A web marketing tool can be a website, a software program, an e-book, a course, a training program, a system, or even an expert who can guide you along the way. These tools range in price from completely free to very expensive. Choosing the right one depends on your business, the amount of time you have to invest, and the amount of money you can afford to spend on the tool, in addition to other aspects.

Web marketing can be comprised of many different marketing techniques, or it can consist of just one or two. This also depends on where you’re at in your business. If you’re just starting out, you should just stick with one part of the process until you fully understand that and have it working to your advantage. Then you can move onto the next area. Also when you are just starting out, you might be on a budget and focus on the free or low-cost tools. Here are a few examples of a web marketing tool that you will need, no matter what your business.

First and foremost, you’ll need a website. There are certain sites that will allow you to create one for free and teach you how to do it as well. There are some restrictions on features, but if you’re just starting out, these will work fine until you’re ready to move on to more advanced options. When you are, you can get into all kinds of SEO software, systems, and consulting tools which will bring your website up in ranking.

Second, you’ll also want to look into autoresponders. There are some free versions of these as well. But you can get a much more reliable service by investing 15 to 30 dollars a month on an autoresponder. This is a crucial part of your business because it allows you to build a list of customers and potential customers and to keep in touch with them on a regular basis. Some of the many autoresponders are GetResponse, ResponseMagic, AWeber, Oprius, and Icontact. They capture the data of visitors to your website so that you can email them with news, special offers, and updates about your business.

Another key web marketing tool is the keyword research tool. Keywords are important no matter what kind of marketing you do, so having a good tool will help you zone in on the best keywords for your business. You can use any of the free keyword research tools offered by Google, Yahoo, or Bing, or you can invest in some other tools that are on the market.

By leveraging all the tools mentioned above you can be well on your way to marketing your business on the internet and take advantage of today’s high tech world.

If you have customized, or want to customize your Twitter background, then you need to know what the best dimensions are to use.

The new Twitter layout is pretty good as far as functionality, layout, and organization goes, but it leaves a lot less real estate for those that love to spruce up their backgrounds. With a lot more people accessing Twitter via mobile devices and desktop apps, the background has faded a bit in relevancy, but it’s still an important part  of your brand.

A well done Twitter background allows you to match your brand across multiple multi-media efforts. Whether it’s print, online, or everything in between. Unfortunately, there’s just a lot less area to be creative. Don’t let it stop you though. Listed below are the new dimensions. Get out there and be creative! Let’s see what you can come up with!

Post your Twitter background creation here as a comment, with a link to your Twitter account, and whomever I think has the cleverest, most useful implementation of Twitter’s new dimensions will win a year’s FREE hosting for 2 WordPress Blogs.*

Twitter’s New Interface Dimensions

Width 1040px
* 100% of users will always see at least 41 pixels on each side.
* 72% of users viewing in 1280 x 800 or higher resolution will see 108 pixels on each side.
* 28% of users viewing in 1440 x 900 or higher resolution will see 200 pixels on each side.
* 4% of users viewing in 1920 x 1080 will see 312 pixels on each side.

Keep these dimensions and numbers in mind when developing your new wallpaper.

To enter the contest follow the steps below:

1. Leave a comment on this post with your name, Twitter username and please be sure to fill out the email field as that is how I will contact you if you win. I do not enjoy SPAM, so please be assured I won’t share your email with anyone else. Any posts that spam with website links will be disqualified.

2. You will need to follow me @WebErika.

3. After you follow me, send a RT: “RT @WebErika The New Twitter Background Contest: Win FREE Hosting! http://ow.ly/2ZgG0″.

4. That’s it! Be sure to have your AWESOME background in place before you leave a comment.

I’ll pick the Twitter background which I think is clever and utilizes the much narrower dimensions allotted to us by Twitter. As a bonus, the top winner and top 2 runner ups will be spotlighted on my sidebar with a link to their website or Twitter profile. Clean, rated PG websites only please.

This is my contest. My final decision prevails.

Contest entries MUST BE POSTED no later than 11:59PM EST on November 30, 2010 to be qualified and entered.

