them identify local bloggers. If you find and treat them well, the relationship can be beneficial. You get exposure to their readers (in the form of links, search engine results, product photos and video, etc). They get free product for themselves and their readers.

For the women who blog and who have a decent following, interacting with brands has become part of blogging. Recently, it has gotten the attention of the FTC. BlogHer, one of the foremost blogging conferences for women just wrapped up last month. One of the most popular sessions at BlogHer was about endorsements and testimonials from bloggers. There was a lot of debate over the ethics of reviewing products or recommending them after being wined and dined by advertisers who hoped for good reviews.

The FTC is reviewing their guidelines for endorsements and testimonials and may pass a new version later this summer that includes policing bloggers. It’s quite ominous.

“If the plans are approved, the FTC will actively go after bloggers who fail to disclose if they’re being compensated for their words. The FTC could then order violators to stop and pay restitution to consumers, or even sic the Justice Department on them for civil penalties. While penalties for failure to disclose financial interest have existed in the past, the FTC is broadening the scope of the media it is actively reviewing to cover blogs and bloggers. It may have been watching before, but now it’s prepared to pounce.”

BlogHer released a survey of almost 3,000 women (here’s the link to the PDF) and found that women are more than twice as likely to go to blogs versus social network sites to seek information, advice and recommendations. And the BlogHer sponsored posts section is one of the most popular.

Why are bloggers so coveted by brands? Bloggers in the study were online the most, were the most active in social media, identify themselves as being leading edge, and are the most tech savvy. They are the smallest segment with the largest reach.

Some cry that blogging is dead, but it’s far from it. While women use social media, it’s more for building relationships and keeping in touch. They go to blogs to get opinions on products. From the survey: Women are 50 percent more likely to turn to social networking sites as a means of keeping in touch with friends and family (75%), and go to blogs to seek product reviews. In other words, generally speaking people trust the opinions of these bloggers.

“Of the 42 million women engaged in social media weekly, 55 percent of women participate in some form of blogging activity; 75 percent participate in social networks such as Facebook or MySpace and 20 percent use Twitter.”

Blogs and social networks are displacing other forms of media and entertainment where businesses traditionally advertise: “As a result of this increased activity, the 2009 study found that women online are now more than ever before spending less time engaging in traditional media activities like watching TV (30%), listening to the radio (31%), and reading magazines (36%) or the newspaper (39%).”

For any business, you want to be where you have the biggest influence. Blogging is an ideal fit for many. In essence it’s a trade. And “working for trade is genius, especially in this economy” Nate Bagely, SEO analyst at OrangeSoda.

You don’t need to have a blog to reach customers through blogging. You just need to engage with bloggers by finding ones who are a fit for your products or services and then approaching them about ways you could work together. More bloggers are being proactive and asking advertisers for products. Either way, it’s an inexpensive form of marketing – but if you do it, be sure to ask bloggers to disclose that the resulting posts were sponsored.

Designing a narrative with index cards

2009-09-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

Designing a narrative with index cards: "

Working on the workshop, originally uploaded by dgray_xplane.

I recently got an email from a teacher who wanted to know how she could help her students develop better presentations. I've been meaning to write down my method for awhile now and rather than write one email I thought I'd put it into a blog post.

When I develop presentations I like to use index cards to sort through ideas. Sometimes I use a bottom-up approach, sorting and sifting through myriad ideas until the best ones float to the top. Other times I use a top-down approach, starting with the audience and their interests, and building a structure underneath that. More often it’s a combination of the two approaches – I start top-down, with an audience and what I think will interest them. Then I start to develop ideas, but those ideas lead to other ideas and soon I have too many thoughts, after which I need to do some bottom-up sifting to let the best ideas emerge.

The image above is the sorting exercise I went through to develop a workshop I gave in Toronto in 2006. The approach borrows heavily from the card sorting method used in software design.

TOP-DOWN APPROACH

This is best when you know who you’re presenting to and what they want to know. If you don’t know where to start this is probably the best way to begin.

1. Start by thinking about your target audience and what they are interested in. It helps to imagine a real person that you know that fits the profile.

2. Now, brainstorm a list of questions that you think they might be likely to ask you about the topic in question. Write down one question per index card.

