Your Financial Watchdog - Financial Planning Services & Tools

Flyte recently launched Your Financial Watchdog, a Web site for personal financial planning services and advice. We also designed and developed YFW's accompanying personal finance blog.

From the home page visitors can find help that's tailored to their needs. Some of the most popular concerns are illustrated by people and questions running down the left hand column:

• I need help planning for retirement.
• I need help saving for my child's education.
• I want to invest but I don't know how to start.
• I don't even know where to begin. I just know I need help.

You can sign up to receive the free report, "Seven Simple Secrets to Securing Your Future". Or, check out YFW's products like "Future Made Clear Planner" or the "Self Assessment Financial Evaluation Toolkit."

The Your Financial Watchdog Blog, focuses on college planning, financial planning basics, investing, and retirement. Recent posts have included:

• College Planning Mistakes to Avoid
• Retirement Planning; You Can't Build A Retirement Plan on A Faulty Foundation! and
• Free Financial Planning Services?

If you've been searching for personal financial help, be sure to check out Your Financial Watchdog for sound financial advice.

Turnaround Mindset: A Blog to Fix Underperforming Companies

Recently flyte designed and launched a blog called Turnaround Mindset for Ed Schaffer. Turnaround Mindset focuses on the approaches and techniques needed to turnaround underperforming companies.

The blog posts so far have been well-researched, and show an understanding of what it takes to turn a company around. As the current administration finally seems willing to admit that we're in a recession, the ideas discussed at the Turnaround Mindset have become very timely.

Recent posts include:

• Combating Ignorance and Complacency in the Workforce
• Sequoia's "Elements of Sustainable Companies" and
• Fortunoff Bankruptcy...Really Poor Form

Whether you work for a Fortune 500 company or a small firm, there's lots of great business ideas in here that can turnaround a company, or even help it before it falls.

By the way, unlike a lot of the other blogs we've developed, this is a standalone blog. This was an original design by our own Andy Woznica. Like Title Success, another standalone blog (designed by Andy), this shows you can run a business with just a blog or a blog/Web site hybrid.

Rich Brooks
Business Blog Design

The Best Small Business Blogs You May Not Know About

Dave Cosper has put together a post called Best Small Business Blogs You Might Not Know About over at America's Best Companies.

There are worse things to be recognized for, I think. Especially when I consider the other small business blogs on the list. I mean, what small business owner doesn't read or at least know about Duct Tape Marketing?

• Small Biz Survival
• The Entrepreneurial Mind
• RetailEmail.Blogspot
• Church of the Customer
• Small Business Brief
• Small Business Trends
• Small Biz Mentor
• Small Business Growth Strategies
• The Savvy Entrepreneur and
• Seeds of Growth

round out the top twelve.

This is also a great example of how creating a top blog list in your industry is a proven method to get links back from some of the more influential bloggers in your niche. (Damn! Fell for it again!)

Rich Brooks
Small Business Blogger

Web Marketing Seminar in Rockport, Maine

Would you like to drive more qualified leads to your Web site?

Would you like to rank higher at the search engines?

Would you like to land more business?

Then come to Building Traffic At Your Web Site, a Web marketing seminar being held at the beautiful Carver Hill Gallery in Rockport, Maine this April 1st. (No foolin'.)

Search engines, blogs, and email newsletters can all drive new and returning visitors to your site where you can get them to take action...whether it’s to pick up the phone, fill out a contact form, or buy now!

Is this Web marketing seminar for you?

Yes, if you're looking to grow your business or organization by using the Web. Small business owners, marketers and non-profit directors will all learn specific tips and tricks to drive more qualified traffic to your site.

Attendees will learn:

• How to rank higher at the search engines
• How a business blog can drive traffic to your Web site
• How to get incoming links
• How to get visitors to sign up for your email newsletter
• Which tools can help you measure your success

Date: Tuesday, April 1st
Time: Noon - 1:30pm
Place: Caver Hill Gallery, Rockport, Maine (directions)
Cost: $50, includes lunch

Seating is limited, so register now!

