Not the Yummy Chocolate Chip Kind – I know what they’re good for. I’m talking about the cookies that store bits of Information on your computer. Let’s first get a good idea of what a cookie actually is and does. We hear the term all the time but do you really know what it’s doing on your PC?

According to Webopedia, a cookie is a message given to a Web browser by a Web server. The browser stores the message in a text file. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. The name cookie derives from UNIX (a type of computer operating system) objects called magic cookies. These are tokens that are attached to a user or program and change depending on the areas entered by the user or program.

For the most part we go about our business on the Web and don’t think about the cookies that are being stored on our computer as we fill out forms and interact with websites. But they ARE being stored and there are LOTS of them. Is this a bad thing? No. Cookies save us time and make the web more fun and interesting. You give a website your name and then go back to that site and across the top you see a Hello message with your name, then you know you are in the right place and the right account. A cookie has stored your name so it can be displayed each time you login on that website.

Cookies are safe in that they can’t store viruses and they don’t act maliciously. They are simple, very small text files. However they do store any information you type into any web form on any website, unless you have cookies turned off on your computer. That means they store your credit card information if you have used it on the web. Cookies are stored about 6 folders deep on your hard drive and unless you are using a shared computer with shared login with a very untrustworthy person, you don’t have much to worry about. The probability of your credit card information being stolen through an unsecured Internet connection should be of higher concern to you.

So what got me thinking about all this cookie stuff? No, it wasn’t the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies coming from my oven. I can’t remember the last time I baked cookies! It was a problem I was having with LinkedIn that got me investigating. For weeks I was able to log into my LinkedIn account in my Chrome browser but every time I tried in Firefox I was told my email or password were incorrect. How could this be? I was using the exact same info in both browsers. I finally got tired of ignoring the problem and it occurred to me that possibly some old information was ‘stuck’ in some memory somewhere on my computer.

So I decided to take a peek at the cookies stored in Firefox to see if that would shed some light on the situation. To check cookies out yourself, go to (in Firefox – each browser & operating system is slightly different) the Tools Menu –> Options. The Options window will open. Go to the Privacy tab.

Choose ‘remove individual cookies’.  I didn’t want to remove all cookies because they come in handy on most sites. So I searched through the list until I found linkedin.com.

I highlighted the linkedin.com cookie folder, clicked on the Remove Cookie button, opened LinkedIn in Firefox, entered my email and password, and it worked perfectly. My hunch was correct! For some reason, the old cookie must have been stuck when it should have been replaced by the new one. No matter how many times I tried the new password, Firefox would have continued to tell me it was wrong.

It’s a bit tricky finding all these settings in the various browsers on the various operating systems so I recommend you poke around until you find what you are looking for. You won’t hurt anything and you’ll most likely learn something in the process. It’s usually under Tools –> Options –> Privacy. In some cases you may have to delete all cookies. If so, that’s ok too. It’s not a bad idea to delete all your history, saved  passwords, and cookies now and then. Just be aware that you will be typing more for a while until your browser has stored all these files again.

One last point I should make. If you have your browser set to never save passwords, you would not have had the problem I had. Some people set their laptops and tablets that way as they are more likely to be lost or stolen than a desktop PC. And if lost or stolen, it would be easier for a stranger to get into their accounts if the login information pops right in there for them.

I hope this helps you understand what cookies are doing on your computer and how they can help you and/or annoy you. Please comment below if this was helpful or if I can answer any related questions for you.

 

Written by Laura on September 26th, 2011

 

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If you are a regular user of Facebook, you’ve been noticing some changes lately. So let’s go over a few new features and you can let me know in the comments section below how you like the changes.

When you arrive at your Facebook home you will notice recent stories at the top. You will no longer see the 2 little links that used to be upper-right. Remember those links? You could choose between everything posted by ALL your friends and Pages or your most popular friends and Pages. Facebook determined what was most important to you.

If you mouse over the upper-right of each post, you’ll see a small arrow. Click the arrow and you will see choices. More choices if the post is from a profile and less choices if it is from a Page.

We always saw the most recent at the top, so that’s not really new but you’ll see posts grouped together and Facebook is still determining what’s the most important or relevant posts. I do like the grouping based on how long ago items were posted.

It’s also now easier to group your friends and at anytime you can choose to see posts from one particular group. So if you only want to see posts from your high school classmates, for example, choose that group under Lists on the left.

You’ll also notice photos within a status update are larger so it’s easier to see them as you are quickly scrolling through your feed.

I’m sure you’ve also noticed the scrolling feed on the right side of your browser. That’s a neat feature if all you do is sit and stare at Facebook all day. You don’t even need to scroll – Facebook is doing all the work for you!

Have you noticed you must click Status Update before you can actually type what’s on your mind? The Status Update box used to be right there. It saves space at the time so I also like this minor change. It’s easy enough to click the link and then type.

As Mark Zuckerberg and cast unveil everything new at their F8 Conference today, we’ll wait and see what they have in store for their most popular social network. As with all past changes, we’ll probably grumble a little but we’ll soon adapt. I hope the changes are good for small business owners and will help us help each other.

Comment below with your opinions of the changes below.

Written by Laura on September 22nd, 2011

 

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In less than 2 weeks,  Facebook will require all custom pages be hosted on a secure server. I will explain what that means for you, the owner of a custom page.

Let me first back up to earlier this year. In February, Facebook made a big change in the way custom pages are made. Some people call them tabs, and some call them landing pages or welcome pages. There are many different names but what it boils down to is these are applications that are added to your Facebook Page. Did you notice I capitalized Page? That is because Facebook used to call them Fan Pages but now they simply call them Pages. I use the uppercase P to distinguish between Facebook Pages and pages of a website or the pages within custom Pages I create.

I’m assuming you all know how to make a Page in Facebook. You make your (business or fan) Page after you have made your profile. Please don’t make a profile for your business. That is against Facebook’s Terms of Use and confusing for users. Profiles are for people and Pages are for businesses or organizations.

So why do you want a custom Page? Studies show if a business has a custom landing or welcome Page, users are at least 25% more likely to Like the Page and follow the business. Furthermore, anything you do on Facebook is not picked up (indexed) by the search engines. But custom Pages are treated just like normal web pages and are indexed, making your custom Page searchable!

