Since it’s time to wake this blog up and shake the dust off it, I felt a guest posting would be the perfect thing to feed the machine. Kathleen had contacted me a long time ago wanting to be able to write for this blog so what follows is her awesome article on how she believes people can utilize the internet to either make money online or even search for a job. I hope you enjoy and if you do let us know! In the meantime I shall be getting some more posts ready to go.

Social Media and Finance – Making it Work for You!

With the trend of going on-line all the time, one is led to think in the lines of “how can I make a living out of this?” or “Is there money with going on-line all the time?” or better yet, “Can I manage my finances, while surfing the net?” The answer to all these questions is an unequivocal YES! With the help of social media and the net, you can really change the course of your financial life with the flexibility and ease, all you need is a laptop or computer and an internet connection and voila! Here are a few examples where you can really amp up your financial standing with the use of social media networks.

- Online Selling – this has really changed a lot of people lives, since with the ease of networking, many people have been able to trade wares and really make a living out of it, especially for the ones who have decided to stay at home, to take care of their families or for those who have decided to quit the rat race, this is really a lucrative way of making a living while at the comfort of their humble abode. This is also an easy way to advertise since there you already have a network that you could build on, it can either come from your personal page or you can create a different page where this could focus on the wares that you intend to trade or sell, may it be clothes, food, gadgets etc.

- Blogs and Articles – this is really one of the perks of social media, especially for all of the budding writers out there who would want to use their talents and make a living out of it. Social media is really a great avenue to pave the way to get work since there are a lot of companies who link their websites to social media networks.

- Job Search – most companies are utilizing the use of social media in advertising their job opening since they know that a lot of people are online and spending a lot of time in social media networks. This is one avenue where they could tap the market, making this an advantage to job seekers who would like to find a job and relative secure and stabilize the financial aspect of their lives.

These are just a few of the many ways that social media networks are changing the way people are securing and preparing themselves financially since there is really no limit on how one can make a living with the help of the internet since it only takes a laptop or computer and a stable internet connection and the passion to succeed to make it really work.

Kathleen Hubert is a blogger who writes on a variety of different sites. Check out more of her work at Laptop Computers.

That’s why you need to know exactly what those phrases are that will bring you massive amounts of free traffic day after day. If you pick the right keywords for your online business, you’ll be living it up on easy street and enjoying the good life. But if you pick the wrong keywords you’ll be exactly where you are right now which might be pretty much nowhere. Where do you want to be? On easy street or stuck in the middle of nowhere. It’s time to finally learn how to get your keyword research right.

Here are the three tips that I promised for finding profitable keywords.

First, you need to take a broad keyword that represents the entirety of your niche and type it into the Google External Keyword Tool, or any other research tool you may have available to you that you prefer.

What happens next is Google will spit out a list of keywords that will be very relevant to the broad search term that you typed into the research tool. It will give you some really important data that you need to analyze. Some of the things you want to pay attention to are the exact match search volume a particular keyword phrase gets every month. This is by far the most important factor that you want to be aware of.

You’ll also learn what the average cost per click is when someone pays to advertise that phrase on Google Adwords. Plus they give you the global and local monthly search volume so you know exactly who is searching for it around the globe and who is searching for it right there in your own backyard.

Related Keyword Phrases

The next thing you want to do is take note of all of the phrases that seem to make the most sense to your niche and keep them off to the side for the time being. Because not everything on this list will apply to your niche, and since Google doesn’t know that they’ll just spit out all kinds of terms that they think are relevant but may not really work for you. So mainly you just wanna pick the most relevant terms and put them on a separate list so we can now begin the next and final step.

Analyze the Competition

Finally, we are now at the most important step of the entire process. We need to analyze the competition of the keyword phrases that we previously selected. This step is of major importance and you cannot mess this up or everything you do from here on out could end up being a complete waste of time. You don’t want to target terms that are too competitive or you will never be able to rank for them and you will have failed in your mission before you have even begun.