Rich Brooks
Web Marketing Stylist

Flyte Blog: The 8th Best Looking SEO Site in the World!

I'm not usually one for awards or awards shows or award sites...that is, except when I'm recognized. Especially when I didn't even know I was up for something so no one can accuse me of ballot stuffing.

Aubrey Alexander sent me an email yesterday informing me that we were rated the 9th best looking SEO Web site (currently #8...with a bullet!) at CommandShift3's Best Designed SEO Sites battle. (Command-shift-3 is how you take a screen capture on the Mac.) The site sets up side-by-side battles of two Web sites in a given category.

If you'd like to rock the vote you can. You can also submit your own site (or one you like.)

Well, what are you waiting for? Go stuff those ballots!

Rich Brooks
Eight Best Looking SEO Professional...or Something Like That

Social Media Overload

Paul Chaney of Conversational Media Marketing has a timely post today called The Trouble with Facebook Groups, in which he voices real concern about overextending oneself in the social media landscape.

This is definitely something I've been struggling with as well.

As I talk to people about blogging, podcasting, and social media sites (like the ones Paul mentions and other ones  specific to their industry/audience), I often wonder if this is the best use of a business owner's time.

I mean, like me, their entrepreneurs. Marketing has to be part of their day, but are they missing out on other opportunities? Are social media sites just overlapping on each other's territories?

Not all (if even most) of these social media sites will survive for more than a year. Some will be bought out, others will fold, and still others will remain but become marginalized. We may never see another MySpace or Facebook.

I think it would be equally foolish to dismiss social media outright. People will continue to want to connect and network with other people, and social media platforms make that possible. In the early days of the Web no one thought businesses could succeed there, and of course they have.

The tactics that "social media experts" promote today will probably seem quaint or misguided tomorrow. At the same time, I don't think taking out more ads or pushing products or services on someone in a social media setting will work, either.

Now's the time for experimentation, risk, and an eye on the bottom line. Join, listen, participate, but don't expect immediate results. Follow the news on social media and try and find success stories that you might emulate.

Social media may end up being more about networking--just like BNI groups--then about sales or marketing.

Or maybe not.

Rich Brooks
As Seen On Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube...

Web Marketing Handouts: "Building Traffic at Your Web Site"

A couple of days ago I led another class of flyte school, our name for the classes we hold here at flyte about once a month. The topic was "Building Traffic at Your Web Site."

It was a full house (admittedly, our "house" only holds 10 people comfortably) and we actually had to turn away someone. Although it's never as helpful as actually going to the event, I thought I'd make the handouts available to everyone.

There's 52 slides of Web marketing goodness in here people! All for free!

The only catch is that you have to subscribe to flyte log, our monthly email newsletter. (Again, it's free.) Once you've confirmed your subscription you'll get a link to the flyte log subscriber area where you can download the Building Traffic at Your Web Site handouts, as well as a number of other articles only available to subscribers.

If you're already a flyte log subscriber--good for you--you can just go to the same place where you've downloaded all the other free goodies when you first signed up. The links appear in every email newsletter.

You can start the subscription process right here:

Rich Brooks
Running Out of flyte Puns

Siphs: Share This Page Has Never Been Easier

If you've been looking for an easy-to-implement tool that will allow site visitors to share your content with their friends and associates, you should take a look at Siphs.

Sure, there's been ways to share Web pages for almost as long as there has been Web pages, but Siphs seems to be doing things right.

Siphs Setup

Setting up a Siphs account (yes, Viriginia, there is a free version), is simple. Once you've done that you can generate some HTML code that you can add to whichever pages on your Web site you wish to share. You can also drop the code into a template to make your life easier. This works on both a blog or a Web site.

This creates an icon (or you can create your own) on your Web pages. When visitors come to your site and want to share your brilliance with their friends, they simply click on the link and are taken to a new page.

Depending on your plan you can customize the look and feel of this page as well. Not only can visitors send an email to friends (yes, this is also customized by you) but they can share it using a number of popular social bookmarking tools, including Facebook, Digg & del.icio.us among others.