You’ve heard about Facebook dropping support for FBML (Facebook Markup Language ) and replacing it with Iframes. FBML is similar to HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). When I began to fully understand what this change meant to me, I was giddy with delight! This meant I could do on Facebook anything I could do on any website. I could add images and embed video on a Facebook page, I could add an online catalog, RSS feed for my blog posts, and any code or styling just like I would use on a website. The only drawback is the Page can only be about 500 pixels wide. For comparison, most of my websites are nearly double that width. So you can see, there are limitations.

I was having fun experimenting and making cool Pages, or as I like to call them, mini-websites on Facebook. But then a post started going around telling everyone to change their security settings; you must have security turned on in Facebook. That didn’t really make sense to me because we aren’t putting anything that needs much security on Facebook, are we? I sure don’t think you should be and if you are, you might want to rethink that. But perhaps there are good reasons for the added security. All I know is that I began to notice if a user turned on security in their account settings, they could no longer see the custom Pages I was creating; my mini-websites were not there. Oh no – now what?

I began investigating and learned the way to fix this problem was to host my sites on a secure server. All the files, pages, images, photos, video, etc. that make up a Facebook Page are all uploaded to a server, just like I upload all those various pieces when I create a website. Now you might tend to think custom Pages are stored on Facebook’s server but they are not. You must provide the hosting server.

I host everything with GoDaddy so I tell Facebook to point to GoDaddy’s server. It’s just like pointing a domain to all my website files on the server. I create a folder for each Facebook Page and I upload all the files for that Page to that folder.

That has all remained the same since I’ve been making custom Pages. What has changed is the security. When my pages were disappearing for those with security turned on, I knew I had to add the security to my server; I had to add SSL.  I gave GoDaddy a call because I had never purchased a SSL certificate in all the years I have been creating websites. I never had the need for that level of security.

SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer and the technology has been around for almost as long as the Web itself. There are different options for purchasing SSL certificates but all you really need is to add it to one domain. I paid about $90 for 2 years at GoDaddy. Prices may have changed but just know you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on this.

Even though I make several of these Pages for my clients, I was still able to purchase just one SSL certificate. I picked a domain to use for this purpose. If you already have a custom Page, then you already have a domain. You will add the SSL to that domain. GoDaddy or any hosting company will help you with the details. I would suggest you call rather than just purchase online so you get the best deal for your needs. I’m a do-it-youself-er and I’ve registered dozens of domains and worked with several hosting companies over the years but when it came to this, I wanted to talk to a support person and I’m very glad I did.

Below are screenshots of my Facebook Page and the same files which appear as a website. You will notice they are exactly the same; only the location is different. http://facebook.com/websbywagner

Now notice the corresponding website – http://wiswebdesigner.com/WbW

Do you see the folder at the end – WbW? All the files for this Facebook page are contained in that folder on the server so you can see it as a website and you can also see it on Facebook because I tell Facebook to find it at this location.

Every time I make a new custom page, I setup a new folder, using the same domain – wiswebdesigner.com. The domain wiswebdesigner.com has the SSL certificate (the security) associated with it.

If you would like more information about custom Facebook Pages or Mini-Websites on Facebook, please go to my website for more information and contact me. Or ask questions below. I’ll be happy to answer them.

 

Written by Laura on September 20th, 2011

 

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If you’ve been following my blog, you may have noticed I recently changed the name and banner image. The domain for my blog has also changed thanks to my new friend Dan Morris, who I met at the NAMS (Niche Affiliate Marketing System) conference in Atlanta last month.

Dan was one of the instructors at NAMS. During his class, I noticed his shirt had his blog domain printed across the back. That domain is lettersfromdan.com. I liked that! So when I got a spare minute, I checked to see if lettersfromlaura.com was available. It was, so I purchased it immediately.

I assumed when Dan used lettersfromdan.com he was thinking letters, as in “a written or printed communication addressed to a person or organization and usually transmitted by mail”. But that wasn’t what I had in mind when I registered lettersfromlaura.com. I instead was thinking of letters defined as “a symbol or character that is conventionally used in writing and printing to represent a speech sound and that is part of an alphabet”. Yes! That’s exactly what my blog is, but then, aren’t they all?

I couldn’t give up the web and my friendly, little spider in my banner image but I wanted to add an old-fashioned typewriter and some sort of letters. The ideas in my head don’t always turn out in Photoshop the way I’d like and I have to settle for something less, but usually it turns out ok anyway. The images that spell out LETTERS FROM LAURA are actually keys from an old typewriter photo. I cleaned them up a bit in Photoshop and then replaced the letters. It gets the message across, I think. Maybe I’ll change it again in a month or two but for now, I rather like it.

With a new blog name and domain, comes a new beginning. I got a lot of inspiration from my new friends from NAMS at a time when I really needed a jump-start. My old goal was to write 1 or 2 blog posts each week. My new goal is 5 posts per week. I have plans to start at least one more blog so I may not always have 5 posts each week on this blog but I really want to be consistent and continue to write and share my knowledge with others.

I’ve also learned to not be quite as critical about my writing. Sure, I like to have well-formed sentences and I still can’t stand typos, but I’m not going to get too hung-up on perfection. Done is better than perfect! I’ve learned to not worry about being criticized by anyone who may read my posts. Most of them aren’t perfect writers either.

If you read my blog post from last week, you know I had a big setback this year with my Dad’s cancer diagnosis and death. That has also taught me something about me and my writing. I almost quit writing completely. I thought it was stupid to not write for several months and then all of a sudden start posting articles again. But who said that was stupid? It was only in my head. So I got that out of head, wrote the post about my dad, and now I’m back on track and it feels great!

I share this with you to help if you are struggling too. We all go through some rough times now and then and it’s ok to get sidetracked, but it’s important to get back on track and keep your goals in mind. Get through the rough times and doubts and come out on the other side with renewed conviction and purpose.

If it hadn’t been for all the great bloggers and writers I met at NAMS such as Dan, I perhaps would have quit my blog completely. But instead it got a new life and a new name and writing is fun again!

Thank you Dan Morris for the idea and inspiration. I hope to continue sharing my letters for a long time to come!