The simplest way I can tell you as a way to assess the competition is you need to type each individual keyword phrase that you find interesting into Google and then search them while they are in quotes. You must do this for each phrase individually, as it will not work right if you try and do them all at the same time.

The main thing you are looking for is you want to see exactly how many competing webpages there are that are going after this particular phrase. You ideally only want to target phrases that have under 100,000 competing pages. But if you are a complete newbie then you’d be better off going after keywords with less than 50,000 competing pages as it will be easier for you to rank for these keywords.

Too much work? Automate the Process with Niche Reaper

I can’t stress enough just how important this part of the process is to your success or failure with your online endeavors. You’d be much better off using a keyword tool like Niche Reaper since it does all of this for you automatically and prevents you from making mistakes on your own. If you want to have peace of mind then use Niche Reaper and know that you can relax because your online efforts will not fail.

What is Niche Reaper you Ask?

Niche Reaper is the internet marketers missing link. It’s exactly what you have been waiting for to reap the spoils of internet marketing.  With Niche Reaper – the keyword research is DONE FOR YOU!!! It’s an online, web based tool that searches, analyzes and sorts over 20,000 different keywords a day into color coded, scored columns.

LAUNCHES MAY 17, 2011! Sign up today!

You get valuable information including estimated traffic volume, overall monthly figures for each niche, available domains and whether or not Facebook pages exist for the niche. And, once you score one of the 1000 Limited Memberships, you will be getting full training tutorial videos on how to put together highly profitable websites, blogs and Facebook Fan Pages.

So my advice is to not delay, and sign up to Matt Garrett and Gary Prendergast’s Early Bird List for advance notice of the official opening of the doors to Niche Reaper on Tuesday, May 17th. The last Niche Keyword Tool you’ll need.

Part of your Search Engine Optimization or SEO is backlinks.  These backlinks to your webpages are critical for two reasons. One, your webpages need the search engines to find them fast and crawl them regularly. This helps get your pages indexed much faster. The other reason is keywords that you use with your backlinks. These keywords are crucial to have your webpages rank high in the search engines.  No matter what, backlinks are the key to success.

Backlinks are not easy. The process is extremely boring and time consuming. One way to achieve this goal faster is to outsource and pay someone. This can eventually cost a lot of money.  SocialMonkee to the rescue! You can save money and receive great backlinks instantly. Every single day, twenty-five unique backlinks that are 100% FREE!

To make these backlinks unique they are on domains and separate C-Class IP addresses. Can you imagine having new and unique backlinks every day just by pushing a button? Twenty-five backlinks every single day of the week.  No more imagining! Time for reality!

Think about this for a moment. If you can have twenty-five backlinks that are unique every day at seven days a week that would be a total of one hundred and seventy five backlinks.  Now, what about monthly? The total now is seven hundred and fifty unique and free backlinks a month.

If you needed more backlinks, you can upgrade your SocialMonkee account too. By upgrading, you can receive 100 unique backlinks three times a day. That is around 2,100 unique backlinks a week or 9,000 unique backlinks a month!

You can get your Premium Account for FREE on SocialMonkee. How? Just refer twelve members and you will be upgraded automatically. You can also pay a one time low fee if you prefer not to refer anyone.

In the members area of SocialMonkee it only takes two minutes to submit a webpage. But, now there is a faster way! There is a Firefox plugin that SocialMonkee has created to let you send your webpage up to one hundred websites in just a couple clicks. Just by using Firefox, it is done. Quickly. Easily.

RSS feeds and link reports will be provided with your Premium Account. This will you keep track of how your backlinks are doing and help them to get indexed fast. Using RSS submitters is a critical step in your backlink building process.

So, why are you still reading this trying to decide? SocialMonkee is still free! Come join us today!

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!

I thought there has to be an easier way to keep up with all this!  And yes, there is – NutshellMail, recently acquired by Constant Contact (a service that has matured over the years).  Whether you’re using social networking for personal reasons, business or both, this program allows you to simplify your monitoring of those networks and save a lot of time and trouble.

