My Favorite Directories

Having quality inbound links pointing to your website is essential for search engine success.  Need some ideas for where to look for quality inbound links to your website?  Here are some of my favorite directories… Kauai Vacation Resorts Directory Need to promote your Kauai vacation rental property? This directory will help drive traffic and ...

Creating a Social Media Contest

Here’s a great article on how to effectively promote your brand through Social Media channels. 5 Tips for Creating a Successful Social Media Contest by Clay...

Send Large Files with YouSendIt.com

Ever need to send a really large file to someone but it’s too big to send or receive via email?  Try YouSendIt.com.  It’s free and works like a...

Software Tutorials & Online Training

If learning a new piece of software or improving on an existing skill set is on your New Year’s resolution list, then I highly recommend that you check out Lynda.com‘s online training library.  Learn the latest tools and techniques with access to 730 online courses and get unbiased, clear, and comprehensive training in 3D, audio, video, photography, graphic design, web and...

How to Build Facebooks Fans

John Haydon had a great idea on his blog for building Facebook Fans by offering Fan-Only content.    Check out his article link below to learn how to do it… How To Create An Incentive For Visitors To Fan Your Facebook...

GoMyLocal.com

Here’s another local directory/social media site that you can add your business to for free.  GoMyLocal.com directory listings are a free and easy way to get more exposure online for your business or store front.  Visit the site and see if your business is listed, if not click on “Add a Listing” and fill out a short form with details about your business.  Even if you have a...

Encourage Reviews on TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor is a free travel guide website that allows users to post opinions and reviews of travel related issues.  TripAdvisor-branded sites alone make up the most popular and largest travel community in the world, with more than 25 million unique monthly visitors, 15 million+ members, and more than 30 million reviews and opinions. Featuring real advice from real travelers, TripAdvisor-branded...

Small Business Web Marketing on a Shoestring Budget

I’m moving over some content from my website and found this gem of an article from David Wallace.  It’s a few years old but the advice and suggestions for small businesses on a shoestring budget (who isn’t these days?) is still great. Increase the Visibility of Your Small Business Website on a Shoestring...

Claim Your Google Maps Listing

Here’s a free way to get some great local exposure for your small business on Google – claim your Google Maps listing. Watch the video on how to Claim Your Google Maps Listing. To determine which categories to use for your Google Maps listing, go...

Promoting Your Facebook Page

I’ve posted a bunch of posts on the topic of Facebook and how to create a page for your small business.  Now here’s some resources for promoting your Facebook page outside of Facebook, like on your blog or website or other social media sites.  Click on the link below to see Facebooks’ guidelines for promoting your FB page and to find FB images and  a FB badge to be used on...

Hawaiian Diacriticals

Diacritical punctuation marks are an important element of Hawaiian language, affecting both the pronunciation and meaning of particular words.   When I come across a Hawaiian name or word that requires the proper Hawaiian punctuation, I visit this website to find the HTML code for the kāhako and ‘okina for the appropriate letter. Hawaiian Language Punctuation – A table of letters with...

How to use WordPress Gallery Feature

There is a WordPress plugin called ShadowBox JS that I recommend for enhancing the look of your image galleries if you use Word Press.  Here’s where to find the plugin and how to use it....

It’s Not All About You…

When writing copy for your website, it’s NOT all about you. Karon Thackston is one of my favorite experts in the web copywriting  field and her article “Writing TO Your Customers—Not AT Them” was featured on Jill Whalen’s High Rankings newsletter recently.  Karon offers a few examples of copy that is business-focused and then shows how the copy can be modified to be...

Expanding the WYSIWYG Editor in WordPress

If you are a WordPress user and are finding the writing area too small in the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor window, here’s how to make it bigger.  You can manually drag out the window by looking to the lower right hand corner for the three angled lines – hover over those lines and the cursor will turn into double arrows, click and drag those down to create more space...

Building a Business Presence on Facebook

If you have a business or a store front and haven’t taken advantage of Facebook yet, you might want to add that to your list of things to do before the year is out.  To read my earlier post on building a Facebook profile and business page, click here. You’ll need a personal Facebook profile to be able to build a Facebook business/store page.  Once your Facebook page is created you...

How To Organize Your Digital Photos

I’ve had a few people ask me recently, how I keep my digital photographs organized.  Here’s how I do it and some tips and resources that might help you get organized…...

Can’t Afford a Website?

So you can’t afford a professional website?  Don’t worry, there’s still plenty that you can do to spread the word online about your business.  The following suggestions are for free online services designed to help you promote your business whether you have a website or not....

WordPress – Manage Your Own Website Content

WordPress is a popular blogging software that can also be used to build and manage website content.  There are a ton of professionally designed themes (think “templates”)  to choose from, some are free and some cost a minimal fee .  The open source (free) application and a helpful forum/community make WordPress a great option for do-it-yourself website/blog enthusiasts . To build a...

Online Photo Editting Can Be a “Picnik”…

I am pleased to introduce my 13 year old daughter, Gabrielle as today’s guest author on the topic of web-based photo editing software.  Take it away Gabby…...

Spiffy Up Your Craig’s List Posting

A client asked me recently how some postings on  Craig’s List look so much better than others.  He had noticed brochure-type postings and wanted the same format for his listings. So I did a little research and here’s what I found….   Postlets.com offers a free service to create attractive brochure-type listings for real estate and vacation rental properties.  The listings...

Options Not Obligations by Marc Warnke

I just recently finished reading Marc Warnke’s booked call “ONO – Options Not Obligations“.  Marc is what you would call a “Family First Entrepreneur” which is the reason the book caught my attention in the first place.  Ever since building my home-based business almost 9 years ago, I have appreciated and valued the quality of life I have in being able to...

Email & Web-Based Tools from Google

I recently helped a client configure their domain-based email accounts to use Gmail instead of their website host email service.  The client preferred to use Gmail (as many of their employees were already familiar with it from using it for their personal accounts) and the client liked the ability to manage their email user accounts in one easy-to-use control panel....

Free Online Image Editing Software from Aviary.com

Don’t have the money to buy an expensive image editing program but want to be able to size, enhance and customize your photos?  No problem, check out the nifty web-based image editing and vector art tools at Aviary.com....

Identifying Duplicate Content on the Web

Ever wonder if someone has stolen your website copy?  Writing quality content for your website or hiring a professional to do it involves an investment of time and/or money and there’s nothing more irritating than having another website owner come along and copy it.   Not to mention the fact that Google may penalize a site for having duplicate content if it appears that the intent of the...

How to Install the New Microsoft Word Viewer

If you haven’t wanted to upgrade to Microsoft’s newest version of  Office software you’ve  probably encountered the new version of Word’s documents’ (.docx file)  from friends or co-workers.   If you’d like to be able to view these files without having to upgrade your software, just download and install the Word viewer.  Here’s how:...