Reporting

Another nice feature of Siphs is the reporting. On the reports page you get:

• Recent Email Leads
• Recently Shared (articles)
• Most Shared (articles)
• Shares Per Day, Week & Month
• Shares by Medium

This last one is cool, because you can see not only who shared a Web page via email, but whether it was posted to del.icio.us, MySpace, Twitter or something else.

Responsiveness

Now, I'm not sure if you'll have the same experience as I did, but I've found the team behind Siphs to be incredibly responsive and pro-active (God, I hate that word.) Shortly after I signed up, they followed up with me to see if they could do anything to help me. One team member reached out to me to get some feedback. I provided some, and most of my recommendations were implemented w/in 24 hours! (YMMV.)

I've been adding the code to more and more of our Web pages as I'm seeing the usage grow. Soon it will be on all the pages on our site, and perhaps integrated into our blog as well.

In the spirit of transparency, flyte's become a Siphs affiliate. Of course, we wouldn't be one if I didn't think this product is a great fit for small businesses and Web developers alike.

To see Siphs in action, try it out on a recent flyte article: Business Blog Success: 10 Tips for a Profitable Blog.

Or you can signup for Siphs and add sharing to your blog or Web site right now.

Rich Brooks
Share This

How to Drive Qualified Leads to Your Web Site

SEO is sexy.

Not in the way that makes one feel "randy", but in the way that it attracts the most attention when it comes to driving more traffic to your Web site.

However, there are many other effective methods to driving qualified leads to your Web site, including email marketing, blogs, article marketing, social media and more. There's even traditional offline methods as well. (Yes, some people still watch TV and read the newspaper.)

If you've been wondering how to drive more qualified leads to your own Web site, I invite you to the next session of flyte school: Building Traffic At Your Web Site.

This seminar will be held at flyte's offices in Portland, Maine. (Yes, I'm still working on Webinars! Get off my back!)

Date: 3/12
Time: 12 noon - 1:30pm
Cost: $50 (includes lunch)

Registration is required as we cap the class at 10 people. Don't be left out, register today!

Rich Brooks
"Professor"

How to Get More Comments on Your Blog

Dear Rich,

I've been blogging for a little while now. My traffic is increasing, but comments and trackbacks are few. What can I do to increase the number of comments on my blog?

--Commentless in Calais

How to Prevent Odd Text Formatting in Your Blog

Dear Rich,

I've been blogging for a little while and I'm stumped. As I look at the home page of my TypePad blog, each post seems to have it's own formatting, and the formatting even varies within a post. How can I stop this from happening?

--Confounded in Camden

Blog Workout Regimen: How to Whip Your Blog Into Shape

Do you know what gym regulars call the surge of people who show up in January as part of a New Year's resolution?

Tourists.

The same could be true with the influx of businesses that join the blogosphere each and every day. The great majority of them start with good intentions, but then fall flat.

The problem with an abandoned blog is that it usually sticks around, available through a search engine query or a forgotten link. Later, a prospect finds it and wonders why your blog was neglected and may question whether your company finishes what it starts.

In this month's award-winning flyte log* I've put together a "workout regimen" for your blog that includes the time you should expect to put into your blog on a regular basis. This regimen will add muscle to your blog and keep it from getting sand kicked in its face.

So, if you've got a new blog, or have been neglecting your current blog, be sure to check out Jumpstart Your Blog: A Business Blogging Workout Regimen.

* (award pending)

Rich Brooks
What a Man!

Business Blog Consulting is Back!

Well, after a long, drawn out hiatus, Business Blog Consulting is back. I just did my first post there in a while, Is Blogging Recession Proof? If you can't get enough of me here or at Internet Marketing 101, you can check out that post.

BBC is a group blog with some of the most influential business bloggers contributing to its success. (Oh, and there's me. Still not sure how I got on that list. Probably a Zelig kind of thing.)