Websites will be hosted on my company’s fully dedicated servers. The 2 free hosting accounts will each be for one domain, per account. Actual domain name not provided. (you can register a domain name here) Each account will be a Linux hosted account with cPanel access, Fantastico, 250MB disk-space, 5GB bandwidth, 10 email accounts. (although, I highly encourage the winner to consider Google.com/hosted as an email provider and I will even walk the winner through how to set up a Google.com/hosted account. Google.com/hosted accounts provide up to 100 email users as well as their fantastic SPAM and virus protection.)

Contest Terms and Conditions:

Quite obviously, no purchase is necessary, but this is a SKILLS contest. So I would like to see some awesome entries. I don’t care if they are made by the entrant or outsourced and then presented. It must however be the entrant’s Twitter account.

Now for some more boring but necessary stuff:

…. well it might if it’s all you did all day. LOL! Is there anything more mind-numbing than clicking through to site after site after site and pasting in links?  I can’t stand it.  Makes my brain go mush.  It’s so bad it makes me want to give up and not do it, even though I know it will help my sites.

That’s why I’m glad Pogul (my marketing pal) told me about SocialAdr.  Suddenly that terrible task is crossed right off my list and I don’t have to feel guilty about not doing it.  SocialAdr is a new service that completely automates the process of getting my pages on the social bookmarking sites.

It’s totally revolutionary in the way it works: they have hundreds of users, an army really, that are all waiting to bookmark MY pages on their own social bookmarking accounts.  All I have to do is put in the pages that I want bookmarked and the rest is taken care of automatically. THAT is priceless. Especially if you manage hundreds of sites and run campaigns ad nauseum.

Plus, I can let my “bookmarks” run through again and again, with more and more different users linking to them.  How great is that?  Like I said, there’s no work for me at all. Well, hardly any. There is a little. But very little. Once I put my pages into the system, I can go grab a drink while SocialAdr does the heavy lifting.

There is no way any system could make this easier for me. At least I have been unable to find one. Even outsourcing it isn’t as easy as this. When I look for services for my business, I want ‘done for me’.  I don’t want to have to mess around or learn some complicated thing all the time.  I want it to just work, and that’s what SocialAdr does.  It just works.

Check it out SocialAdr, you’ll be glad you did. And if you use my link to sign up, I’ll be able to have a coffee or a beer on you because they’ll credit me a few bucks for sending you their way. I’ll be sure to toast in your honor as well!

So far it looks great! I haven’t read anyone elses reviews on it, but I like it. I’ve always loved Digg though.

What I do not like, is having to verify my own feed the way they want me to, which is to post this verification key: 291a67d7aa5e4a4b825fafbc73c80c55 in a post that goes to the feed I’m trying to add. But ok. <shrugs>

Yeah they say you can delete it – but as many of you know, once submitted and pinged, then spidered, it’s up forever, somewhere. So I might as well wrap a Digg.com post around it.

Problem is, it’s a bit late, I don’t want to spend all my precious minutes of time tonight writing up a decent blog post, so this one is getting cut short. My apologies. I promise to be back sooner than later with some good tidbits!

Be well!

If you’re unfamiliar with the word “blog” it is a combination of the word “web” and “log”.  It’s a way to share your thoughts and ideas as well as spread information.  In this case, you’re sharing with your customers and posting content that attracts people who will want to do business with you as they read what you have to say.  You don’t have to write down your family secrets, just share information that is interesting to the type of person your business attracts.

For instance, let’s say your business sells tshirts.  Your blog can inform people of the latest styles and trends.  You can publish articles about the ancient art of silk screening, give people ideas on how to personalize their tshirts and keep them up to date on the latest developments in manufacture and production.  You could even stage an entertaining stunt such as following a tshirt’s journey around the country or the world as people sign it and send it on its way.

These are just a few of the ways that you can inform and entertain with a blog.

Another advantage of blogging for your business is that it lets you establish a relationship with your readers.  Let’s face it, this is an impersonal world and people crave a sense of belonging.  Your readers can make a connection to you by reading your blog and feel they know a bit about you.  That personal connection will make them think of you before any other business when they need a product that you sell.

You don’t even have to write all the articles on your blog (but you should write most of them)!  Not all of us have the time to spend several hours or so a week writing new content for a blog post.  I don’t mind writing, in fact, I do enjoy it. But most weeks I do not have the time to churn out a post. Sometimes inspiration hits hard and the words just flow from my keyboard non-stop. Other times I am so wrapped up in a client deadline that my little inner muse takes a nap.