3. Now, try to sort the questions into a sequence that makes sense. Probably this means the most basic questions (such as “What is it?”) at the beginning, and the more action-oriented questions (Such as “how can I apply it?”) toward the end. Now you can look at the questions and see if they form a meaningful sequence that, say, introduces a topic, develops it, and reaches a conclusion. At this point you should have a sequence of cards running from left to right.

4. Now, under each question card, you can start to develop your “answer” cards – slides that will answer the question.

BOTTOM-UP APPROACH

This is best when you have a lot of ideas to sort through but don’t know how to weave them together yet. If you know what you want to talk about you might want to start here.

1. Write down as many ideas on a topic as you can – all the elements that might be useful as part of a presentation. Write down one thought or idea per index card. I often like to sketch on the card as well, thinking about how I might illustrate the concept.

2. Sort the cards into piles that represent ideas that “feel like they belong together.”

3. Name each pile and create a “title card” for each group. Each title card now represents a group of related ideas that might form a section of your presentation.

4. Now, try to arrange the title cards into a meaningful sequence – put the cards into a row. This forms the basis of the narrative thread.

5. Under each title card, you can now create a “column” of index cards with the ideas that form the main points for each section.

6. Now, identify gaps in the story, eliminate redundancies and irrelevant information, and go from there.

As I said, usually I work with a hybrid of the two approaches. It’s much like a conversation, where one person’s thoughts influence the next person’s ideas. Moving back and forth between what the audience wants to hear (the “top”) and what I want to say (the “bottom”) helps me develop a synthesis that integrates my most valuable knowledge with what people are really interested in hearing.

I’m very interested in hearing your thoughts on this approach, and I’d love to hear about your experiences using this or similar approaches in your work. So be a mensch and leave a comment!

Thirty Day Challenge intro.

2009-06-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone

I am posting Ed's ustream video as an intro to the Thirty Day Challenge this year. (2009)

If you are interested in learning about the powerful technology tools that the internet is making available to the masses then the Thirty Day Challenge is for you.

Enjoy the video

Click Here to sign up for FREE if you are not already signed up.

This is a great way to get up to speed with the tools that will allow you to have location independent living now... You may even start your own internet business and make a sale.

Why not join us for thirty days.

Till next post,

Gary

ps In the meantime you can join my Net Friends list by signing up here.

Digital Nomad....Rural Nomad!!!

2009-05-19T02:46:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone

I know that it's been awhile since my last post but I was waiting for the right story to post.

And, here it is

Brightflocks story as told by Laura - Jane on the Digital Nomad site. Way to go L-J!

Here is how she started the piece.

Becoming Rural Nomads: Country Lifestyle Meets High Technology

by Laura-Jane / Mar 3

"Bruce Eric Anderson recently mentioned that he’s no longer a jet-set nomad who circumnavigates the world in first class. Bruce Eric has happily become a zip-code nomad who stays pretty close to home.

But if there are jet-setters, zip-coders, and fraggers, then what kind of nomad am I? I’m a rural nomad.

My husband and I live on a small Canadian island. We run our Web consulting company from our century-old farm-house, which is surrounded by acres of agricultural land. But we haven’t always been rural nomads who live in farm-country."

Since Laura - Jane and her husband Cam happen to be neighbours of mine I am rightly proud of the fact that their story has been featured on the Digital Nomad blog.

Click here to read the entire story.

Laura - Jane and Brightflock are both on my Net Friends list and you can become one of my Net Friends too. Just click here to sign up.

I hope that you liked Laura - Jean's story on Digital Nomad. If you would like to read more adventures of Laura -Jane and Cam then check out their regular blog. http://www.whimfield.com

Till next post,

Smiles :o)

Gary

Cardboard Laptop Stand

2009-05-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone

Here is something very cool and inexpensive too.

Get your laptop off the table and stop hunching over to see the screen with this DIY cardboard laptop stand. It’s small, light, free & green and it will help you cut down on the trips to the chiropractor. Did I mention it’s super easy to make? I originally found this idea at Thingiverse.com, where Erik Skiff whipped up a pretty cool acrylic stand. I didn’t have any acrylic and more importantly I didn’t have a lazer cutter make the cuts, so I did it on cardboard. I modified the design a little so the pattern would fit on a regular letter sized sheet of paper. Check out our tutorial…

Click Here to go to the complete site. (step by step instructions and templates)

Just add cardboard.