 

Written by Laura on September 15th, 2011

 

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In mid-August I attended the Niche Affiliate Marketing System (NAMS) conference in Atlanta, Georgia. NAMS was founded and is directed by David Perdew. David holds these events twice a year, in February and August and this was his 6th NAMS conference. I wish I had known about NAMS 1 or 2 a few years ago! It was a great week.  I learned a lot  and met fantastic, like-minded people.

After the conference we were all asked to share our biggest take-away or our AH-HA moment from the weekend. I knew what mine was before I left Atlanta so it was easy for me to write. Following is what I sent to David:

I really had no idea what NAMS would be like. I had never attended an event like this. Even after I bought my airline ticket, I still nearly backed out several times and probably would have but I would have been letting down Karen Fox, my new friend and roommate. I couldn’t do that to her so I just decided I’d go and I’d make the best of it, no matter what it was like.

You must understand a little background. I’ve been a country girl from Wisconsin my entire life so I get a bit nervous when it comes to anything big city. I hadn’t flown for about 15 years, which of course was pre-9-11 and when I found out I needed to take the train to the hotel from the airport, well, let’s just say it was good I had purchased my airline ticket by then or that would have been the end of that. Karen would have been looking for a new roommate.

I got advice from my daughters who have traveled all over the world and I told myself the traveling would all turn out fine; I would be ok once I made the hotel, but I was still nervous. I not only made it to the hotel, but Karen and I took an extra day to visit the Georgia Aquarium and take in the CNN Studio tour. We had a great time and found so many friendly and helpful people. Just ask and they will set you in the right direction even when you get on the wrong train!

So what’s my greatest take-away from NAMS? CONFIDENCE! That’s it – plain and simple – confidence. Confidence in knowing I can get from point A to point B and, more importantly, back again. Confidence in making friends and connections with so many from a group of strangers. That’s not easy for me. I was out of my comfort zone the whole time, but I did it.

Most important, I gained confidence in my ability, knowledge, skills, and background as a web designer. I took in a few Level 1 & 2 sessions but felt more at home in the Level 3 & 4 classes. I may have been the only attendee who doesn’t like WordPress and I began to wonder if I was missing something. What is all this fuss over WordPress? But after more thought, I know what’s right for me and I’m sticking with it. I’ll continue to use WP for blogs but I know HTML, CSS, Dreamweaver, and Photoshop too well to give up on them now. I like my control and I like the way I create websites!

NAMS also taught me what I don’t know and what I need to learn and introduced me to people who can help me with those things and to further my confidence. I’ve already connected with some of those people, raised prices on my services, and am in the process of reorganizing my fee structure.

When I planned this trip, I wanted to stay an extra day to take in a few attractions, knowing I may never get to Atlanta again. Little did I know! As it turns out, I will be returning in October to attend Mark Hendricks’ Internet Success System Conference and, even though I haven’t registered yet, you can bet I’ll be at NAMS 7 in February!

Thank you David! Thank you Karen! NAMS was the bright spot I needed in a dismal year.

I WILL be an EAGLE!

 

 

Written by Laura on September 13th, 2011

 

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Some blog posts take longer to write than others. Some blog posts are written in a matter of minutes. Some take hours or perhaps days. This blog post has taken me months to write.

You see, in February of this year my Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and he passed away less than 4 months later, on May 31. In January I would have not understood if you would have told me this sequence of events would have a profound effect on me.

I have not written a blog post since April. I did post my email newsletter to my blog and that seemed to work ok in lieu of actually writing here. I even considered giving up the blog altogether.

So why no posts? Oh sure, things were a little crazy and I was extra busy, but there’s more to it than that. The whole month of June seemed to be non-existent. By July I was getting back on track and learning to live with my ‘new normal’. By August and now September I’m adjusting. However it doesn’t take much and thoughts of Dad and his last days pop back into my head and I must quickly shake them away.

The reason for not writing has nothing to do with time or content or desire. I have felt all this time that my first post had to be about my Dad and until I was ready to write that post, I couldn’t write anything else. I had to fill in the missing piece first.

For me, the hardest part about the last few months of Dad’s life is that I thought he was going to get better and we’d have at least a couple more years with him. That is probably why I still find it hard to believe it all happened so fast and he is gone.

As the Brewers are having a fantastic season and most certainly headed for the play-offs, I wish Dad was around to share in the excitement. A few weeks ago they turned a triple play and I wanted to call him up to make sure he was watching the game.

Tonight I am finishing this post after an amazing 1^st game of the Packers’ season. It’s a fitting time to be writing about my Dad. He was a long-time Packers fan, through thick and thin. I’ll always remember watching games with him when I was young. Mind you, I wouldn’t watch the full game, I’d just stop in now and then and bug him with questions about what was happening. He never told me to go away or acted annoyed with my dopey questions. I’m so glad he got to see the Packers win the Super Bowl one last time the weekend before the cancer diagnosis was confirmed. I had no idea that would be his last Super Bowl; it never crossed my mind.

Dad struggled with Macular Degeneration for many years and gave up driving several years ago when it became too dangerous for him to get behind the wheel. Macular Degeneration is a terrible disease that slowly steals the victim’s vision. With special glasses and a 42” TV, Dad could sort of see his favorite teams play, but he struggled. Somehow though, he was still able to see well enough to go to the Casino (thanks to Mom driving him to the bus) and he always knew his exact winnings and losses. He had an amazing memory and was great with numbers. I’m sure I get my analytical thinking from him.

In his younger days, Dad was an avid hunter. I chose the photo with me holding the pheasant because it’s simply the perfect representation of many fond childhood memories.

Dad was with us long enough to celebrate with Mom their 57^th Wedding Anniversary on May 15^th. I’m really glad they had that day together, with 5 of their 6 children and many grandchildren home to help them celebrate. We are what we are because of them. And we all turned out pretty darn good! Thanks Dad (and Mom). You can be proud of us.

Dad was very proud of his Irish heritage and was fortunate to travel to Ireland twice after he retired and while his vision was still good. My brother Tom wrote on Facebook the day Dad died, “My Favorite Irishman left the planet today. While he never ventured too far from the Rosendale WI farmhouse he was born in, I still am envious, in ways, of his life. Served in the Army during Korea times, worked his whole career as a machinist in Fond du Lac. His stories really kept alive the family roots, going all the way back to County Longford. I am lucky to be your kid, Dad!”