The solution? Hire a ghost writer for that content and work with them to research the exact topic you want to post about.  Voila!  With just a few minutes communication and the time it takes to edit and upload the finished piece to your blog, you’ve added fresh, quality content for your business.

Blogging is a very effective tool when you use it to publicize your business and with Google releasing its newest algorithm, Caffeine, the demand for fresh, current, relevant content is more important than ever.

Anyone looking up a subject you cover will see your content in the search results and visit your site.  This is one of the best types of advertising out there and costs you a minimum of time, effort and money.  So get out there and start blogging!

So give it a read, share it, re-post it on your blog (be sure to use her author box at the bottom) or print it out and tack it to your fridge.

Read it as often as possible and relate it to how you live and how you behave in your day to day life.

How to Be Rich Now (When You Wanna Get Rich Quick)
by Christine Kane

Here’s a question to ask yourself at random times:
Am I getting? Or am I being?

When it comes to new paradigms and big dreams, think about this:

Getting somewhere is not an option. There is no there to get to.

You gotta just be there. Experience the feelings and the sheer knowingness of that thing you want.

When it comes to wealth, people often struggle because they spend their lives trying to get rich.

When you’re successful, you’re successful now. Artists know this principle well. You don’t wait to get creative before you create. You just create. And that is what makes you creative.

The same is true with prosperity.

Sound like a load of hooey?

I understand. All I can say is that it worked (and works!) for me. Here are nine simple ways you can BE rich starting right now…

1 – Get on a schedule.

If you have debt, or regular payments of any kind – then automate it, or put it on a schedule. Paying a tiny amount regularly is better than waiting for the big pay-day to arrive.

That’s because waiting for rescue drains your creative energy. It’s a stance of lack. When you schedule things, you eliminate reactivity. This liberates you.

2 – Fill your gas tank.

I was quite poor when I began my career as a songwriter. One of my poor-person habits was to put only five dollars in the tank when I went to the gas station.

One day, I decided to fill up my tank. A seemingly trivial decision, yes. But I felt so rich that I’ve never considered not filling up my tank since then. Try it! It does wonders for your well-being!

3 – Count Leaves.

Whoever created this Universe didn’t fret about abundance. There was no nail-biting and wondering whether all the trees should get leaves. “Maybe I should only put leaves on a few trees. Otherwise we might run out.”

It sounds ridiculous. But that’s how most of us spend our mental energy.

Count the leaves as they pop out all over this Spring! Observe sand on the beach. Watch a river for a few hours. It just keeps coming! You’re a part of this flow. Remember that.

4 – Give.

The world would be quite a wild place if everyone gave constantly. Tithing is the most outrageous act of courage I know. It says, “Thank you. This isn’t mine anyway, so have some of it.”

Giving creates space. And space gets filled up again. If you feel poor, try giving a little away.

5 – Eliminate nail biting and other nervous habits.

Think dignity. Think Princess Grace or Katharine Hepburn. Would these women of stature and wealth ever stand in the grocery aisle biting their nails because the price of organic oat groats had gone up?

Nervous habits are acts of lack. (I call them Lactions.) Lack of trust. Lack of abundance. Begin letting go by taking a deep breath and remembering trust.

6 – Start a Gratitude Journal.

If you have the “not enoughs,” then every night, write down 5 things for which you are grateful.

Remember this: Energy flows where attention goes. Put your attention on joy, beauty, wealth. Celebrate even the smallest shifts. I remember counting every dollar in my tip jar when I first performed in coffeehouses. I’d think: “That’s one more dollar I made while not sitting in a cubicle! Yay me!”

7 – Get a million-dollar bill.

I got my first million-dollar bill from a gumball machine. I put it in my wallet. It’s so much fun to see whenever I pay for something. I can’t give you proof-positive about any subsequent million-dollar-deal I made, but I like seeing it. That’s all. It reminds me to be aware of abundance.

8 – Happily pay for services.

One night, after my performance, the promoter handed me a substantial check for my fee. With a smile he said, “This is not nearly enough to pay you for this night.”

Ah, to be paid like that all the time!

