Recently, one of the people who does a lot of lectures on Social Media wandered off the tracks long enough to say he wasn’t a web designer, but people should have their websites done in Joomla or WordPress of they are getting ripped off.

He is sort of right. Having spent since 1996 playing with websites, I’ll say he’s right if you need a functional, right away site to just say who you are and what you do. After that, his comments need to be modified based on what you need to show/display/convey about you and your business. You may need something beyond WordPress, or not.

If you’re on a limited budget, and/or you have time to maintain all aspects of you website, and that means learning about links, setting up categories, placing privacy policy statements, setting up webforms for contact info, and keep spambots at bay, then yes…WordPress is a suitable candidate for you.

In the meantime, communicate clearly what you need to your web designer and work with them. Know that the more you have thought about the content of your website before you talk with them, you will pay them less, as they won’t be spending time tracking your content down, and making change upon change upon change. That’s a money saving tip…you can use.

The great news is WordPress 3.0 has broken through the barrier of not just being a great blogging platform, but has “grown up” to be a fully functional “CMS” (Content Management System).

Questions? Contact me and let me help you see what’s best for your diigital landscape!

In the digital world, you’re putting “content” out for all the World to see, literally. Not only can they see it when you post it, but even when you change your webpages or social media work, trust me, there are places that the dedicated can find the “old” versions, be it for good or bad purposes, or worse yet, bad legal purposes.

Via link chasing, I came across this this article “Social Media Marketing: Why You’re Better Off to DIY”, which says what I have mentioned in several meetings or talks.

My view has always been to help you understand why it’s so important that you are the one to be your voice. I can, as many others who work in this field, show you where to put the material you generate, but we don’t know your business like you do.

If you need coaching, I specialize in actually teaching people how to become proficient in managing their own content, to include how to save time while doing it. Get a hold of me if you need some direct, focused, customized help in this area!

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Title: How not to video blog. Lesson number 1 is to pay attention to your “environmentals.” That means, the light and the sound, and anything that will be in the frame of the camera’s view (like the cat..a mobile distraction).

To do this one, I had to do some testing to get some feedback and some white noise out of the sound, before i started. Where the computer had the default settings for the microphone, it was way too noisey. Bringing the volume of the input down helped clear that up.

So, there’s number on in a series. Check back for theo thers coming soon!

If the words your readers see are pretty much the same simplified message on every other site like yours (read “competitors”), what are your odds of ever hearing from them to provide your service or product?

If you’re unique, then it’s not as much of an issue…..or is it?

Who is your voice?  Someone with a keyboard, and 30 minute discussion of your decades of expertise, or is it someone who is intimately familiar with the topic (a key employee/senior manager/partner), or is it you?

One of my constant coaching techniques is to tell beginning or struggling bloggers to get out there and become a valued member of other blogs and/or forums.  In my normal reading cycle late yesterday, for my enjoyment, I had the opportunity to comment on a post elsewhere and then link tow of my posts from 2005 (not here, on the blog where I learned how to blog).  I just took a stroll to my hit counter and found I have now have almost 100 readers since last night come to one or both of those stories and they sayed around, also reading related items, or going to the blog’s home page.

Exposure.  Sharing.  Write it and they will come, sometimes with a little prompting, but it appears they enjoyed my sea stories from back into the 80s I chose to share.

How well are you driving your traffic bus?  Need some “driver’s ed?”  Leave me a comment, I may be able to help.

The Ten Most Terrifying Spiral Staircases on Environmental Graffitti.

Chase the link to see the other 9 pictures!

Scared yet?

However, if you manage your financial and physical assets via electronic means, do you have a plan to make sure there aren’t problems for those left behind?  Good question, isn’t it?

Do you have a business that has customers?  Have you ordered product/services for them, that you have to be around to make sure gets where it needs to go?

Are you a financial consultant type of business, where you retain customer’s data and regualrly provide information to them?

Or, and one of a myriad of other circumstances that would be negatively impacted if the way to get in contact with your customers was suddenly completely unavailable?

Think about how you may ensure that a trusted person can keep the operations running so long as necessary to close out the work/records.

Someone is considering this already.

But this doesn’t only apply to your business life.  After you’re gone, who can get at your online email and data sharing/photo services?  How about MySpace and Facebook and Twitter accounts?

Not a fun topic, but not only planning the disposition of your real assets and bank accounts, you need to make sure that your digital life is managed for a successful close out as well.

Social media is here for a while.  Just as email is now considered for most, don’t be alarmed by doomsayers who bemoan the “graying” of Facebook.  Of all the email transmitted, about 97% is SPAM, but…we’re still using it to communicate.

Below are some questions that may help gauge your current use of social media, and tune up your attention to this form of marketing for your business:

• What’s the plan for your social media presence?
• Is your plan integrated into your marketing plan?
• What social media are you presently on?
• Which ones get you contact with others, who may be viable, qualified prospects?
• Which ones are you spending your social media input time on (and for how long)?
• How many entries involve your business/product/services?
• How many entries discuss your experience as a professional?
• How many entries involves non-business related (humor, local events, charity support)?
• How often are you posting?
• Are your social media sites/names visible on your business materials (business cards, brochures, website)?

Take a few minutes and answer these questions to help see if you’re effectively using social media to your benefit.

Feel free to contact me to help tune things up if you find you’re not doing as well as you should be.

What got me thinking of this is a conversation that continued yesterday from a prior conversation regarding the direction the plan was to go. In the interim, the person had gone to some of the free seminars to gain some more understanding, which I appreciate, but, in the context of the specific goals of that business effort.

Here’s the deal: These groups are good for general purpose guidance, or to know what’s out there, but they can also be a source of chasing everything you hear about, while not focusing on getting your main content together and presented to the wbe viewers in a manner that you need.

At those groups, that meet at lunch, in the evening, or on a weekend, ask yourself this (if you’re tempted to go and consider it a “free” consulting opportunity): Which one of them will provide a venue to sit and ansk you about what you are trying to do, what you have tried already, what software you have, what expertise you have and such important questions that must be answered for you to be effective? Most likely, no one will provide a platform like that for free, and if they do, what’s the follow up cost? I’m willing to bet it’s not free.

As I mentioned, technology and your ideas have to merge on the digital super highway smoothly, which implies first, that you get up to speed, and two, you enter the traffic pattern without wrecking your “vehicle.”

Like just about every other thing in life, just because your friends/family do it/like/it/use it, does it mean it’s practical for you, or your tastes. In this case, how applicable to your business is it?

Put a good plan together, not just digitally, but for your whole business and then execute it. Revisit the plan and update it accordingly, just don’t launch and hope it all works out and then begin chasing every thing that crosses your path. Put the energy into getting a solid foundation, then you can consider diversifying your efforts, once the money flows.

Now the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking into regulating things such as product endorsements found online…anywhere.

Certainly, as consumers, who now have a worldwide reach via comments on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and a variety of other platforms, we would want to know that a personal endorsement of a product of service is either unbiased, or a benefactor of the item of recommendation. Look in the mirror: Will you be upfront in your comments online?

Consider your recommendations carefully. If you’re getting a piece of the action, or residuals, or product for use to generate the endorsement, it’s reasonable and fair (not to mention an FTC requirement) to let readers know your interest. After all, you’d want to know, wouldn’t you?

And, if it’s your own product or service, ask your recommenders to be upfront to keep everyone knowing the real score.

Some people are putting their heads together trying to figure it out using WordPress.

Hmmm…there’s the mention of that free blogging software with a very large user base, and a very active user forum, and a very active group of theme and plugin in developers….and iPhones…they’re all around. How many of your clients/potential clients are going to be using them?