My brother Michael did a great job writing Dad’s obituary so I want to share the last paragraph of it here.

“James Joseph Havey had a life that most of us can only hope to aspire to. He had a good job, a large, loving family, and a place to call home. He had an incredible mind and had his health until the very end. As a family, we grieve our loss, but we also celebrate a life well lived. May your vision be clear, and your steps be strong. May the deer be slow, and the coffee always hot. May you bask in the warmth of God’s love.”

I miss you Dad!

 

Written by Laura on September 9th, 2011

 

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It’s time I get back to my blog and share some updates with all of you. A lot has been going on in my life so far this year and blogging has not been my top priority but I want to start doing an email approximately every 2 weeks and I can share that information here as well. I share tips and tricks on Facebook now and then but only Facebook peeps see those so I wanted to get them out to others as well. Hopefully you will learn something from them now and then.

In February of this year, we learned my Dad had lung cancer and by May 31st he passed away already. I will write more about that at another time but today I just want to say that is why the lack of focus, including lack of blog posts. Little by little I get back to normal, or what I like to refer to as the ‘new normal’ and my business moves forward.

Check out my post and video below. If this works out well, I will continue to add my emails to my blog. Let me know your thoughts in the Comments section below. Thank you!

 

Introducing Video Email Marketing with ComF5 I have been introduced to a fantastic video email program called ComF5. I will share aspects of ComF5 in future emails. Today I just want you to know this email campaign & the video to the right were created in ComF5. It is a great tool for all size businesses. ComF5 is short for Communication Refresh. If you don’t understand how F5 translates to Refresh, see my post in the Tips & Tidbits Section below. Don’t Forget My Online Social Media Video Tutorials I have created a large selection of video tutorials to help you get a quick start with Facebook & LinkedIn. No need to spend hours figuring out social media on your own. The videos are easy to follow, screen-capture videos. I go into detail in each video so you won’t be left wondering what I did or how I did it. Tutorials and information can be found at http://socialmedia-forbusiness.com Please contact me if you have questions.     Tips & Tidbits »» Happy 20th Birthday World Wide Web Do you know the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web? »» Use Alt While Doing a Screen Capture »» Do You Use F5 to Refresh Your Browser? »» Over 100 ways to make a shake! These look really yummy – check them out!     My Latest Venture And finally, I’d like to share with you another project I have recently become involved with. This venture is both personal and business for me. Personal, in that it is a health/fitness/weight-loss program and business because it is also a business opportunity that makes sense for me at this time. I can share the personal or business aspects (or both) with you at any time. For more information, see my Facebook page or my website. Please contact me if you have questions. I would also like to invite you to a very special webinar this Tuesday, August 9 at 8pm. Register here. It will be full of great information!

Written by Laura on August 9th, 2011

 

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I’d like to say I came up with this article’s subject on my own, but sometimes it takes a fellow blogger’s post to catch my eye and give me inspiration. I’ve known Michelle Schaefer since I took part in the 31 Days Blog Challenge she co-hosted with Lisbeth Tanz last summer. I’ve been connected with her on Facebook and reading her blog ever since and I’ve made other new connections because of Michelle. Check out Michelle’s new Blog Challenge at Ultimate Blog Challenge. This time she has teamed up with Michele Scism.

Michelle’s business is very similar to mine. We both have been creating websites for years (she started at a much younger age than I) and we both help businesses with social media. The one big difference between us is Michelle likes WordPress and I do not! Now, now – all you WordPress lovers out there, don’t hate me. Read my blog post I’m Not a Huge WordPress Fan to understand my reasoning.

When I saw Michelle’s article a few days ago, the title “7 Reasons I Share ‘Secrets’ With My Readers” really caught my eye. I wanted to know if her thinking was the same as mine. I must say, Michelle shares and gives away much more than I do but someday I hope to catch up. I’m still busy laying the ground-work for the social media segment of my business.

I thought I’d share with you Michelle’s 7 main points and then you can bop on over to her site to get the details. 7 Reasons I Share Secrets With My Readers. She’s fun to read. Her great sense of humor always shines through. My comments are in parenthesis after each of Michelle’s points.

1. I like to help people. (Yup – totally the same for me.)

2. Some people are “do it yourself” types and I see no reason not to help them out if I can do it in a blog post. (Also agree – some people have the techno-geek gene like I do and they’ll always try to do it themselves.)

3. It showcases my knowledge and style. (Yes – definitely. Also showcases that I’m willing to be helpful and I care.)

4. Clients appreciate work more when they know what’s involved. (This one I never even thought of but totally makes sense.)

5. It helps me learn and improve, too. (Yes – always love the feedback from other business people.)

6. Google. Yes, seriously. (True – lots of info can be found on Google. The goal for me is to be your one-stop shop. Connect with me, Like my Facebook page, read my Blog, and I’ll compile this info for you. You’ll get to know me, learn to trust me and want to do business with me and hopefully purchase my tutorial videos at Social Media For Business.)

7. I am not that big soft drink company with a secret recipe. (Anyone can learn what I’m teaching without me. My goal is to save business owners a lot of time and frustration. You know – why reinvent the wheel? If I can put all my learnings and experiences together, in an easy to understand format and make it available to anyone, why wouldn’t I? I’ve taught adults at our local Technical College and I’ve taught them at their level of comprehension. I have also taught social media locally in a classroom setting. I’ve now taken that teaching experience to my online venues because I can help many more people at one time.)

I agree with all 7 points made by Michelle but I also relate to the paragraph about competition, which precedes the 7 points. I don’t really believe in competion myself. There will always be competitors but there are many more consumers, so as long as I’m the best I can be and I give great customer service, I have no worries.

I am trying to stay focused on my main goal and mission which is to help local businesses in Wisconsin. Because my business can be conducted completely online and via email, I could create websites anywhere in the U.S. But I don’t. For the most part, I stick close to home. Now that I am focusing on social media training and ceating custom Facebook pages, I again could expand my horizons, but I prefer to keep my focus.

My goal is to help local small business owners expand their business with the help of social media. I want to also lead by example. I try to frequently share posts from local businesses. As my following grows, so will my influence and I will actually be making a difference and helping my community.

I live in a predominantly rural area of Wisconsin but there are heaps of small businesses. We all need to work together, help each other out, and share in our successes.

