Wise Stamp Email Signatures

Here’s a handy tool for adding social media icons to your Email signatures if you use Gmail, Yahoo!Mail, WindowsLive Mail or AOL .  You can add inspirational quotes, your most recent blog post as well as your social media profile links for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, YouTube.com and many more!  The app is free and can be downloaded on the following browsers: Safari, Chrome and Firefox. ...

Oodle

  I just learned about another Free classified listing site called Oodle. Out to reinvent online classifieds, Oodle provides consumers with a friendly local marketplace to buy, sell and trade. Oodle Pro, launched earlier this year, enables local property managers, real estate agents and car dealers to join the conversation by adding their identity and reputation on Facebook and Twitter to...

Using Video to Showcase Your Business

On the recommendation of my friend Debra, I started playing with an online video creation site called Animoto.com recently.  In addition to creating low-budget videos to help my clients promote their vacation properties, I also used it to celebrate my daughter’s 16th birthday.  Its super easy to use, drag and drop and you can create a video from images, video footage or a combination of...

Brand Your Twitter Profile

Want to customize your Twitter profile with your business branding/logo or custom image?  It’s not that difficult to do, here’s how…. Create a Custom Twitter Profile Background: Create an image that is approximately 2000 pixels wide by 1700 pixels tall, making sure to keep your Logo/text content confined to the upper left hand corner and along the left side. Your custom...

More Ways to Use Twitter

Have you ever been interested in knowing what is being said about your brand, business, industry or a certain topic on Twitter?  Here are some tools that you can use to stay informed of the latest “tweets” about things that interest you and that could give you helpful insight in how to use Twitter for your small business marketing. Twitter Alerts Use TweetBeep or Twilert to set up...

Add Your TripAdvisor Reviews to Facebook

If your business or property is listed on TripAdvisor.com you can now share your reviews and ratings on your Facebook Business page. Here are the instructions on how to do it. To begin, you need to create a new tab on your property’s page in which to embed the widget or badge. This is called a static iFrame. Here’s how to do it: 1) Go to your TripAdvisor Owners Center and pick the widget...

Facebook LikeBox

If you have a Facebook business page you can leverage your social media involvement by adding a Facebook LikeBox to your website and/or blog. The Like Box is a social plugin that enables Facebook Page owners to attract and gain Likes from their own website. The Like Box enables users to: - See how many users already like this Page, and which of their friends like it too - Read recent posts from...

Not-So-Favorable Reviews

It’s every business owners’ worst nightmare, a past guest or customer says something less than positive about your business or product online where potential customers can see it.  It can be hard to receive this kind of  feedback but there truly is benefit from this candid client input....

Are You on Facebook?

Most people either love it or hate it…. I was a bit skeptical about its value when I first joined a year or so ago but I’ve come to appreciate it as a tool of connecting with old friends (and new), sharing information and building business pages for my clients.  If you haven’t created a business page on Facebook yet, I have a few blog articles already written on the topic...

Writing Tools: Visual Thesaurus

Here’s a neat tool for you writer’s and students heading back to school, a visual thesaurus.  With this nifty tool you’ll never be at a loss for the right word to use, plus the Visual Thesaurus will help you build a better vocabulary and master word usage.  There’s a free trial and online subscriptions start as low as $2.95 per month.  Check it out! Visual...

Facebook User Names

If you’d like to have your own easy to remember and brand Facebook username/URL (example:  www.facebook.com/mybusiness) for your Facebook business page, here’s a quick video tutorial from We Teach Facebook on how to do it. You must be the admin of your business page and you must have at least 25 fans before you are eligible for your own branded URL on Facebook.  Go to...

Blogging for Non-Writers

Here’s a great article for anyone wanting to start a blog but is worried about not being a “good enough” writer.  Blogs aren’t just for “great writers” and can be used in a variety of creative ways.  You can use a blog to feature your art and/or photography and let the visuals “speak” for themselves.  Or you could use your blog to collect and...

Great Ways to Use Twitter for Small Business

Here are some links to some great ways to use Twitter for your small business....

Google’s Place Pages

Here’s yet another opportunity to use Google’s Local Listings to promote your business. “…Post to your Place Page is nothing more than a Twitter-like status update box with a 160-character limit that updates your business listing with whatever current information you want to expose to the Google  audience.   You can access it from your Local Business Center dashboard...

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...

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...

Hospitality Industry Reviews

The following is an article by Miriam Ellis one of my favorite authors on Search Engine Guide.  I thought you might be interested in knowing what sources Google uses for its Local Maps listings. 34 Google Local Maps Sources For Hospitality Industry Reviews Who does Google trust? Who do they love to get data from about your local hospitality business? With the new, expanded, 10-listing One Box...

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...

Has Your Business Been Yelped?

Read Jennifer Laycock’s article on Yelp and find out if your business has been “Yelped” and learn how to set up your Free business profile on this popular social media site. Can Yelp Help Your Small...

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...

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...

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....

Flippin’ Easy – Flip Video

I recently purchased a Flip Video camera from Costco for about $200.  The High Definition video camera fits in the palm of my hand and comes with a small tripod.  It has a built-in USB port that flips open to connect to my laptop for downloading and editting video clips.  The video editting software that comes with the camera is super easy to use and it offers the ability to add multiple clips...