In any case, some of my fellow bloggers include:

• Toby Bloomberg of Diva Marketing
• Andy Bourland of Bourland.com
• Paul Chaney of Blogging Systems Group
• Sally Falkow of Expansion Plus
• Bill Flitter of Pheedo
• Josh Hallett of Hyku
• Tris Hussey of Larix Consulting
• Lee Odden of TopRank
• Stephan Spencer of Netconcepts
• Dave Taylor of Intuitive Life for Business
• Jim Turner of One by One Media
• Dana VanDen Heuvel of BlogSavant
• Des Walsh of Thinking Home Business
• Debbie Weil of WordBiz and BlogWrite
• Jeremy Wright of Ensight

And I believe a few more will be joining soon. That's a hell of a lineup, so if you've been wanting to get valuable advice on business blogging in just one place, be sure to check out Business Blog Consulting.

Rich Brooks
Zelig-Like

Flickr Loses Some Juice for Search Engines

I was reading today that Yahoo has slapped "no-follow" tags on Flickr's photo owner links. Yahoo owns Flickr, the popular photo sharing Web site.

Incoming links help your search engine visibility...SE's see them as "votes of confidence." The no-follow tag was created to let the SE's know that this link carries no weight...that it shouldn't be included in the algorithm of how valuable a Web page is.

This same no-follow tag is used by most blogging platforms these days in the comments and trackback sections. This was most likely due to reduce the benefits of comment spam. In fact, as Search Engine Roundtable states:

This does not come to a shock to many of us because this has been the pattern of all popular user generated sites. What is next?

Last year the popular user-generated site Squidoo lost most of its search engine mojo in Google. YouTube could be next. In fact, any social media Web site may begin to lose its luster with Web marketers.

If you have been using Flickr or any other social media/user-generated Web sites in your Web marketing, you may want to de-emphasize the time you spend with these.

On the other hand, it's more than just search engine benefits that these sites provide. It's not just search engine spiders that follow links, it's people. And it's not search engines that buy your products and services, it's people.

User-generated sites may not help your search engine visibility in the near future, but they can still be a powerful tool to engage prospects and drive traffic to your Web site.

Rich Brooks
Social Butterfly

MD+A to Z: A Full Service Marketing Agency's Blog

This week we launched a blog for McCabe, Duval + Associates, a full service marketing agency located here in Portland.

The blog will explore ideas on marketing, strategy, branding and anything else that gets their creative minds all wound up. Recent posts include reviews of The Art of Possibility, musings on milk chocolate vs. dark chocolate, and whether online mentoring is a viable option.

I'm surprised that more agencies don't have blogs...it's the perfect tool to establish their new media credentials, and deflect growing concern that agencies only know mass media. MDA is certainly taking a step in the right direction with their new blog.

Although the blog is fairly new, I've added the RSS feed to my newsreader.

Rich Brooks
Business Blog Guru

Is Your Web Site or Blog Discriminating Against the Disabled?

Yesterday I received an email from a reader of my Internet Marketing 101 blog. On a post called Five Secrets to Promoting Your Business Blog I included a recommendation to post to influential blogs in your niche.

The reader responded that one barrier to leaving comments on blogs is the use of CAPTCHAs--those annoying, messy boxes of alpha-numerics that are supposed to separate the people from the machines. Unfortunately, they can be an impenetrable barrier to people with disabilities. More unfortunately, MaineBusiness.com, which hosts my blog, uses CAPTCHA to prevent comment spam on their site. (So does TypePad, which powers this blog.)

The reader mentioned that census figures show 20% of the population are somehow disabled; obviously, not all of the would be stopped by a CAPTCHA, but why would you use a tool that stops the voice of your reader and quiets the conversation on your site?

Obviously, there's a very good reason for using CAPTCHAs. They help stem the tide of comment spam generated by computers. Spammers use computers to send out an infinite, unending stream of spam to online forms for a variety of reasons. These spams reduce the signal to noise ratio, clog the tubes of the Internet, and reduce everyone's productivity.

New CAPTCHA tools often give people alternatives to those messy alphanumerics. Sometimes there's also an audio option (the computer will read you the answer and you type it in) or a simple math problem (what is 2 + 0) that these spam bots haven't yet caught up with.

Regardless, it's an ongoing battle between keeping communication flowing while keeping noise out. In a recent post, I talked about some of the benefits I've seen by using some non-CAPTCHA tools on online forms. However, ultimately spammers will figure those out as well.

