Did you make a resolution this year? Mine was to spend more time sharing the cool things I find around the Internet with you. So… to start things off, I would like to share one of my favorite productivity tools — Action Machine.

If you are at all like me — and you get distracted on the web – timers are a great aid to getting focused. Action Machine takes this one step further and allows you to create timers for all the tasks in your day. The days that I’ve used Action Machine effectively – I’ve gotten an incredible about of work done. Action Machine also adds up all your estimated times so that you don’t overschedule your day. I am *very* guilty of this.

I only use Action Machine in it’s most simple format. I know that you can set recurring timers, set timers that match up with goals, etc. You can also take notes on the different tasks (I find this VERY helpful).

If you think this might help you, You can check it out here. Currently, Derek Franklin, is offering a special where you also get his Day Launcher system as a bonus.

Here’s a quick video I made to show you how action machine works.

I want to start this post by getting something off my chest — I love the principles of Guerrilla Marketing — but I really hate the name.  Other than being very hard to spell, Guerrilla Marketing conjures up doing harm to my customers.  My business model is much more collaborative than combative.

If you dig deeper though, Guerrilla Marketing is not about vanquishing the enemy — but about creating win-win partnerships with your customers.  Two years ago, I took a big chance and invested my time and money in the Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification Program (despite really hating the name of the program).

I don’t regret the decision at all.  I learned dozens of new strategies that helped me to grow my business and to give great advice to my clients.  Mitch and Craig Valentine (the co-leader for my session) managed to create an intimate learning environment.  I have paid much more for classes where I felt much less connected to the group.

Over the course of the 12 weeks, my group bonded and we still keep in touch with each other.  Mitch and Craig also take a personal interest in your success and get to know you during the 12 week course.

Rather than just taking my word for it, I thought  you might want a sample. Here is a video from Mitch about the 4 Pillars of online marketing success.  This is a sample of the kind of rock solid advice you’ll get in the class.  Mitch also held a webinar on March 24 — click here register for the replay.

Mobile marketing fascinates me.   I have been a true gadget junkie since the first Palm pilot came out (I have a whole museum of used PDAs in my kitchen drawer).

It amazes me how quickly mobile technology has developed and what is now possible with a device that is just a tiny bit larger than a deck of cards…  I probably spend as much time on my Droid as I do on my laptop these days.  As phone prices go down, access will increase… and mobile will become even more important to all businesses (not just local businesses that can take advantage of location based marketing).  Over the next 2 years, more people will access the web via their smartphone than via their computer.  Isn’t it amazing how quickly things change?

Here is a quick video with some tips on how to make your online business more mobile friendly.

Stay tuned, I’ll be posting more tips about this important topic over the next few weeks.

Given that as a online marketing manager (who started out as a virtual assistant and event planner), my business depends on getting it right the first time, people are surprised to hear that I am a bit of a free spirit,  Given an choice between custom and systematic, I would choose custom every time.

Lately though, I’ve come to realize that the system is actually what makes the customization possible.  Last weekend, I attended my client’s first live event Take Action Get Profits on social media marketing.  I was planning on just attending, but due to a last minute scheduling glitch, I ended up working the event (as the audio girl) which gave me a chance to eat lunch with the event planners and get a behind the scenes glimpse into the event.

My first job after college was planning multi-day study courses on local government for  Eastern European mayors visiting the U.S.  We would charter a bus and bring the officials to a few different cities so they could see how U.S. government worked first hand.  After that, as a local government public information manager (as as a volunteer with the Junior Chamber of Commerce), I would plan fairs, festivals, recycling events, etc.  Event planning is exhausting and stressful — especially when you over-customize each event.

I was amazed and surprised at how stress-free my client’s event was.  I credit it to the excellent event planners who had a template and a system for every aspect of the event.  From the nametags to the stage presentation, you could see care and professionalism in every aspect of the event. Yes, things changed and yes, everything was tweaked for (and sometimes by) my client — but underpinning all of that was a solid framework build to make sure that the event host felt taken care of.

I imagine that the event company has simple checklists for every aspect of the event.  In his book, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right,  Dr. Atul Gawande explains how instituting simple checklists for complex tasks (like surgery),  reduced medical errors by more than 20%.  Inspired by this book and a desire to make my clients feel as absolutely taken care of as possible, I have been creating and using more checklists in my work.  (I use a free mindmapping program called FreeMind)

So far the results have been:

• Less time spent on tasks (since all the information I need is in the checklist)
• Fewer errors
• The ability to add even more value to the process since I am not having to worry about having the basics covered.

Do you use checklists in your work?

Did you ever want to post something to Facebook that you didn’t want *everyone* to see? Perhaps you are planning a surprise party — or you just want to use Facebook to talk to business colleagues AND friends/family (without too much mixing). This video shows you how to set the privacy settings on your posts to hide them from certain groups of people.