For more FREE nuggets Click Here to join my Net Friends.

Till next post.

Smiles :o)

Gary

Cloud Computing and You

2009-02-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

Welcome

Do you communicate with your peers? Are you still using email? Well just maybe if you read this article by Mike Phillips in the February issue of "Website Magazine" your email account may get a bit lonely.

Here is just part of what Mike's article has to say.

"Cloud computing might be one of the more poorly-defined technologies of recent years. But one way to describe it is by looking at the battle shaping up between Microsoft and Google.

Microsoft Office provides email, word processing and spreadsheets to help businesses communicate. A user can write a document then save it on a hard drive. The file can then be attached to an email and sent to colleagues who all separately view the document, make notes and revisions, save it on their hard drive then attach it to another email for another round of views. Sound cumbersome?

Google Apps also has a complete set of business communication utilities, also including email, word processing and spreadsheets. But with Google’s software as a service (SaaS) applications a user can write a document then invite others to view and edit the document, in real-time, all within a browser and accessible from anywhere on the Web, at any time. The key differences are immediate collaboration, and no need for storage.

Working in the cloud lets users access any number of utilities and applications, collaborate instantly, store files and manage infrastructure, without a single server on site. But cloud computing does so much more."

Sound good ? Then just click here to read the entire article. Oh and while you are there you might want to sign up for the FREE quarterly issues of the magazine.

If you like the topics that I research and post on my blogs then you just might want to join my Net Friends List. It is where I share interesting and valuable nuggets that I uncover as I do research for my blogs.

If you wish to sign up then just enter your name and email address into the form in the Right margin of this blog and confirm the double opt in and you will be added to my Net Friends.

There are no fees (totally free), we never share your info, we don't spam you and you can unsubscribe a any time that you wish.

Till next post.

Smiles :o)

Gary

Virtual Asistant Information

2009-01-20T02:13:00.000-08:00

Welcome Everyone

So you have the desire to work at home. That Location Independent Living Now lifestyle.

Have you considered work as a virtual assistant?

Hold on one ding dang minute!... Do you know what a Virtual Assistant does, or how one becomes such a person, or even what the compensation rates are?

Well "The Anywhere Office" (one of my personal favorite resource sites) has posted a blog post on the subject. Here is a snippet of what they say.

" We got a comment on one of our Podcasts from a visitor named Collette Schultz. Her question about the Virtual Assistant industry is one we get pretty frequently, so I thought I’d include my reply here as a post."

Collette Schultz on October 26th, 2008 11:21 pm

"As a new virtual assistant subcontractor I’m getting into researching the VA industry through podcasts. I listened to this one last week and am bound to hear more. What I find most frustrating is knowing where to start. Do you offer a beginners series to help getting started?

While we have never blogged or done a segment specifically on Virtual Assisting, I do not believe it differs greatly from other types of internet based businesses: that is to say that it relies mostly on abilities and training, networking, and marketing.

There are several places people can obtain training to become a virtual assistant or, as in Collette’s case, improve their existing skill base; some of them offer certification:"

Click here to read the entire post and follow the numerous links to tons of information on the topic.

You just may find that it is just the cup of tea that you have been looking for.

The economy is in a down turn. Well yes, but wouldn't you agree that the real cause is because we are in the midst of monumental change right now.

The old jobs are going away, but the new jobs that are coming with the tide of change are easier, better paying and allow the freedom of location independent living now.

So when opportunity knocks. Answer the gosh darn door!

Go ahead and click, check it out then decide if you are ready to ride the wave of change and make your life easier to boot.

If you like this topic and/or others topics that I research and write about why not join my Net Friends. We are a network of internet friends who I share useful free products and information with that I turn up in my research .

Just enter your first name and email address in the form over on the Right and click the submit buton. I look forward to seing you on my Net Friends List.