I try to have his attitude every time I write a check. I make sure to acknowledge the value of that service or product. The attitude with which you pay for things (the outflow) creates the manner of the in-flow. It’s one big cycle.

9 – Uplevel your language.

Stop announcing: “I can’t afford that.”

Tell yourself instead: “I’m choosing not to do that right now.”

Stop saying: “I’m broke.”

Start saying: “My bank account hasn’t caught up with my seven-figure business yet!”

Remember this: Your language is your creativity. It is one of the simplest places to start being rich.

Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her ‘LiveCreative’ weekly ezine with more than 11,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FREE subscription to LiveCreative at http://www.christinekane.com/.

A Didgeridoo you say? Yups … a Didgeridoo. The Didgeridoo (also known as a didjeridu or didge) is a wind instrument. Originally developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia over 1,500 years ago and is still in widespread usage today in Australia and around the world. Apparently it is also sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet  or “drone pipe”.

Another neat fact: The Didgeridoo is traditionally made from Eucalyptus trees which have had their interiors hollowed out by termites or died of other causes.

A modern Didgeridoo is usually cylindrical or conical, and can measure anywhere from 3 to 10 ft long with most being about 4 ft long. The length is directly related to the 1/2 sound wavelength of the keynote which means generally speaking, the longer the instrument, the lower the pitch or key of the instrument.

However it’s made and however it’s played, Simon Cowell thought it was great that Crystal had the great idea of getting a Didgeridoo player to help propel her even further up the charts on American Idol. Bolstered by the entire panel’s approval this week, she is definitely my favorite and hope she gets the nod as Season Nine’s clear cut winner.

The Lodge at Copperhead (or, as most folks, including us, around here call it: “Copperhead Lodge”) had their Grand Opening festivities this past week. We are very glad someone was able to rescue this venue from the depths of vacant foreclosure, because it’s really the only place to go in Blairsville and unwind in a bar/restaurant type setting.

We are members of the The 171 Club @ Copperhead, which is a limited and exclusive social club limited to 500 members. Pool, hot tub, fitness rooms, Bar storage and corkage fees are amongst a nice list of amenities and perks for belonging to the Lodge. We joined back in January and have enjoyed numerous member only gatherings.

With Grand Opening finally here, there was a great turnout for the Ribbon Cutting Wednesday night, March 31st, followed by 4 days of activities, fun and food. During the Ribbon Cutting, Michelle gave a great speech, non-alcoholic champagne toasts were made after another great speech, then plate upon plate of great finger foods, made by Chef Joel, were presented by smiling waitresses (big shout out to Erin!) to a milling crowd.

We camped out at our favorite corner seats at the bar in the member’s only room and relaxed, ate and listened to the conversations around.

Then on Thursday night they had “Bike Night” kickoff at 6:30pm. With food specials and a live remote by Garage 71 Radio and Hellbent Hillbillies at 7pm, Attendees were able to hang with their buddies on the porch and enjoy the good weather. Free Draft Beer was provided by Bikers Barn & Cowboy Custom Trailers & Supplies out of Blairsville.

Friday night brought a showing of American Graffiti out in the natural amphitheater known as The Yard. Admission was free for bikers and $10 for cars & trucks, but you got that back on your food order. People sat out on the grassy slope overlooking the screen and enjoyed a fine spring night under the stars.

Saturday kicked off the first of many Saturday Morning Breakfast Rides, leaving at 8:45am. They also had “Ride Like A Pro Demos” throughout the day. At 12 noon the car show swung into gear with first place plaques awarded at 4pm. If that wasn’t enough, everyone could sit and relax, hang out with friends and fellow members and listen and watch the Mike Watson Blues Band (they will be back in May). Awesome time was had by all.

Last but never least, was Easter sunrise service on Sunday at 7:30am in “The Yard” with Pastor Dakota, accompanied by Karen Leppo. Then to satisfy rumbling tummies, Chef Joel’s Blackboard Brunch at 9am in The Restaurant.

We sure hope this is a good sign of things to come, because we need entertainment like this here in Blairsville. Just an easy place to sit an unwind after a long day or a hard week. Have a few drinks with friends and enjoy the surroundings.

Good luck Michelle and Anthony!! Looking forward to spending the year with you.