I attended Michele Scism’s Take Action Get Profits Conference this past weekend, and learned this very useful trick.

This video also marks the screencast debut of my daughter Suzanne…

So, to recap… the steps are:

1. Make sure you have put your friends into lists.

• Click on friends on the right hand side of the page.
• Click the edit friends button on top
• A list of your friends will pop up.  You can edit your friends by highlighting the space to the right of their name – a box will come up that says edit lists.
• There is a box at the top of the edit friends page for creating a new list.

2. Once you get the lists done,here’s how you share with certain people:

• Click the lock at the bottom of the page
• Choose “customize”
• Choose to send to (or hide from) specific people — you can choose a person — or type in the name of a list.

That’s it.

Four years ago when I started working online,  I never would have imagined that video would become so important.  Video makes it possible for your audience to get to know you even better (because they can see and hear you).  Video is also treated very well in the search engines (this may be because there is less video content than written content.   Unlike articles, which need to be certain length to be effective, with video, shorter is better.  Videos can also be easily recycled into audio, podcasts, blog posts, etc.

New to video?  Not quite sure where to start?  The good news is that you do not have to have fancy equipment or even an in depth knowledge of video editing to start adding video to your promotional tool kit.   Here are some easy ways to get started with video.

1. Powerpoint/Keynote Both powerpoint and keynote (mac) give you the ability to add either music for voice over to your slide shows.  You can create videos using this method that are extremely impressive if you know a little bit about how to do animations.  The key with these videos is to remember to keep them short.

2.  Animoto Animoto is a cool program for creating photo-montage videos to music.  You don’t get a lot of customization — but you can crate something that is very attention-getting  very quickly.

3.  Mini – video cameras Although many people are a little nervous about putting videos of themselves on the Internet – realize that the purpose is soley for people to see that there is a real person behind the website.  The best way to create a getting to know you video is to to use a small video recorder (flip cameras, Kodak z18, your digital camera or even your iphone).  The production value doesn’t have to be high.  People just need to get a quick snippet of who you are.

4.  Jing The Jing Project – -http://thejingproject.com  is a free screencast service  from the makers of camtasia.  Once you install the program, you can very quickly and easy record screencasts of up to 5 minutes from your computer.  When you are finished, the program processes your video and gives you a choice of either a code to embed the video on your website or a simple share link that you can e-mail

Now that you know some easy ways of creating videos, why not give it a try?  You can submit the videos to You Tube or just put them on your website or Facebook page.  Who knows you might be the next Cecile B. DeMille!

When talking to current clients and potential clients – I am starting to notice a recurring theme.  Clients are complaining because they are paying top dollar for virtual assistant services but not getting the strategic support they think they are paying for.  Rather, their virtual assistants are “order takers” rather than “strategic partners”.  The  client gives assignments and feel they must delineate each step for the VA rather than the VA as the “systems expert” helping design the best possible implementation process.

Many virtual assistants are more than willing to step up and become strategic partners who add value to your business by sharing their expertise.   They just need the proper environment and encouragement from their clients.  Here are some questions to ask yourself to see if you are creating a culture in your business that encourages your virtual assistant (and other team members) to  give you their very best.

Do you ask your support staff for ideas and opinions?

I know this one seems very obvious.  But, many virtual assistants will take the lead from their clients and not offer up opinions unless specifically asked for them.  Let your VA know very early in the relationship that you are not only open to feedback but that you respect it.

Do you give very explicit instructions?

For those of you who are more analytical, there may be a temptation to give your support staff very detailed instructions for each task, every time you assign it. A better solution (time saving for you) is to assign the task and have the VA document the steps she takes to implement it. You can work together to refine these documents into systems and procedures that  will serve you both in the future.

Do you acknowledge the VA’s expertise?

When your virtual assistant offers and opinion or gives a suggestion, do you acknowledge it, even if you don’t agree with it or do you just brush it aside.  A simple “thank you for your feedback” can go a long way toward getting a virtual assistant to take a stronger partnership role in your business.

Cultivating your virtual assistant can pay great dividends for your business.  After all, good virtual assistants are implementation experts who are on an accelerated learning path (they work for multiple clients and are learning form all of them constantly.  You can put all that knowledge to work for your business — often it is just a matter of asking.

How many times have you heard people say – “the money is in the list”.  The more potential clients who get your e-mails, facebook postings and tweets — the more sales you’ll make.   So, the trick is, how do you get people to sign up to receive (read, and take action) on your messages when their e-mail boxes are full to the bursting point?  The trick is a well designed opt-in box.  The opt in box is the little box usually at the top (or on the right side) of a website asking people to leave their name and address. In many ways, this is the most important part of your website.

Mistake #1 Location is Everything

The opt-in box is not your whole site — but it needs to be accessible and visible “on top of the fold” (in the area of your website that people can see without scrolling).   Conventional wisdom says that the opt-in box is most effective at the top or on the top right of your site.  You can also have more than one opt-in box.   You can also consider putting the opt-in box at the bottom of each blog post.

