RosalindGardner.com

Learn Blogging & Affiliate Marketing with Rosalind Gardner

Too Busy to Blog?

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Are there lengthy periods of time when you're just too busy to post an article to your blog?

Perhaps you are overwhelmed with preparations during the Christmas season or during summer when the kids are at home and you are too busy keeping them busy to sit down.

I hear ya!

We've been on the road southbound for a month now and most days, after driving for a few hours then setting up the RV for an overnight stay, making dinner, getting some exercise and running the dog, blogging is just about the last thing I'm keen to do.

Oh, I do manage to get online for a wee bit everyday (via our satellite connection) – but I only make time enough to respond to the most important emails and then see what my friends have been up to on Facebook.

I talk about anything and everything on my Facebook account.

I LOVE playing on Facebook.

Sometimes, I'll post a great deal for clients or a link to a book that I'm reading on my Facebook timely. But mostly I discuss items of a personal nature. I'll post a picture from the State Park at which we are staying, or make a comment in response to some political news.

What I find really interesting is that my business is as good, if not better than it ever was… without blogging items of a business nature, but just posting mostly personal notes to Facebook.

Fluke?

I don't know – I'll review the stats again after Christmas.

But my bet is that being consistently ‘real' and linking out to your business site has significant benefits – much more than if you only post business items to your Facebook account. 🙂

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Ros

P.S. This picture was taken at the Terry Bison Ranch in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I ordered a ‘large' beer, assuming it was a pint. Wrong. I ended up taking half of that beer back to the RV in a to-go cup. LOL

New Relationship Marketing – FREE Webinar Series

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Here's great news on a Facebook event I'm actually happy to hear about… because it comes from a true leader in the social media space – Mari Smith.

If you've been trying to get social media to work for your business, you know that Mari Smith provides some of the best guidance there is for making sense of it all.

And as entrepreneurs and small businesses owners, we are all interested in getting better at Facebook marketing and relationship marketing in a big way!

So, I'm VERY excited to tell you what's in store for you on Tuesday January 31st. Mari's going to be leading one of her informative, FREE webinars — The New Relationship Marketing – FREE Webinar Series! — on Facebook Marketing for 2012 — and you're invited!

This will be a lively and informative webinar about how to grow a raving fanbase on the world's #1 social network — Facebook.

With all the recent changes over at Facebook, sometimes it's tough to stay ahead and use the world's largest social network to guarantee consistent visibility, engagement and growth for your business. That's why Mari's offering this free webinar, to get you up to speed on Facebook Marketing right at the start of the year. It's all about the best ways to develop your Fanbase audience so that they REALLY connect with you. And when they join in and respond, they're ready to buy from you, too!

Register right away to save your seat on Mari's first big Facebook event of 2012 before it fills up (because if her previous webinars are any indication, I really think the seats on this one will be overflowing too!) I've already signed up, so let's both start this year off with a big boost to our Facebook marketing for 2012!

The New Relationship Marketing – FREE Webinar Series!

I hope to see you on the webinar!

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Ros

Black Friday Facebook Fun(ds)

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Here's an idea for making this Friday more fun and fruitful.

In addition to doing your own Christmas shopping online, give your Facebook friends and family good reasons to do likewise.

The screenshot below shows a Facebook status update about reading Ken Follett's “Fall of Giants” on my iPad, and how Ed was enjoying his new Kindle Fire on a rainy afternoon.

That's a strategy that you can use every day of the year to make extra coin.

Respect your Facebook friends by making recommendations relevant and of interest, i.e. stay on topic on your business profile, and don't inundate close friends with updates about incredible web hosting deals on your personal profile.

As ever, personal endorsements need to be REAL and honest. Getting stumped by follow-up questions will wreck your credibility and future earnings potential.

It's also a good idea to add a disclaimer such as “When you buy the book through my link Amazon pays me… about enough to send my mother a Christmas card”.

Happy Turkey Day and best wishes for a prosperous Black Friday!

Facebook Stalker Spam

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Good grief. What's up with the Facebook Stalker app (and all the idiots that are promoting it)?

Folks, it's just another way that scammers are getting you to give up your Facebook password.

Don't fall for it!

First of all, if your Facebook security is good (no telephone numbers, addresses or real birth years), then you don't need to worry about those who will steal your identity.

And if you have played fast and loose with your personal information get LifeLock identity theft protection!!!

Secondly, it's easy enough to tell if you have a REAL stalker (and I've dealt with 2 of them over the years).

They don't just lurk – they pursue you — relentlessly.

They send you every app in the book, send you loving messages and then express real frustration when you don't respond. (Have you seen “The Resident“? Watch it.)

Dealing with Facebook stalkers is easy — defriend the creeps.

I have 2 Facebook accounts. One for family and REAL friends (those whom I've actually met, spent time with… love). The other is for people with whom I do business. Some folks are on both accounts… but never would I allow a stranger into my ‘friends and family' account.

Back to the point, as far as an Stalker Trackers application on Facebook — there's no such thing.
The original stalker app was removed from Facebook very quickly due to security issues. Don't believe that others will be any different.

So, don't fall for the bandwagon and promote it. In too many cases, it's just a front for nefarious programmer/scammers to access your account.

2010: Year in Review

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Overall, my goals / resolutions for this year were simple and minimal:

  1. Travel more
  2. Take more time off
  3. Maintain or increase my income
  4. Lose 10 pounds.

Well, three out of 4 ain't bad. (I gained seven pounds – but had a great time doing it! 🙂 )

As for traveling more… I did that in spades with trips to:

As for time off… in reality, I worked only 2 months this year.

[Read more…]

My BIG Facebook Faux Pas

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I messed up my Facebook strategy right from the outset.

I created a profile and let everyone and his brother become my “friend”.

That was all well and good until I had nearly 5,000 friends and realized that was going to be all that Facebook allowed.

Limiting friends?

I have 100's of thousands of subscribers on my email lists and only a certain percentage buy. I want to GROW my lists, NOT limit their numbers.

Egads.

[Read more…]

Share Your YouTube Videos on Twitter, Facebook and Google Reader

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I love services that simplify my online business.

One of those services is TwitterFeed's automatic posting of blog entries to my Twitter account — meaning that I rarely have to login to Twitter, unless of course I feel like telling everyone what I'm having for lunch that day — not. 🙂

Well, in a similar fashion, YouTube has just made sharing your videos easier too.

You can now connect your YouTube account with your Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader accounts — meaning that your followers, friends and shared-item readers will see when you upload a new video to YouTube.

Sweet!

To connect your YouTube account with Twitter, Facebook and Google Reader, simply click on Upload Video and you'll see the link for AutoShare Options. Choose one or choose all 3 — linking is pretty much instantaneous and painless.

The screenshot below shows my YouTube account and the AutoShare options I chose.

Now I just have to make and upload another video to YouTube… wait for it!

YouTube Sharing

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Ros

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