Speaking of successes, please join my LinkedIn Group and share your social media success stories with us. Social Media Success Stories.

I look forward to your comments and questions. Please let me know if I can help you and don’t forget to check out my online tutorial videos at Social Media For Business. Then click on over to Facebook to LIKE my page, WebsbyWagner – more good things will be happening there soon.

Thank you!

Written by Laura on April 8th, 2011

 

  3 Comments »

It’s great to get feedback on blog posts as I did on my last post about consistency, perseverance, and patience in social media. It was great because it gave me ideas for more posts, including this one. It’s also a great way to meet new people.

Steve Kabelowsky and  Jeff Clark suggested business owners need to think about goals and plans. Well yes, I agree. So this post is about goals, plans, and strategies. It’s important to have all three and equally important to write them down. They might be very simple but if you write them down, you have something to refer back to after you’ve been using social media a few months.

You may find you need to adjust your goals, plans, and strategies 3 or 6 months from now, but if you don’t write them down, how will you know? As social media changes, you may need to adapt. Or your business might change so you’ll want to make adjustments to your social media efforts as well.

Just because you are being told you should be using social media for your business and you know other businesses use it, does not mean you want to jump right in without a few goals and a plan. Would you jump into other forms of marketing or advertising without a plan? I know you’re thinking social media is free so you don’t need to worry so much. Other forms of advertising are usually quite expensive so you really need to give it some thought before purchasing or hiring.

I must tell you, social media is NOT free. Sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook are free to use, but a good social media strategy takes time and, as we all know, time is money.  So don’t skip the first, very important steps of thinking about, discussing, and writing down your goals, plan, and strategies.

You’ll want to first write down your target market, and be specific. Then determine your purpose for using social media and what you hope to accomplish.

Points to consider include:

– Are you a brick and mortar store? Will you be announcing specials or sales? Or will you spend more time educating about your products?

– Are you a service based business? Will you post about the services you have supplied? I post about websites or Facebook Pages after completing them so I can promote my work as well as the business I created the site or page for.

– Will all your posts simply provide great content; no sales or specials or promotion of any kind? That’s a great way to gain a loyal group of followers.

– Will you write all your own content or share posts by others?

– Will you delegate posts to employees?

– How often will you post?

– Where will you post? Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter? YouTube? All great sites but which one is best for your business depends on your type of business and your goals.

– Do you want to start a blog?

These are just a few of the questions you must answer before jumping in, but don’t be afraid to change your answers as time goes on. You may not start off with a blog but decide to start one up later on. You may start out on Twitter but realize it’s not right for your business and decide to concentrate on LinkedIn and Facebook. The social media sites may change and you’ll have to change with them.

As time goes on, you will also want to periodically track your connections in all your social media accounts so you know how you are doing. It’s another little bit of information you’ll want to jot down so you can look back 3 months, 6 months, etc., to see how far you’ve come. And of course keep track of any successes you’ve had along the way.

Your successes may be monetary or they may be simply meeting new people and building relationships. It takes time to build relationships so it might be months or years (depending on your type of business) until you see monetary success from social media. Just be patient, persevere and be consistent and you will see results.

Check out my Social Media Made Easy website for more information about getting started with LinkedIn and Facebook and setting your accounts and profiles up properly for business use.

And please comment on this post. I’d love to hear from you!

Written by Laura on March 28th, 2011

 

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I often talk to business owners who think they will setup a Facebook or LinkedIn account and will immediately have several hundred connections. Unfortunately, it usually doesn’t work that way. Don’t believe the self-proclaimed ‘experts’ who say they can tell you how to get 10,000 raving fans overnight. It takes consistency, perseverance, and patience. There is no magic potion!

Take me, for example. I’ve been using Facebook for business for about a year now and I still have less than 100 fans or ‘Likes’, as Facebook calls them these days. I am much to blame for this. Have I been consistent with my posts and interaction on Facebook? No, not by a long-shot. Oh, I’ll have a good streak for a while when I’m posting every day, commenting on other posts, Liking pages, friending people, and looking for new connections. But then I get super busy with my business and I slack off. But isn’t that typical of most solo-preneurs? When we are busy, we forget we need to continually think about our next customer. Then all of a sudden, the jobs are done and we are scratching our heads, wondering where the next job is. From that perspective, social media is no different than any other form of marketing.

I’m fortunate in that I do a good amount of local, face-to-face networking and I do that consistently, which keeps the clients coming in. My goal is to be as consistent with my online networking as I am with my local networking.

What about perseverance and patience? They go hand-in-hand, I believe. Keep plugging away and understand it doesn’t happen overnight. To be honest, I wouldn’t want it to happen overnight. I wouldn’t be prepared to handle a gush of new fans and potential clients. Would you? Do you remember the TV commercial several years ago in which the business partners get their product online? They are so excited when they get the first few sales, but that excitement quickly wanes when the sales keep coming in, obviously way more than their little business can handle. They weren’t prepared for the response they got. If you’re just starting out on Facebook and you’re sort of getting your feet wet, not really knowing what you’re doing yet, are you ready for a lot of new fans to interact with? I think you’re better off gaining them slowly, at least at first. Learn the mechanics of Facebook and the best way to interact, and then make a push for more fans. Gain your fans naturally, little by little, and you’ll have  much better fans who will be potential customers, or at least supporters of you and your business.

So remember -

1 – Try to be consistent with your posts and interaction. More often is better of course, but if you can only post once a week, do it consistently. I have often found the more I do, the easier it is. For the past month I have not written for my blog or done much on Facebook and LinkedIn. What I’ve found is that it’s harder to get started again; to become consistent again. In the past when I’ve written a blog post every day, it was much easier to keep writing. Sure, it takes more time but it just feels right. Did I have time for this post today? No – but I just had to take the time before another day went by. I will try to get back on track now because I know it makes a difference. When I’m more active on Facebook, I will gain more new fans. There is definitely a direct correlation.

2 – Keep plugging away even if you sometimes feel like not a single person is seeing your posts. They are, they just don’t have time to comment on everything. Even if they only see your posts and don’t read them, they are still reminded of you and your business.

3 – Have patience. This doesn’t happen overnight, but it will happen. Just this past week I gained a client who was referred to me by a woman I met on LinkedIn. How exciting is that? It will happen for you too. If you have a good product or service and let people know about it without being pushy, you will see sales and find customers and clients.