More on Copperhead from “Hotel Online“:

The Lodge at Copperhead is a scenic 40-acre resort nestled in the beautiful mountains of North Georgia. Copperhead currently features 11 well-appointed guest suites and 11 cabins with private motorcycle garages. Resort amenities include a large common with fireplace, restaurant, lounge, gift shop, swimming pool, outdoor fireplace and pavilion/amphitheater. The resort features both indoor and outdoor space for meetings, weddings, special events and group gatherings. With lots yet to be developed, Copperhead offers affordable real estate investment opportunities.

The resort lodge was purchased at auction in October 2009 by hospitality executive Michelle Evans and retired building contractor Anthony Cassulo, both long-time motorcycle enthusiasts from Shalimar, Fla.

“It has been our dream to operate a resort like this. Copperhead is a beautiful setting for a vacation getaway or group gathering,” co-owner Michelle Evans said. “We look forward to making this wonderful mountain resort a special place that both locals and visitors, who may or may not ride, feel welcome and are proud to call their home away from home,” Evans said.

It made me think about some things that have been rolling around in my head awhile and inspired me to get some of these thoughts out in writing to share with y’all.

Her points are awesome and I’ve been trying to preach some of these very topics for quite a while to various people within my circle. My favorite from her list is #4:

Not jumping in and getting going:

Listening is critical, but if you don’t get started, you have nothing to listen to. Learning social media is all about experimenting and taking risks. One webinar coach suggested that we “Ask for forgiveness, rather than permission.” A colleague somewhat skeptical of social media evangelists isn’t a proponent of this advice.

I’m somewhere in between, but you do have to get in there and try things out. Most social media community members are very supportive of Newbies. If some are not, well they are definitely in the minority. Just say you are sorry and move on.

GREAT ADVICE!!!! One of my biggest mantras is that you cannot fail at something until you have tried it. In that endeavor, you also have to be truthful with yourself too. Signing up for a service is not “trying”. Making a half-hearted attempt to set up a blog is not “trying”.

Signing up and jumping in, whether you know what it is about or not, connecting with people and learning the ropes by trial and error is an honest effort. Actually sacrificing your free time, and working diligently to get a task completed to the best of your ability is “trying”. Always make sure it’s a 100% effort and not a “well, I’ll get around to it later” kind of effort. Anything else is really just cheating yourself of the opportunity.

My Kick in the Pants

The one thing on the list I’ve not mastered is her #10.

“Position yourself as the GO-TO Source for information in your area of expertise.”

I definitely need to be more assertive, and pat myself on the back here, because I *DO* know Social Media Marketing. I have worked hard for years, over a decade if we want to count. I’ve researched until the wee hours and attempted and failed 1,000 times over in my efforts to know all I can about website development, search engines and Social Media Marketing with all it’s good points and bad points.

I’ve made the mistake of staying on the fringes for too long and not putting myself out there in the middle and joining the others in the ring. I think it’s time to get on the social media stage, look for the spotlights so to speak, and I will be working on that the best I can in the upcoming months.

Will I always do the right thing? Probably not. Will I be wrong from time to time? You betcha. Will I be learning new and exciting things? Always. And in the end, because I have given it my 100% best effort, I know I will have succeeded at producing results that get me closer to my goals.

Along that path, I am lucky enough to be working with some incredible talent these days and I know that my enthusiasm, my knowledge, and my willingness to help them in any way I can will help all of us achieve whatever goal we desire.

So make sure you read Sheri’s post “10 Mistakes Made by Social Media Newbies” if you are new to this arena. It’s worth the time to do so.

Thank you Sheri, and Vicki (I hope that permalink stuff helped!) for the unintentional kick in the butt. You made my day quite a bit brighter.

• 2010 Olympics – What is Curling? | Tracy’s World
• Tiger Woods Sincere? Who Cares? | Tracy’s World
• High School Sports – High School Team – Discus Awards
• An Invite to Pimp Your Blog

• An Invite to Pimp Your Blog
• 2010 Olympics – What is Curling? | Tracy’s World

• Tradition… Moderation… Simplicity
• Big Brother UK Season 11

• Tradition… Moderation… Simplicity
• Big Brother UK Season 11

Erika L Rich RT @sidneyallen: @WebErika I’m your 1,000 follower!! Yeah! THANKS Sidney! w00t!! [weberika].