We are in an arms race with the spammers, and of course there are innocent bystanders that are getting hurt, or at least disenfranchised.

There's no right answer on how to handle the balance of reducing incoming spam and keeping the lines of communication open with any human who wants to be part of the conversation. Each company, each Web site owner, and each blogger needs to make their own decision.

What have you found that works for you?

How Do I Find Influential Bloggers in My Niche?

Dear Rich,

I'm looking to identify influential bloggers in my niche who might be interested in reviewing products and linking to those products on my Web site. How can I find them?

--Blogging in Bowdoinham

Blogging Repairs

Friend, client and fellow blogger Annie Mahle is using her blog Maine Adventure Sails for an interesting and bittersweet purpose: she's documenting the repair work that's being done on the Schooner J&E Riggin.

A couple of teenagers vandalized their ship a few months back by cutting the lines and the Riggin floated under a ramp. The tide came in and wedged the Riggin under the ramp, causing lots of damage to her.

The Riggin has a lot of fans out there--in fact I interviewed Annie on how small businesses can use a street team to market themselves a few months back. The blog is the perfect tool for the Riggin's captains to keep their customers abreast of the situation, showing lots of photos of the reconstructive work.

For photos and details, be sure to check out the Maine Adventure Sails Blog.

Rich Brooks
Blog Consultant

Business Blog vs. Email Newsletters: Which Works Better?

Whenever I put together a business proposal I include recommendations for appropriate Web marketing campaigns. Two items that are often included are email newsletters and business blogs, because both have been successful for flyte and our clients who use them.

However, I'm also a big proponent of starting small. When you take too many things on at the beginning it can seem overwhelming and nothing gets done. Unless you have a lot of time and energy to write, starting an email newsletter and a blog may be too much. (Then again, I write an email newsletter, two blogs and distribute articles for article marketing.)

So, this begs the question, which will work better for you, a blog or an email newsletter? It depends on your business model.

Internet Marketing 101: New & Improved!

The business end of MaineToday.com got a makeover last week, and I think it looks pretty slick.

They had all their "expert" bloggers come in for a professional photo shoot and have created a new site for the business blogs at MaineBusiness.com. As mentioned in a previous post, my hair wasn't exactly behaving that day, but it wasn't as bad as I feared.

But what's up w/my left eyebrow? It looks like it's been snagged by a fish hook. You can check out the new look of Internet Marketing 101 here.

Unfortunately, the original RSS feed seems to be tied to the old site, so here's the new Internet Marketing 101 Feed if you're looking for it.

Rich Brooks
My Eyebrow Can Beat Up Your Eyebrow

12 Web Marketing Ideas to Jump Start Your Business

You know those "new" episodes of your favorite TV show when a character gets hit by a car, and then all their friends gather by their bed side and retell their favorite stories through a series of clips?

Welcome to my clip show.

Here's a quick list of the 12 articles we published in flyte log, our monthly Web marketing ezine:

• Your 2008 Web Marketing Plan
• How to Use Social Media to Reach New Customers
• Business Blog Success: 10 Tips for a Profitable Blog
• Increase Your Search Engine Visibility: Three Things You Can Do Today
• Nine Indispensable Online Tools for Your Web-Based Business
• Four Tips to Maximize Your Email Marketing Results
• The Secret to a Web Site That Sells
• Six Blogging Myths That Are Holding You Back
• The Dangers of Relying on Google for Business
• Holistic Web Marketing: An Integrated Approach to Online Success
• Tracking Conversions: Does Your Web Site Turn Suspects into Prospects?
• Informational Products: Selling Your Knowledge Online

There's oodles of ideas in these articles that you can use to jump start your business and build it over the next year. If you'd rather not miss any new articles, please subscribe to flyte log in the box below.

Rich Brooks
Greatest Hits

The Value / Cost of a Business Blog

If you're a small business owner or entrepreneur you should be asking the question: should I blog?

While I'm a big proponent of blogging, I don't believe that any marketing campaign is right for all businesses or all people.