4 – Now go write a blog post or post something interesting or exciting happening with your business or industry on Facebook or LinkedIn right now. You’ll be glad you did.  Or better yet, comment on my post, either on my blog or on Facebook or LinkedIn and connect with me or Like my page. I’d love to connect with you. Thank you!

Written by Laura on March 19th, 2011

 

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A couple weeks ago I wrote an article about RSS, What is RSS and How Can It Help You? Check out that article for the answer to that question.

As a follow-up to that article, writing about Evernote seems to be the next logical topic. I don’t remember how I found Evernote but I’m guessing I read an article or blog post about it somewhere. I know there are other programs out there that are similar to Evernote and I’m not saying Evernote is better or worse than any of them. The purpose of this article is to let you know what a handy tool Evernote is for me. Perhaps you will find it useful too.

I often find blog posts or web articles during the day while working at my computer but I can’t stop working on a website or some other project and take the time to read the article. I know I want to read it and not lose it, so what do I do? I save it in Evernote.

Evernote is a program you download to your computer. After installation, you use the program to save any web page. The best part is you can install the application on your desktop and laptop, as well as on your smart phone. Save an article’s URL while at your desktop and later read it from your laptop. I find I’m never at a loss for something to read with my smart phone and Evernote. If I have time to wait between appointments or just time to kill at any time, I pull out my phone and bring up articles I have saved in Evernote. It works great for a busy person who likes to make good use of every minute of every day. That describes me.

I’m sure you can learn much more from their website. I know I’m not using all Evernote’s features but I use what’s most important to me. Check it out at evernote.com and let me know if you find it as useful as I do. Did I mention it’s FREE?

Written by Laura on February 3rd, 2011

 

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You may have seen the RSS icon on several websites or you may have seen it and heard it mentioned on TV ads. Usually it is orange but sometimes you will see it in different colors.

But what is RSS?

RSS = Real Simple Syndication. I know, now you’re asking, ‘what is Real Simple Syndication?’ I’ll try to explain.

RSS is usually associated with a blog. You can sign up for a blog’s RSS feed by clicking on the RSS icon. In most cases you will be given the option to register for updates via email or feed reader. If you sign up for email updates, you will receive an email every time the blogger posts to their blog, as my subscribers will when I submit this post.

If you request updates via feed reader, you must also choose a reader, a place to read the blog posts. For example, I use Google Reader. I can go to my Google home page at any time to see any of the RSS feeds I have subscribed to. The Google home page with my Google Reader installed looks like the image below.

You must also sign up for a reader but once you are registered with the reader, you can add as many feeds to it as you like and you will see all your various feeds in one place. The trick is to take the time to go to your reader and actually read those articles.

The advantage of signing up for email is the blog post will come to your inbox, putting it right in your face. The disadvantage of signing up for email is the blog post will come to your inbox, putting it right in your face. You see what I’m saying?

I like the feed reader. I already get enough email and I can go to Google reader at my convenience and I know I will always find something new posted there from my favorite bloggers.

Register for Google Reader

To sign up for Google Reader, go to google.com. Click on the ‘more’ link (see red arrow in image above) in the top navigation and choose Reader. If you don’t already have an account with Google, you should set one up. You don’t have to use a gmail email address for the account, but sooner or later you will probably end up with a gmail address. If you have a business, I recommend you use your business name as your username when you setup the gmail account. For example, mine is websbywagner@gmail.com. If you already have a Google account, simply login.

Read through the information and install Reader on your computer. After going through these few steps, you will be able to add any RSS feed to your reader. It will be worth the time it takes to set up a reader because it is so much easier to find your favorite blogs in one place than to go to each of them. Sure you can add them to your browser’s favorites but you still need to go to each site. When posts come to your reader, you can scan your feeds and decide which you would like to read at any given time. If you get behind, as I often do, they will still be there whenever you get around to checking. And all the feeds in your Reader will go with you on your smart phone or any computer with an internet connection.

I know my instructions here are not very detailed but if you take a few minutes, you will figure it out pretty quickly. The main purpose of this post was to explain what RSS is and how it’s used. Follow the steps above and poke around and experiment a little bit. That’s the best way to learn these things.

Try it Out
You can try this out by clicking the RSS icon in the right column of my blog. You will be taken to the page shown below where you choose a reader or choose to receive my posts via email. Please comment below if you have questions or use the Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter share buttons to share this post with your friends.

Written by Laura on January 17th, 2011

 

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As I’m catching up on Facebook this morning, checking out many good posts, I came across one by Pam Rautmann, owner of Abrakadoodle – SE Wisconsin. Pam does a great job using Facebook to promote her business and she’s come up with another great idea. She has started a little trivia contest on Thursdays. Each Thursday she posts a question and offers a prize for the fan with the 1st correct answer. Of course all her questions are related to arts education which is what Abrakadoodle is all about. This is a great way to educate while engaging current customers (and hopefully making them repeat customers) and potential customers.

Having talked to Pam about her new strategy, I also know she is using a program I suggested to her called HootSuite (hootsuite.com). The program allows her or her employees to schedule the Thursday posts into the future. How great is that? She can sit down one afternoon and type and schedule and she’s done for the next couple months, or however long she chooses. She doesn’t even need to worry about a possible glitch in the system because her loyal followers will surely let her know if a question is missing on any given Thursday.

Hootsuite also allows you to connect to Twitter and LinkedIn so you can choose where you’d like your posts to be seen. Of course if you choose Twitter, you must stay under the required 140 characters.

My strategy on social media sites is to call-out local businesses when they have great posts or I see them taking advantage of social media in a way that I perceive to be productive and beneficial to their business. By doing so, I hope other businesses will see the example and try to emulate. In the end, we all gain from sharing what works.

Speaking of sharing what works, if you have a success story you’d like to share, consider joining my LinkedIn group at http://linkd.in/fQavIs The main purpose of the group is to share social media success stories but we will be doing other learning and sharing there as well. Would love to have you in the group.

BTW – this is blog post #50. I’ve done better than I thought in the last 7 1/2 months. That’s nearly 2 posts/week. I have to make sure I’ve done at least 100 posts by May 24 – the anniversary of my 1st post.