• 2010 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony – 2-28-2010 | JoAnnGuida.com
• The Power Of A Positive Attitude | Tracy’s World

What is Digg?

Digg is a social media news website that gives users the ability to share content from anywhere on the web. Users can submit links to stories and news items they find interesting, and vote and comment on links submitted by others.The popularity of an item is determined by users who have voted it up (called digging) or voted it down (called burying) using the toolbar that appears at the top of every user-submitted page or just browsing the links throught the website itself.

The homepage of Digg.com contains the most “Dugg” stories and there are manuy options to filter and browse through everything the site has collected in the 5 years since they began.

Why do I love Digg?

Partially, I have to admit, I just love the little Digg guy with his shovel. I think it connects with the gardener in me.  I love to dig. Give me a shovel, some soft fertile garden dirt in the warmth of the summer, a few plants and flowers, and I’ll be a happy little digger. Yeah, ok, I’m a dork.

The other reason I love Digg.com is the ease of submission. That hard working little Digg guy gets to work and looks to make sure someone else hasn’t already dug my submission. If they did, all I have to do is click DIGG! to add my vote to the rest and add that link to my Digg.com account. If they didn’t, the process for me to be the first to Digg is easy and painless. A nice 2 step process is presented to you.

Step One:
a. Enter the link.
b. Pick the type of link.

Digg Step One

Step Two:
a. Enter a decent eye catching, clear and concise title.
b. Add your “review” or description of the story to further enhance the title.
c. Pick a topic (category) for it. This is the only area I have a hard time with. I think Digg.com needs a few more Topic areas, or the ability to “tag” our submissions. Maybe someday.
d. Check the preview of your submission.
e. Fill out the “are you human” test.
f. Submit!

Digg Step Two

Digg Step 2 Continued

You’re done! You’ve dug! You have made the little Digg man happy and you can be off to find more stuff to Digg.

A Dugg Submission

Digg Plugins

There are some great Digg plugins available for WordPress and other blogs or some great copy and paste code to implement on just about any website out there. This makes it easy to integrate Digg into your online life and enable your user to promote your site easily.

Digg Traffic!

Last, but by no means the least, I like Digg.com for the quality traffic is can drive to your website. It does take a bit of work and maintenance to ensure that happens. You will need to participate in the Digg Community and continue to submit good quality links. Don’t just submit your own website links, make sure you submit other website stories you surf or read.

Personalize your Digg profile. Add a picture. Add some information about yourself. Make friends on Digg.com. Add them as favorites. Encourage your coworkers or circle of friends to Digg your content, and always reciprocate by digging theirs if they have any. Commenting on Dugg stories and having some good conversation about what’s been submitted is highly encouraged.

Good traffic takes time and with Digg it really is all about the participation.

So grab your shovel and start Digg’ing!

P.S. Don’t you think that little Digg guy needs a name? Dugg?

P.S.S. Don’t forget to Digg this post!

P.S.S.S. A special thanks to Larry Brauner for inspiration for this post.

• 2010 Olympics – What is Curling? | Tracy’s World
• Tiger Woods Sincere? Who Cares? | Tracy’s World
• High School Sports – High School Team – Discus Awards
• An Invite to Pimp Your Blog

• An Invite to Pimp Your Blog
• 2010 Olympics – What is Curling? | Tracy’s World

• Tradition… Moderation… Simplicity
• Big Brother UK Season 11

• Tradition… Moderation… Simplicity
• Big Brother UK Season 11

Erika L Rich RT @sidneyallen: @WebErika I’m your 1,000 follower!! Yeah! THANKS Sidney! w00t!! [weberika].

• 2010 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony – 2-28-2010 | JoAnnGuida.com
• The Power Of A Positive Attitude | Tracy’s World

• 2010 Olympics – What is Curling? | Tracy’s World
• Tiger Woods Sincere? Who Cares? | Tracy’s World
• High School Sports – High School Team – Discus Awards
• An Invite to Pimp Your Blog

• An Invite to Pimp Your Blog
• 2010 Olympics – What is Curling? | Tracy’s World

Today’s “pants” story comes to us from, of all places, Norway’s 2010 Olympic Curling Team. Yep. The Norwegian Curling Team has the news-lines buzzing and the morning TV shows laughing. Never mind how big the crowd is, or how many gold medals have been won. Never mind the news about China’s first gold medal in figure skating. Today, it’s all about pants. Crazy pants.