There's a value vs. cost equation that only you can answer. Will the time and effort you put into blogging be returned in business gained? Can the time you spend on blogging be better spent elsewhere? How can you measure success with blogging?

The Costs of Blogging:

• Time. That's the big one. Especially when you get started you need to carve out time every week to post multiple times. I also recommend budgeting time for reading and commenting on other blogs. While there's no hard and fast rule on this, you might want to budget 2 - 4 hours/week for the first 1 - 2 months.
• Stress. I've had those weeks where I can't figure out what I'm going to blog about. Or I look back and realize I only put up one or two good, non-self-serving posts in a month. Sometimes it can feel like just another thing on your plate.
• Money. This isn't a big one. Blogging is an extremely affordable marketing campaign. If you can't afford a TypePad or WordPress blog you've probably got bigger problems.

The Value of Blogging:

• Establishes Your Expertise. People are always searching for help on the Internet. As I look at my flyte blog stats I can see that people have found me while searching on "business blog ppt," "why can't I find myself on Google," and "hardware and software for creating podcasts" among hundreds of others each day. If you've written a blog post that answers their question, they're more likely to listen to what you have to say.
• Increases Your Search Engine Visibility. See above. Every blog post is a new Web page ready to be indexed by the search engines.
• Warms / Generates Online Leads. I have set up some Google Analytic Goals that helps me determine which traffic converts at the highest rate. My flyte blog and my Internet Marketing 101 blog consistently convert at the highest rates.
• Leads the Media to Your Door. I've been interviewed by local newscasts, local newspapers, and national magazines (Inc. and BusinessWeek Small Biz) for different stories. Almost always it's because they were doing research for a story and found my blog.

Whether blogging is right for you is a decision you have to make on your own. Luckily, you can get started pretty easily. Unfortunately, so can your competition.

Rich Brooks
Business Blog Consultant

Your 2008 Web Marketing Plan

There's light fluffy snowflakes falling outside my window this morning as I polish off another issue of flyte log, our Web marketing email newsletter...the last for 2007.

Rather than look back on 2007--as good as it was--it's time to look forward to 2008 and start making plans. Web marketing plans, that is.

Today's issue of flyte log is Your 2008 Web Marketing Plan, a month-by-month, itemized list of what you need to do to succeed in 2008.

Your Web marketing plan includes ideas on search engine optimization, blogging, social media, Webinars and more.

Why not take the first step in improving your chances for success in 2008 by signing up for flyte log now, so you never miss another issue?

Rich Brooks
Your Web Marketing Guide

Promoting Your Event the Web 2.0 Way

How do you leverage a the Web and Internet marketing to promote your upcoming event? There are so many channels of distribution, the possibilities are almost endless. Here's a checklist of what I did to promote an upcoming workshop I'm teaching at flyte called "How to Plan, Build and Promote a Business Blog."

• Published the event on the Web Marketing Seminars page on my Web site. This is a no-brainer and the first, essential step.
• Added the event information (including a link to the online registration) on Facebook, both on my page and as part of the Portland, ME network so that other local people could find it.
• Sent out an email alert to the people who have signed up for my Web Marketing Alerts email newsletter. (You can sign up for this when you sign up for flyte log, our free, monthly email newsletter.)
• Added it as an event on MaineToday.com, the online presence for the Blethen newspapers.
• Added it as a class through Craig's list.
• Added it at MaineBiz's event calendar.
• Submitted to Maine Public Broadcasting Network's event calendar.
• Posted it to my Internet Marketing 101 blog at MaineToday.com (at least twice.)
• Posted it to my flyte blog: web marketing for small business blog (again, at least twice.)
• Posted to Eventful.com, which sends to several other sites including Podbot, Google Calendar, del.icio.us/events, Ping-o-Matic, Technorati, and Upcoming. Several of these sites extend that reach even further through their own network. (Found through Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound, through Denise Wakeman tip.
• I also learned about EventCrazy.com that way.

I also plan on submitting this event to the print versions of MaineBiz and the Portland Press Herald.