Written by Laura on January 7th, 2011

 

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Beginner Social Media classes went very well last month so now it’s time to move onto Intermediate classes. There will be morning and evening classes again to make it easier for business owners to attend. Students are expected to have general computer and Internet knowledge and they must also have their social media accounts setup before attending intermediate level classes.

In these classes we will optimize accounts so you will be found when someone searches for you or your type of business. We will also discuss security and safety, as well as tips, tricks, and shortcuts for each platform. And we will learn social media strategy and protocol so students will learn to engage their potential clients and customers. We will talk about groups and searching and backing up your data.

Too many businesses get into social media without a plan. They think, “well let’s just make a Facebook Fan page and watch all the customers come flocking to our door.” They were probably led to believe it works that way. Let me tell you – it doesn’t. If you don’t have a plan and a few simple guidelines, you won’t accomplish much except to waste a lot of precious time.

I’ve heard business owners say they tried social media and it doesn’t work, so they quit. My question to those folks is, “Did you have a plan?” Would you actually run your business without some sort of plan? Do you plan advertising for the year or do you just send ads to the local newspaper on a whim?

I can assure you these classes will be time and money well spent. You will have your accounts optimized and setup properly along with a great foundation and understanding of social media strategy. I’ve done the learning so I can help you, the small business person get the most from your time on social media sites.

Hope to see you at the Baymont Inn, Plymouth later this month. For dates/times/prices, see this page. If you have any questions, please email me or comment below.

Thank you,
Laura

Written by Laura on January 6th, 2011

 

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Word for the New Year – I like the concept. Rather than making one or more New Year’s resolutions, come up with just one word that best describes your goals and expectations for the upcoming year.

When I first saw this idea posted online, I took only a couple minutes to come up with my word for 2011 – Improvement. I realize the word Improvement could encompass multiple business goals and personal improvements. That’s ok – I think it will be much easier to stay focused on my one word, Improvement than to remember several resolutions.

I never really got into resolutions anyway. Does anyone really keep them beyond a couple months? I know I wouldn’t, so I figure, why bother. But Improvement will stick in my brain and remind me of my business and personal goals daily.

When I first thought of Improvement, I was thinking of how I expect my business to improve this coming year. It will be my first full year of blogging and using social media sites and I see and understand the potential these sites have for my business.

I never really thought much about the potential for a new year the way I have this year. I’m excited about the possibilities and I hope you are too.

Do you have a Word for the New Year? If so, please share below. We can keep each other on track throughout the year.

Written by Laura on January 3rd, 2011

 

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It’s been 3 weeks since I wrote my last blog post. That’s way too long in blogging land but let me tell you, it’s been a very short 3 weeks. So why does it seem much longer than 3 weeks? Is that the way it works when the days are so full, even more full than usual? Christmas was very nice but it took a bit of a twist; it was the 1st year I compiled and sent packages to 2 of our kids rather than putting them under our tree. I guess that’s just another stage in the many stages of family life.

Now that Christmas is past and we’ve begun a new year, it’s time to get back on track with my networking plans, strategies, and goals. What better way to get myself on track than to start off by reading the book Linked Working by Lewis Howes and Frank Agin? The book combines advice for online (LinkedIn) and traditional networking so it was perfect to get me motivated again.

Immediately after finishing the book, I hopped on LinkedIn and joined a few more groups, bringing my total groups to nearly 40. I then followed several people in each of the new groups. I also added books I’ve read to the Amazon book list on LinkedIn. The book list is one of the applications built-in to LinkedIn. I had not used it before today but figured I’d take a few minutes to add several social media and web design books I’ve read. I had no idea it’s so easy and quick to add books.

My last step on LinkedIn tonight was creating a new group. After teaching my first round of social media classes last month I thought it would be fun if we had a place to share our successes among students. My hope is if we share the positives, we will motivate each other to keep going with our plans and reach our goals.

Then I decided I'd like to open the group to anyone, not just my social media students because we want to share our motivation with everyone. We would love to see stories from all of you.

Please join our group and feel free to share questions, comments, and concerns about social media as well as your success stories. To join, search for Social Media Success Stories in the Groups Directory and you should be able to find us.

My last task for 1-1-11 is writing this blog post, starting off my first full year of blogging. I have many plans and goals for 2011 and you will all just have to follow along if you want to find out what they are.

Please comment below if you join my LinkedIn group or if you have any questions. Thank you!

Written by Laura on January 1st, 2011

 

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My plans for today included watching the Packers beat the Lions, writing a blog post or two, and catching up on websites. Turns out those were good plans considering we are socked in with blizzard conditions. We had rain for a couple hours yesterday, then it turned to snow and it didn't take long to pile up. Just about everything is cancelled around here, including churches this morning. The snowplow finally came through our road about 1 pm so I couldn't have gone anywhere if I wanted to, and believe me, I didn't want to. I really hate driving in snow and avoid it whenever possible so working from home is a very good thing for me.

As of now, the Packer game is in the 4th quarter and the score is 3-0, Packers. Ooops – Lions just scored. This is not good! Really expected this game would be a bit more exciting than this but I'm sure they are happy they are playing in Detroit and not Green Bay. It would have been pretty tough to get Lambeau's bleachers shoveled out by noon today and fans should not have been on the roads driving to the game. But at least there is no dome in Green Bay as Minneapolis so no worries about a roof caving in.

Wow – wind gusts are just amazing here and the drifting is going to continue for some time. I'm happy to be snuggy warm in my house with a computer on my lap and my kitty trying to squeeze her way in here. She never understands there isn't room for her and my laptop!

If the blizzard had hit a few days earlier, it would have fallen on my first social media classes. But luckily it waited and we had perfect weather (for December) and classes went off without a hitch. I was very pleased with the groups I had. I knew I was taking a chance setting the classes so close to Christmas but I really didn't want to wait until January for the 1st go-round.

For the most part, classes went very well but I learned a few things I want to change for the next set. I really intended these would be strictly beginner and we would mainly just setup accounts but many students had some accounts already and they had questions so we continued on and covered much more. When I do this again in January, I will go back to my initial plan and I will expect students to have accounts setup before they attend class. I will provide instructions so we will have a better chance of everyone being on the same page and we will have more time to concentrate on the important stuff.

My goal has not changed. I want to help small business owners use social media to improve their business and I want to build a mini-community of social media users in my area so we can all help each other.