Apparently, Thomas Ulsrud and his curling teammates from Oslo thought that shopping at Loudmouth Golf was the hip and cool thing to do these days. After all, that’s where John Daly shops, so how could it be bad? The company refers to the trousers as “the first argyle pants for men in the world.”  Teammate Christoffer Svae was the driving force behind the final decision, saying “Hey guys — we’ve got to play in them. They’re cool. Come on, you’ll get used to them, you know?”

Norway has added pizzazz to an otherwise, staid, mostly misunderstood, wallflower sport. With their country cheering them on, and mixed reviews from other teams and spectators, the Norwegian Curling team has certainly brought curling into the limelight.

Whilst many people would think they were just clowning around in their red, white and blue argyle, they beat the American team, 6-5. Maybe the Americans were too busy being distracted by the swirling of colors before their eyes.

It did not stop the top-ranked Canadians however (go figure). Norway faced Canada on the first day of competition on Tuesday, losing a close game 7-6 in extra ends. Perhaps those Canadians are just too cool to be done in by crazy pants.

• Luckies 30-Day Social Media Makeover.: The Social Path
• http://jdowdle.com/wp/2010/02/explore-the-semantic-web-with-coldfusion-cf_calais/
• Day 1 – Planning Your Site
• Welcome to Facebook
• The Top 3 Numbers To Use In Your Headlines — Best Seller Book Marketing Best Seller
• Google is the world’s first $100 billion brand

• The Top 3 Numbers To Use In Your Headlines — Best Seller Book Marketing Best Seller
• Welcome to Facebook
• http://jdowdle.com/wp/2010/02/explore-the-semantic-web-with-coldfusion-cf_calais/

Google Buzz has been making a very fast splash this past week creating a huge buzz around the interwebs. I jumped right in there on launch day and tried it out. Was easy enough to use but I didn’t like having to sign into my gmail account to use it. It was not, and still isn’t as of this writing, available on my Google Hosted account. I do not believe it ever will be. Strike one.

After a few days I signed back into my gmail to check things out (whereas had I had a client or separate app for it [at the time of launch], I might have just been there every day) and lo and behold: LOOK at all the followers!!! But WHOA there nellie … How did they find me? I didn’t know 99% of them. ACK! Stalkers! EEK! Strike two.

And where oh where is the stand alone client?? Why can’t I integrate it into my IM clients? Where is the FF plugin? WHY do I have to sign into gmail to use it?! Strike three.

So I turned my back on it until today. I figured I would let the buzz die down a little. (see how I do that wink, wink, nudge, nudge…) and soon Google would make changes (they did) and user’s would start to make requests (they did) and that there would be apps and plugins, and API playgrounds galore (there are).

On Saturday, four days after Buzz launch, Google posted a bunch of great changes and product manager Todd Jackson had this to say:

“It’s been an exciting and challenging week for the Buzz team. We’ve been getting feedback via the Gmail help forums and emails from friends and family, and we’ve also been able to do something new: read the buzz about Buzz itself,” Jackson wrote in a blog post. “We quickly realized that we didn’t get everything quite right. We’re very sorry for the concern we’ve caused and have been working hard ever since to improve things based on your feedback. We’ll continue to do so.”

Most importantly that adjusted that buzz-killer: auto-follow. That’s where my biggest concern about Google Buzz was.

Jackson:

“For the tens of millions of you who have already started using Buzz, over the next couple weeks we’ll be showing you a similar version of this new start-up experience to give you a second chance to review and confirm the people you’re following.”

Then there was the dreaded “Let’s display ALL your content to everyone!” fear. They squashed that too:

“Second, Buzz will no longer connect your public Picasa Web Albums and Google Reader shared items automatically. Just to be clear: Buzz only automatically connected content that was already public, so if you had previously shared photos in an “Unlisted” album or set your Google Reader shared items as “Protected,” no one except the people you’d explicitly allowed to see your stuff has been able to see it. But due to your feedback Buzz will no longer connect these sites automatically.”