Till next post,

Smiles :o)

Gary

Lisa's Lessons to Making Goals That Work

2008-12-31T07:35:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone

Well here it is! New Year's Eve and we are about to embark on our journey through 2009.

Oops,"you gotta be kidding me!" you say. Where did the last eight years go? It seems like only yesterday that we were welcoming the New Millennium.

Did I set any real goals? Why am I still where I was then? I've just gotten another eight years older. My dreams are no closer now than they were then...How come? Every year I said that this is the year that I'm gonna do it, but it didn't happen, Why?

Well lets peek in on Lisa of SWBN as she makes "Goal's That Work" one of the better blog posts that I have read on the subject. She explains why setting goals is NOT the same as setting New Year's Resolutions.

K, Let's give a read to what Lisa has to say. Click Here to Read Lisa's Blog Post.

Welcome back, so now you know how to set your goals and change your life in one year.

Let's all make 2009 the year that we changed our lives for the better...Big Time!

Then keep making.....Goals That Work.

Til next post,

Smiles :o)

Gary

Finance Your Freedom...The Clay Collins Story

2008-12-27T19:08:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone

It turns out that Clay's dream is to enjoy Location Independent Living and he is working hard at attaining that goal.

Clay does this blog "Finance Your Freedom" and seeks out people that have been successful in getting the freedom to enjoy a Location Independent Life.

These people come from all walks of life and money is not the only determining factor in their success.

Click Here to read the rest of Clay's story and also read, watch and listen to his blog.

Also Click Here to catch Clay's other blog "The Growing Life"

Till next post,

Smiles :o)

Gary

Free Twitter Basic Training!

2008-12-20T18:35:00.000-08:00

Welcome Everyone

I understand that Twitter is fast becoming the Net 2.0 tool of choice. However there are lots of internet users that want to learn just the basics of Twitter to be able to use it to improve their web experience both social and to make a dollar.

I invite you one and all to watch Ed Dale as he introduces the basics of Twitter in the video below.

Ed is a great teacher and does a fine job of explaining how to set up a Twitter account. He also talked about some other terms such as Twhirl, RSS feeds and FriendFeed all every bit as valuable as Twitter.

To learn more from Ed Dale and his pal Dan Raine you can take the Thirty Day Challenge training. It is totally free and some of the best training on Web 2.0 tools that you will find on the internet today. Simply Awesome!

So click the Green logo and go now to The Thirty Day Challenge site and sign up for your free training.

If you want to learn the basics from the masters and for FREE, You will not be disappointed

Click Here and go now.....Go! Tell Ed Dale that a little bird told you...

Till next post,

Smiles :o)

Gary
Follow me on Twitter http://ww.twitter.com/garydotgray

ps By the way please leave your comments as to what you think of the training that you receive.

Both my readers and I are awaiting your feedback. So Please leave a comment...Thanks

pps You can get access to the PDF file version of the video training here if you prefer.

BrightFlock Launches

2008-12-19T06:36:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone

We have liftoff of a brand new support services business for the benefit of your planned, new or established web based business.

Why Brightflock?

Brightflock offers web-based writing, marketing, designing, and coding services.

What sets Brightflock apart? Expertise, open communication, and genuine enthusiasm for making your project soar above the rest.

Check out Brighflock's portfolio or read recent client testimonials from around the globe.

Free Consultation!!!

Try the free one-hour consultation.

No obligations. Just a friendly dialogue about your project or idea.

No matter where you are, call 902.838.3216.

Not sure what to write? Just explain who you are and what you're hoping for.

Click here to go directly to their home page. You can request more information by using the contact form there if you prefer.

Be sure to check out this great new service and Get Started.

Brightflock wants to hear from you!

Till next post,

Smiles :o)

Gary

Help...My Business is Holding Me Hostage!

2008-12-10T00:42:00.000-08:00

Hay Everyone

Is your business holding you hostage? Do you want to know how to break free? Isn't Location Independent Living Now all about having the freedom to work from anywhere?

Here is a series of free videos by Eben Pagan that will get you on the right track. Watch the first video below then click on the link below the video to go watch the other two.

Now click here to visit the blog post that contains the other two videos.

Make sure that you watch all three videos to see the video comment, then you can follow the instructions at the end of the third video to get even more free information.