My goal for today has changed however. The Packers just lost the game. No one would have expected that going in but they just didn't show up to play today and that's the way it goes. 

My promise to my students is that I show up to play for every class and they will get my all every game (I mean class).

Watch for more info on upcoming classes coming soon and if you have any questions, comment below or email me.

Written by Laura on December 12th, 2010

 

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What is SMO you ask? Social Media Optimization. If you haven’t heard the name or acronym yet, you will soon and you will hear it often. SMO simply means your social media accounts are optimized so you will be found within those sites as well as by search engines. For example, if you complete your LinkedIn profile and use your keywords and phrases within it, a potential client, customer, business partner, or job recruiter will find you if they use LinkedIn’s search.

During the course of the past 10 years while I have been creating websites, I've never fallen victim to the hype around Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Oh sure, I paid attention to keywords way back when search engines deemed them the most important factor, and later turned my attention to headings and important words within the page text, along with keywords in the head tag. However I never tried to load keywords in a page just for search engine ranking. Content is what's important, and if it brings with it good search engine placement, the content must be good. If pages are loaded with keywords but make very little sense, what good are they really?

As Google has evolved and search engines in general have become more sophisticated, I had to question if anyone really knew the secret to great search engine results. I've never misrepresented myself to any client by giving them false hope or expectations. I know some so-called SEO experts charge big bucks for SEO but I always wondered if their clients found it valuable.

Enter social media and our latest and greatest acronym – SMO. SMO and relevance go hand in hand. I wrote a post several weeks ago about Facebook's Edge ranking system. You can find it here – http://bit.ly/ckyHnT. As I compare my Top News and Most Recent listings in my Facebook Newsfeed, I am more convinced each day how much relevance matters.

Relevant factors include links to and from your website. This includes links from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. The more often you can post on your social media sites and link back to your website or blog, the more search engines will notice you and your subject matter. So get out there and post great content consistently and make it easy for those cute, little search engine spiders to find you. After all, isn't it about serving your market and making it easy for your market to find you, even if they don't yet know you exist?

Another term you will likely come to hear more frequently in the near future, if you aren't already, is Inbound Marketing. The old way of marketing is putting your information out there, whether in print or on the web, and waiting for your potential customers to find you. With Inbound Marketing, you play a more active role in getting yourself into your potential clients’ space on the web. That means connecting with your target market on social media sites and then consistently posting content they find helpful, interesting, and relevant.

My best advice to any business is to get in on this new way of marketing your business with social media. Yes, it takes time. Yes, you must learn how to do it well, but the learning is not difficult. No, it’s not free. Sure, the sites are free to use, but it takes time and your time is valuable. But social media is the way of the future in web marketing and understanding Social Media Optimization now will prove to be well worth your time spent in the future. Yes, these sites will continue to evolve and change, but if you get in now, you can evolve with them and grow your business in the process.

Written by Laura on December 1st, 2010

 

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This is a very exciting time — Beginner Level Classes are now set! I’ve been planning this for several months now so now that it’s almost here, it feels like Christmas. I hope when they are over, I won’t feel that huge let-down like I used to feel when my kids were little and Christmas was over. I don’t think that will happen because 2 weeks later Christmas will actually be here and although it’s not like when I had 4 little ones in the house, it’s still Christmas and it’s always special.

Besides that, I will be gearing up for the next round of classes which will include Intermediate as well as Beginner levels. At the time of this writing, I am planning more Beginner classes about mid-January followed closely by Intermediate. Dates, times, and locations will depend on input and feedback I receive over the next several weeks. So if you’d like to get your 2-cents worth in, please comment below or email me.

The Beginner Level classes will take students step-by-step through the setup process for LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. We will also go over a few basic procedures so students can start using their accounts right away and have a good foundation by the time they take the Intermediate Course, as I hope they all will.

We will also cover the very basics of blogging so students understand what it takes to setup a blog, the various options available, and then can decide if blogging is right for their business.

Smattered throughout the classes will be lessons in social media strategy and protocol so students will learn to engage their potential clients and customers.

The goal of the Beginner Course is to have the student hit the ground running without fear of using social media, enabling the student to get a good start. The Intermediate Classes will expand on that base knowledge and explore many more tools and dig deeper into strategy, security, and protocol.

Too many businesses get into social media without a plan. They think, “well let’s just make a Facebook Fan page and watch all the customers come flocking to our door.” They were probably led to believe it works that way. Let me tell you – it doesn’t. If you don’t have a plan and a few simple guidelines, you won’t accomplish much except to waste a lot of precious time.

I’ve heard business owners say they tried social media and it doesn’t work, so they quit. My question to those folks is, “Did you have a plan?” Would you actually run your business without some sort of plan? Do you plan advertising for the year or do you just send ads to the local newspaper on a whim?

One last note on the Beginner Course – If you have been using Facebook and you know you are capable of setting up a fan page and LinkedIn and Twitter accounts, you should go ahead and do that and then take my Intermediate Classes. However, if you know you can do all those things but never seem to get around to it, perhaps you should consider taking the Beginner Course. It will be time and money well spent. You will have your accounts, along with a great foundation.

Hope to see you at the Baymont Inn, Plymouth, December 6 & 8 or December 7 & 9. For more information, see this page.

Written by Laura on November 21st, 2010

 

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Answer – they have websites recently completed by me and posted to my portfolio. Because my portfolio was getting rather large, several months ago I separated it into 3 categories – Business, Municipal, and Community.

My portfolio now has 39 sites that I made over the last few years. I consider my portfolio a bit of marketing for my clients because I always write a little blurb for the business sites and Search Engines often pick up the listing on my site, as well as the client’s site.

Thank you to Bonnie Stoelting, clerk at Town of Rhine, as well as the entire town board for trusting me to do your site. I’m sure it will serve your residents well for years to come.

Thank you to Tony Schwaller for referring me to Northern Kettle Moraine Nordic Ski Club, better known as Greenbush Ski Club. And thank you to Tom Lawn, President of the club for being great to work with. It was a pleasure.

Please take a few minutes to check out my site and their sites. You will see what a great group of folks I have been fortunate to work with and learn from. I learn something new with every business or organization I work with. This is a great job!

Written by Laura on November 12th, 2010

 

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