Mistake #2 Not Solving A Problem for Your Client

Your clients will hire you to solve problems for them. They will gladly give their e-mail address to you in exchange for a solution (or even a good diagnosis) of their problem.  I see many e-mail boxes asking people to “sign up for my news updates” — well, that isn’t very enticing to someone who doesn’t know you yet.  A little better is sign up and get a free audio or e-book — at least there is a little bit of honey to draw in the reader.  The very best opt-in boxes offer information that can instantly make a difference in your clients business.  For example, “Increase your e-mail list by 25%  – sign up here for your free audio (Value $25).   You want your “bribe” to be short, easily digestible and useful.  You also want to give them a taste of your best advice – so they’ll want more.

Mistake #3  Not Experimenting Enough

The tiniest tweak can often make the biggest difference.  Small changes in copy can change response rates by up to 250%.   In a copywriting class I took, the teacher gave an example of how the headline “Puts Music In Your Life”  outdrew “Put Music In your Life” by 250%.   How do you know which tiny changes will make a difference.  You test… one small change at a time.   Most mailing list companies offer a way to create simple split tests with your opt-in box.  If your e-mail company doesn’t offer this service, google also has a free service where it serves up different versions of your site to conduct split tests.   Not testing (or making huge changes to opt-in box) is the biggest mistake I see people making with their opt-in boxes.  It is also the one thing I see successful internet marketers doing consistently.

So, where  should you start in creating a more effective opt-in box?  I would go through these three mistakes in order.  First, make sure that your opt-in box is visible (if clients can see it – the other two suggestions won’t help you ).  Then, make sure that your offer is solving a problem for your client.  Finally, test, test and re-test, keep tightening your results to create the most effective opt-in box possible.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I’ve decided to “put my money where my mouth is” and take part in the latest e-zine articles 100 articles in 100 days challenge. I’m going to try to write 100 articles in the next 100 days.

Why am I doing this?  Well,  I am constantly telling my clients to create content for their blogs, for articles, for products.  I am not so consistent in creating content for my own business.  So, this challenge is a bit of experiment for me to try to come up with a system to make content creation easier for my clients while working on my own website.  I’m hoping that this year’s  article marketing adventure will be successful — here are the tools I am using to make it easier.

1. Ezinearticles.com wordpress plug in Ezinearticles.com is constantly coming up with new ways for authors to leverage their system. The latest addition is a WordPress plugin that automatically submits your blog posts to their article marketing system.  You can customize the resource box and the tags.  I plan on writing the articles as blog drafts – submitting them via the plug in and then editing and scheduling them for posting.  This short cut will also allow me to pre-schedule most of my 2011 blog posts before the end of 2010.

2. My mindmap I’ve created an article idea mindmap.  During the day, as I come up with ideas – I’m adding them to the map.  Putting the ideas in visual format – I’m able to create sub-series and see how groups of articles might fit together into bigger publications.

3. My RSS reader – I’ve added about a dozen new blogs to my google reader account.  I am also planning on spending more time scanning twitter, facebook and linked in for people’s questions about online marketing and how I might help them.

4. Notes from client phone calls My clients are a great source of questions that I can answer in article form.  I will be writing out all of my “standard” lectures — that way – next time they ask — I can just point them to the appropriate article.

5. Article writing templates I just bought a bunch of article writing templates from a website called write articles faster.  The templates seem to be very high quality.  They even come in word processor format.  I’m hoping that having pre-made outlines will help me to speed along the article writing process.

That’s what I have in my article writing toolkit.   I hoping that the above tools will turbocharge article writing efforts and help me be able to proudly tell my clients that if I can write 100 articles in 100 days – they can too!

There are 100 days until the end of 2010.  Do you have an end of the year – last push goal?

My goal is to take some time to “put my money where my mouth is” and generate some content around my business. I am constantly “on” my clients to create and distribute content.  To show them what’s possible when you take your article marketing seriously, I’m going take part in the HAHD (100 articles in 100 days challenge) through ezinearticles.com.   The goal of the challenge is to write 100 high-quality articles in 100 days and submit them through the ezine articles site.

By the end of the HAHD challenge I hope to have:

• About a year’s worth of twice weekly blog posts
• A  couple  of e-books to give away or sell (who knows there might be a full length book lurking somewhere inside me too.)
• An easy to use system for my clients to use for content marketing (I’ll be taking notes on what works for me)
• Increased traffic to my site
• Material for podcasts, audio boos and videos.
• Increased credibility as an expert in my field

In addition to the articles, I’ll be posting my progress and tips and tricks I learn along the way.  I would love it if you would join me. I find that article writing ends up being like exercise — I always start with great intentions — but accountability and peer pressure are not only helpful- they are essential!

Sign Up here and then  your comments on this blog so I can support you