Set yourself free, start watching the videos now and if these videos were of value to you please leave a comment on this post...Thanks!
(just click on the comments link below)
Till next post,

Smiles :o)

Gary

Java In The Morning, But Could Freedom Be a Mini?

2008-11-19T19:34:00.000-08:00

Hi

Could freedom be a mini?

Click Here to check check out it's commercial!

Still interested?

Click here to get more info.

Fly like a bird, let freedom reign. The world is at your command. (and on line file storage too)

It's hard to imagine better than that.

Till next post.

Smiles :o)

Gary

Counting Calories Frustrating You? Try Calorie Shifting

2008-08-25T05:43:00.001-07:00

- by Joey Atlas, Author of Amazon Bestseller - ‘Fatness to Fitness’

—————————————————————————————————————

If Counting Calories is Frustrating You? You May Want to Try Calorie Shifting

I originally wrote this article for my ‘members only’ site, BestFitnessAdvice.com - and its a strategy that has helped a handful of people make some serious improvements in their health and body - primarily from body fat reduction.

Several weeks ago I sent out a free PDF success story that was submitted to me from, Lisa, one of our members. She mentioned the impact that calorie shifting had on her success when combined with the Leg, Butt, Hip and Thigh program, with changing her body and life - and we got a ton of emails asking more about the ‘calorie shifting’ concept.

—————Lisa Before Calorie Shifting - - Lisa After Calorie Shifting

So here it is. Enjoy it - use it - and please share your results with us…

The challenge of eating a nutrient dense, low calorie diet that promotes healthy weight and optimal fitness - while at the same time trying to keep daily caloric intake at appropriate levels for one’s goals (usually fat/weight loss) can be one the most difficult juggling acts to master. In working with many clients with various daily habits and patterns - I’ve realized that a good number of people can benefit from “shifting their calories” instead of just counting calories to accomplish healthy nutrition and weight management.

Depending on the time you wake up in the morning - starting your day with breakfast may not be the ideal way to kick off the fulfillment of your daily nutritional needs. Now, I know this goes against traditional advice, but read on to fully understand this approach as it applies to counting calories.

I’ve worked with clients in the past who have tried to eat breakfast (in many forms and variations) first thing in the morning, and they would find that doing this made them hungrier the rest of the day and it usually led to increased daily caloric intake - enough to cause long term weight gain.

There are some people who wake up relatively early and start the day with breakfast and continue to eat relatively well throughout the day. Often, these types of people, although eating healthy foods, are taking in too many calories in the span of a whole day and either have trouble losing weight or continue to gain weight.

Now, for the caloric shifting part. We will talk about meal shifting (instead of calorie shifting) to keep matters simple - but understand, a meal is made up of calories.

A simple strategy for those who find that keeping a lid on daily caloric intake is a challenge - is to push back the time that the first meal is eaten. Lets call this meal breakfast, even though some people may find it strange to call a meal eaten at 10:30 or 11 am, breakfast.

So, instead of eating your normal breakfast at 6:30 or 8 am, you don’t skip it, you just push it back a few hours - toward your normal lunch time. In effect, you are moving, most likely, 300 - 500 (maybe more) calories and taking them in at a later time, maybe 3 or 4 hours later than normal.

Here is what happens to most people who I coach with this method. They find they are not starving for a big lunch (which also gets pushed back a few hours - to about 2pm (give or take 30 minutes). Additionally, they are not ravenous by dinner time, when most people self destruct and do so until bedtime, by snacking after dinner.

So, a result of this meal shifting is a reduction in ‘overactive appetite’ - not a bad reduction, but a healthy reduction - one that is very helpful in preventing one from over-stuffing the stomach and going beyond their daily caloric needs, day after day after day. (This is how people ’slowly’ gain a lot of weight over the span of several years.)

Lets back up a little - if dinner time food raids are a challenge, then this meal shifting can help you reduce that eating urge after work and put you in a better position to control the volume of food you put on your plate and the number of calories you put in your body.