Will I do this for every event? Probably not, but I will try and track which channel is bringing me attendees, by asking everyone at the event.

Your Turn: What tools do you use to promote your events in this 2.0 world? Leave your suggestions in the comments section below.

Rich Brooks
Business Blog Expert

Blog Marketing Workshop

After a few months off because of summer break and a busy speaking-filled fall, we're bringing back our Working Lunch Seminars here at flyte. But this time, with a twist. It's during breakfast.

I tried to come up with something clever along the lines of Lunch & Learn, but as you can see, nothing clicked.

• Nosh & Know
• Munch & Master
• Lox & Learn
• Bagel & Become Able

So, I went back to my list of flyte-related puns and brought back "flyte school." (Jonathan also suggested this to me at one point, but I have documentation...somewhere...that proves I came up w/it first.)

So what's the first class of flyte school?

How to Plan, Build and Promote a Business Blog

Entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes are realizing the benefits of a business blog to establish their credibility and expertise, increase their search engine visibility and connect with prospects, clients and the media.

In this workshop you'll learn:

• How to get started in blogging
• How a blog can attract search engine traffic
• How a blog can deliver leads to your business
• How to promote your blog and attract prospects and connect with customers

This workshop is limited to just 10 participants!

Date: Wednesday, 12/12/2007

Time: 8am - 9:30am

Place: flyte's offices (directions)

Cost: $50, includes coffee & danish type edibles

How about doing this as a Webinar, Rich?

I've heard this question several times recently, and I am planning on offering Webinars in January. (Hopefully.) Just need to work out some details. Stay tuned!

Rich Brooks
Business Blog Speaker

Not Ready for My Close Up

One of my personal highlights of BlogWorld was hanging out with Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff of The Blog Squad.

One of my personal lowlights might be this quickie interview they did with me after one-too-many Vegas late nights. You be the judge.

Man, did YouTube have to go with that screen capture?

Rich Brooks
I Need More Coffee Before Interviews

BlogWorld Expo: Initial Reactions

I'm sitting here at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, enjoying some more free wifi. I just found out that my flight is going to be delayed about an hour, so I finally have some time to digest all the information I took in over the past few days at the BlogWorld and New Media Expo.

First off, it was amazing. I went to BlogWorld with a number of goals: 

The Wifi Ate My Post

I'm here at the BlogWorld and New Media Expo in Las Vegas. Yesterday was tremendous; head...too...full.

Unfortunately, the wifi went down as I was posting during the keynote yesterday and I lost my post. In any case, I started taking notes in Word and I'm going to digest them first, then post them up.

There are a number of people doing "live blogging" here, but I just can't keep up. Look for BlogWorld on Technorati and I'm sure you'll find up to the micro second info if you need it, you Twitter heads.

Rich Brooks
Business Blog Consultant

My first iPhone Post

Yes, I broke down and. Bought an ipbone. As you van pro nably tell, I'm not very experienced texting.

Despite what I was told at the at&t store you cannot use wifi for making calls, but you can use it to surf the web, check maps rtje weather and HyouTuvbe

Stupid thumbs.

2 things co nspired 2 get me 2 by this by toy. First is my upcoming trip to Vegas. The 2nd is Hifghrise, a new Crm from 37 signals. Its a wweb app, allowing me to access all our client info from a secure web site. Contact info, directions, emails, files, todos and more.

Well enough of this nonsense. My thumbs are cramping and its nearly 5.

Rich Brooks
iPhhoner

Title Success: Blog Marketing for the Service Professional

Recently we launched Title Success, a new blog for Shane Kane, a title professional, to support his ebook, Successful Marketing Strategies for Today's Title Companies.

A blog is a great way to promote an ebook or other deliverable for a service professional, like Shane. The blog increases his search engine visibility, establishes his expertise and credibility, and generates leads in his industry.

I read his ebook as a matter of course while working on the project...it's a great resource. Although I'm not a title professional, there was a lot of great marketing advice on how to differentiate yourself, how to find the right kind of client, and how to avoid or even fire the wrong type of client! It's exactly the kind of marketing advice I give my clie