Last but not least, they added a “Buzz” tab to the settings in your gmail account, so you could disable it all together if you didn’t want it.

Those are some great, QUICK strides by Google addressing the angry buzzing over Google Buzz. With the addition of the API and the developers Google Group for Buzz, I’m expecting some pretty cool things from this latest product of Google after all.

In addition to all of the above, I had the pleasure of listening to Gary Vaynerchuk on an Audible broadcast at Facebook, and asked him what he thought about Buzz. To paraphrase his response, he really “thinks they have something there. That the people behind it are sharp and we can expect to see some great things down the line.” I can believe that now.

Overall, I am very interested to see what Google Buzz has up it’s sleeves. Google Wave never really showed it’s silver lining to me – but I think Google Buzz has definite potential in the Social Media and Marketing realm.

If you want to connect with me on Google Buzz, hit me up at weberika at gmail.com.

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things that I can;
And the wisdom to know the difference.

— Reinhold Niebuhr

This is their email to me:

Subject: you are being removed from my list (Mr. Bobby Doe)
On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 11:25 AM, Mr. Bobby Doe wrote:

You haven’t opened one of my emails or clicked a link in the last 6 months.

Which means this email address is dead, or you just don’t want to be on my list any more.

So I’m getting ready to remove your from my mailing list unless I see “signs of life” from your email address.

Please click this link just to let me know you are still out there:

http://www.bobbyswebsitesomewhere.com/

I you click the I will assume your email address is still good and will NOT remove you from my list.

Thanks,

Mr. Bobby Doe

P.S.

This link simply takes you to my blog, nothing else.

Please visit my blog so I know not to remove you from my list.

http://www.bobbyswebsitesomewhere.com/

WOW! I was really taken aback. So I immediately penned this response and sent it:

I don’t think that’s a fair assumption. In fact I’m kinda taken aback by this accusation.

I actually DO open your email and read them. Just because I do not click a link though doesn’t mean that I don’t:

• a) get any value from emails
• b) actually go to the links in the emails

I don’t always click on links in emails, that’s how a lot of people get trapped by crappy viruses and spyware, etc. Virus protection software is also only as good as the habits of the user.

I’m not saying you would ever do that (spam me with a virus link) – BUT- it is a habit for me to sometimes simply copy and paste a top level URL to go see a site. And not just blindly click away on every link I ever see. Now the way I see it today: is I don’t believe I should have to click on that link and visit your blog, to prove to you that I’m human.

You either want me on your mailing list or you don’t.

What if I was on a 6 month vacation?
What if I was ill, and just haven’t been online in awhile, but was looking forward to all your emails piled up in my inbox?

The scenarios are endless.

Is this really proper email marketing? I think that unless an email “bounces” as a failure, then I’m keeping you on my list until you physically complain or unsubscribe yourself.

Or was this whole email just a “bully tactic” and marketing ploy to get me to visit your blog today?

Sincerely perturbed,
Erika L Walker Rich
aka “WebErika”

Now, I never did visit this guy’s site today. I was too busy feeling insulted. But that is irrelevant. If this is a new way to talk to your email marketing list, I don’t think I’ll ever use this tactic. You can stay on my email list forever and ever and ever, even if you never visit my site. At least you are letting my email sit there in your inbox and stare at you.

What do you all think? You like his approach? Would you use it to speak to your hard won list subscribers?
——

UPDATE: Mr. Bobby Doe just replied to me. I give him major kudos for the super fast reply, but I wasn’t really satisfied with his answer from a “marketing mentor” point of view. He apologized, said I must of gotten it “by mistake” and then said:

Here’s a tip: if you remove people that don’t read your emails you can save money on your email service and increase your open rates and your click-through rates.

OK. I can appreciate the need to save money – BUT – see my scenarios above. What if they were on a sabbatical? What if they were ill? What if they are like me, don’t have “images enabled by default” (because that is how you track opens) or can only receive “text” emails. But you read everything he has to say and like me, only copy and paste links?

I still don’t believe that kind of “culling” tactic is smart. I believe there’s definitely better ways to manage your non-opens. I know I have learned one thing from him today: What not to do to my own list subscribers.

What do you all think?