So, ‘the calorie shift’ is also helpful for people who snack every few hours once they do start eating. By delaying when you start eating in the morning - you also delay the snack intervals you enjoy - and in effect you may reduce your total daily snacks to 2 or 3 instead of 5 or 6 (including your after dinner snack). When all is said and done, by days end you will have taken in less calories than you would have, had you started with an early breakfast.

Common ’side effects’ of this strategy are increased energy, less bloating and stomach discomfort, better sleep patterns and a few others. Hmm - I wonder why?

There are several factors inside of this calorie based fat-loss strategy to be aware of. The types of foods you choose, the volume of foods you choose and the realization that you need less calories than you think you do to function optimally on a day to day basis.

I also realize that this may go against the “You’ll shut down your metabolism, by starving yourself!” crowd. But believe me, this is far from starving yourself, very far. I tell you this firsthand, because it’s how I’ve helped many people take control of their, nutrition, body weight and fitness - and it’s how I manage my own daily nutrition and my metabolism keeps burning right along.

Now, I would like for you to help me circulate this article via social media - so I can share more of these with you in the future. See the ‘Share This’ button below? Click it and you’ll see several easy ways to help me circulate this article. Digg and StumbleUpon are 2 of the easiest, and they are free to join (actually all of them are free) - just click on the link to each and the rest is simple - takes about 90 seconds…

Comments or questions? Just post them below…

Your Trainer,

ShareThis

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Don't Squeeze the Twitter!!!

2008-07-23T05:14:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends and followers

Don't Squeeze the Twitter!!!?

Well actually the term is Twitter Squeeze a term coined by Rick Butts only 48 hours ago and already number one with a bullet on Google.

Check out Rick's halarious Ustream.tv broadcast (below) to learn more about the "Evil Empire" (kidding) behind this totally off the showroom floor marketing term that Rick has come up with. (congratulations Rick)

Connect to Rick's blog to learn much more about this new term, the sheer "power" ("yeah baby"...a Rick term) of Internet 2.0 marketing and how it just might have a greater effect on your life than email and MSN messenger.

I got to squeeze the Twitter and all I can say is WOW! You can squeeze too @twittersqueeze.

Sorry but @twittersqueeze is not set up yet. Don't despair you can squeeze too, just click this link http://snurl.com/340go.

Thanks for looking....Enjoy

Smiles :o)

Gary

p.s. Don't forget to vote for Rick as the Internet Marketer of the year for Twitter Squeeze. (oh yeah Rick hasn't set that poll up yet) LOL Oh well, just be ready when he does...

Oh yeah and shoot me a comment if this is something that you could get into. (Twitter Squeeze that is) and what you think of it all thanks...

GG

Setup Weekend on MSNBC...

2008-07-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone

If you have an idea for the "next big thing" well this might be right up your alley.

Startup Weekend recruits a highly motivated group of developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus, graphic artists and more to a 54 hour event that builds communities, companies and projects.

Founded in 2007 by Andrew Hyde, the weekend is a concept of a conference focusing on learning by creating. It is known for its quick decisions, ‘out of the box’ thinking, unique facilitation technique and letting the founders show what they can do. The program has already met with success in Boulder, Toronto, New York, Hamburg, Houston, West Lafayette, Boston, DC and more.

Check it out at www.startupweekend.com and just maybe there will be a startup weekend in your area.

Be sure to leave a comment here about what you think of this idea. Or you can contact me on Twitter @garydotgray

Smiles :o)

Gary

Brain Rules...

2008-07-13T20:38:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone (friends and followers)

If you want to understand how we humans use our brains to learn and/or to buy goods and services then get a copy of Dr.John Medina's book "Brain Rules" (Mentioned by Ed Dale on The Thirty Day Challenge TV broadcast Sunday July 13th.)

Below is a power point presentation (131 slides) based on John's book by Garr Reynold's and can be found on his blog "Presentation Zen"

If you click the link you can read Garr's entire blog post and watch some very informative videos that are included in his post not to mention a number of links to related material.

| View | Upload your own

Also check out John's extremely interesting presentation on the subject of our brain.

Having suffered a life threatening and debilitating stroke a few years back I have come to appreciate just how important our brains are.