NutshellMail monitors and manages how you interact with your customers, your friends, your family or your business contacts.  It will collect the messages from the social networks you specify and organize them into an interactive email delivered to your inbox at intervals that you specify.

Let’s say that you have a friend who is going through a bad time and you want to keep up with any progress they make or be there when they have a bad moment and need encouragement.  You can set NutshellMail to flag these communications and send them to your inbox immediately.  Other friends that don’t need your support can have their content emailed to you once a day, more frequently or less often.

You can choose the content you want to follow and keep track of and add search terms for specific things you are looking for.  If you’d like to keep up with a certain subject – let’s say you’re anxious to know the news from Quebec – just set that as a priority and choose to be notified immediately when content is posted on that subject.

If you want to entertain your fans on Facebook, you can use NutshellMail to put the content of your wall into an e-newsletter that can be delivered whenever your users choose to get them.  This is a great way for your friends and associates to keep up you without wasting time checking walls for new content.  Plus, you don’t have to do a thing to get this going besides checking a box in the NutshellMail menu!

NutshellMail is a great new tool that can save a lot of time and aggravation and it’s free of charge!  Having this tool is like putting your social interaction on TiVo – it’s there when you want it and caters to your needs instead of enslaving your time.

Foursquare, Brightkite, and Gowalla, definitely better watch out. With business and services already having great Facebook pages, and a buy in from their users to stay updated on those page posts, adding location check-ins and possibly tying this to each page is a BRILLIANT move by Facebook. I believe the gauntlet has been thrown.

All we can do is hope that Facebook keeps privacy issues in mind with its location features. We really only want to share locations with our friends or a select group of friends.

Apparently McDonald’s will be the first to test Facebook locations, spitting out specials to users that check-in via Facebook.

Kevin Colleran, director-national sales at Facebook, underscored that Facebook wouldn’t attempt to monetize geolocation capabilities in the near term. “We never launch a functionality with the intent of monetizing it,” he said. “The best case in point would be [advertisers] are frustrated. We will not allow them to buy an ad on mobile.”

Only time will tell. I know this is one Social Media Marketing Coach that just loves a good old fashioned application throw down.

It includes:

• Hootsuite Training/Certification
• Graduates added to a directory of “Hootsuite Certified Professionals” on Hootsuite.com
• Hootsuite Training Modules focused on social media strategy using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, WordPress, etc.
• Video-based module with PDF transcript, audio, and action guides
• Monthly webinar with a recognized Hootsuite user/brand sharing their case study using social media
• Interactive members only forum to connect, share ideas, receive feedback on social media and Hootsuite questions

All participants of the webinar series can sign up and get an introductory price of $27 a month. After the series is over, the price changes to $47 a month.

I think this is a pretty awesome way for Hootsuite to not only monetize their existence, but to really offer some decent social media training to users at a fair price. Hootsuite says they won’t be releasing content until May 1st, and it will be interesting to see what they have to offer and if becoming “Hootsuite Certified” helps people out in the job market.

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.

I was pleasantly surprised when I logged out of Twitter earlier today and saw their newly revamped, dynamic homepage. Very pretty, very easy on the eyes. I loved it. What do you think?

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.

I'm not so sure the web needs yet "another" all services in one application unless it quickly becomes the end-all, be-all application. To be honest, I don't see postling anywhere near that yet, although they are ahead of the game as far as this is the first service I've seen that actually let's you write a fully formatted and linked blog post that can be sent directly to whatever primary blog(s) you have.

I think Postling is just a little unpolished and needs to integrate with bookmarking services and several other top Social Media services to really start sprinting to the front of the line.

I still love HootSuite.com for it's complete integration package and statistics. Ease of use ranks pretty high there too. If HootSuite added blog post capability and brand tracking, I'd be tickled pink.

Until then, the search for that perfect Social Media Marketing management tool continues. Anyone out there have any suggestions or have one they use that is just the "dogs bollocks" ? Let me know, I'd sure love to hear about it. I'd even let you guest post and write about it on my blog.

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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.

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

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