I hope you enjoy the referenced material and I also hope you are able to increase your knowledge base along the way. If you appreciate this or any other content on my Location Independent Living Now blog please post a comment and add the blog to your Google Reader so that you will receive future posts as they are posted.

Smiles :o)

Gary

What a NOVEL idea!!!

2008-07-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of my location independent readers...Welcome back.

Here is a treat...from the folks at Common Craft. (they bring you all of those great videos on how to use the new tech offerings on the internet)

They are obliviously bent in the non traditional direction. (and what is wrong with that?)

Check this out:

"I suppose some would say it's downright un-American, but we worked on July 4th and 5th. It was our choice - a choice that enabled us to take the 7th and 8th and go camping without the hordes of people. It's something we do often - work when others aren't so we can play without crowds. It's a choice we make."

Read more here.

Enjoy the article...open your mind and try to think outside the box. (it can be more fun)

Also look for the great videos that they have released along the way.

Smiles :0)

Gary

Uberloo Marketing?

2008-05-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hi

This is the greatest marketing tool since sliced bread or milk in a plastic jug. Everyone on the go needs to go sometime right.

Remember your dear mother's advise "Don't forget to go before you go dear!"

- Housekeeping Solutions, Becky Mollenkamp says

"Automated toilets, faucets, and dispensers have become so popular that only their absence draws attention. Patrons want them because they are sanitary, janitors like them because they are easy to clean, and managers appreciate the cost savings they can provide."

Now for the ultimate in sanitary. Introducing Uberloo the Ultimate in public bathrooms.

Visit www.uberloo.com to sneak a peek...

Smiles :o)

Gary

p.s. don't forget to order your FREE pad of sticky-Notes and send a FREE pad to a friend then watch the real time viral marketing on the map tracker...

This is a one time special post!

2008-05-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hello to my Social Networking friends. If you think that Barack Obama (see video “Yes We Can!”) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY can change the real lives of millions of American people. Then Ed Dale, Dan Rain and the Thirty Day Challenge (see video " The Thirty Day Challenge Music Video") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eX0_EEvUWE can change the real lives of billions of people around the globe in ways they could never imagine in their wildest dreams. I just wanted to share this little known but empowering information with friends within my own social network. Shhh don’t let the cat out of the bag so to speak. Check it out http://www.ThirtyDayChallenge.com/challenge/336

Smiles :o)

Gary

The growth of telework and virtual teams in midmarket companies

2008-05-08T19:07:00.000-07:00

Hi Welcome back

I wanted to introduce you to Phil Montero from "The Anywhere Office".Phil has been around this concept of the freedom to work from anywhere or being location independent for some time now. Check out his comments below and then click through to the full article. Be sure to click on the hyperlinks within the article to explore more great content and Phil's The Anywhere Office website.

Phil has been one of my favorite experts on the location independent living topic for some time now.

Go ahead and get started and please enter my blog into your RSS reader to continue to be kept up to date on this topic.

Smiles :o)

Gary

"This past week I was interviewed for an article in eWeek entitled Telework Migrates to the Midmarket. The reporter was asking me why I thought midmarket companies (which she defined as companies with 50 - 1000 employees) were starting to embrace more telework and virtual teamwork. While it has been my observation that companies of all sizes, not just midmarket companies, are embracing the concept of having their employees work from outside the office - the question made me think - why the increase specifically in companies of this size? I think there are 2 main reasons for this".....Phil Montero

Click here to read the article.

How To Work From Anywhere Without Blowing Your Budget

2008-05-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

Hi

Welcome to the initial post of "Location Independent Living Now" a blog about having the freedom to work from anywhere on the planet.

Check out what Nick Cernis posted on January 29th.

"This is a boy meets girl story.

Boy and girl leave their dull day jobs to become freelance writers and designers; they travel the world living a worry-free life, working remotely, visiting different cultures, trying amazing food, taking photographs and writing a diary; they draw inspiration from all that they see and experience.

Boy and girl retire to a beautiful home, where they teach their children how to live a fulfilling existence by traveling and working for themselves. The cycle repeats.

It’s a pretty story, but just how realistic is it? It can’t be that easy, can it? What’s the real truth about working from anywhere, or “location independent living,” as it’s come to be known."

Click Here to see his entire post.