Communicate Clearly, Folks!

Here's some Monday humor for you to get your week started. I love getting funny forwards from my clients, and this one really "takes the cake." (hee hee...Ok, that was bad, I know...)

Read the cake from Wal-Mart:








"Okay, so this is how I imagine this conversation went:

Wal-Mart Employee: 'Hello 'dis be Wal-marts, how can I help you?'

Customer: 'I would like to order a cake for a going-away party this week.'

Wal-Mart Employee: 'What you want on the cake?'

Customer: 'Best Wishes Suzanne' and underneath that 'We will miss you.'

Moral of the story:

In case you get stuck with someone special, make sure you're communicating clearly. Double check to make sure the other person understands what your intentions are. Otherwise, you're left with the above scenario!

How I Landed #1 Spot on Google

Hello! I'm back from a few weeks away while on a special mission - being a Maid of Honor for my sister's wedding! Congrats to the two lovebirds and I couldn't have asked for a better new brother-in-law to come into the fam.

While I was away, my website, www.MarketingMakesMeSmile.com had quite some activity. Even though I haven't touched it for over a month, I wanted to share with you my excitement about something pretty fantastic (and something YOU can achieve, too!):

My website had landed the #1 spot on Google's search results page! And get this - it ranked above 2.47 MILLION other search results! Whoo hoo!

It's a good Marketing exercise to occasionally "Google" yourself by searching for keywords that your potential clients would be typing into the almighty search engine. My keywords were: "confused on social networking" and "confused about social networking." Both landed me top spots.

First things first. NO, I did not pay for this placement. (Big bonus, and I've yet to spend one dime on any sort of paid online advertising or marketing in over six years to bring me traffic.) I simply know how to write my metatags and headlines for my site and think about what my target market wants to know.

As we evolve into more things Web 2.0, it's becoming more acceptable to simply write out our thoughts and feelings about what we're looking for, too. My target market is definitely confused about social networking, and that's OK with me! (I'm here to help. I was where they were at one point, too.) So typing into Google "confused about social networking" is quite a likely occurrence.

Secondly, I can spell the word algorithm, but that's about as far as my technical expertise goes with SEO (Search Engine Optimization - what helps get you to the top). Google also uses algorithms to determine search ranking results. I know there's tons of metrics involved that give me that prime number one spot, but I won't sit here and pretend like I know how that all works exactly. My expertise is in Social Media Marketing, a cousin, if you will, of SEO. Math and I aren't enemies, but we're not best buds, either! Anything with a formula I hand over to one of the scientists in my family before I pass out from frustration. (Hey, SEO experts - feel free to help me out here! Thanks!)

What efforts do you take in your SEO plan for your website? Have you been successful with your own experiements? What works or doesn't work for you? Are you using the proper keywords?

Some things to think about so we can see your site sitting at the top, too! Leave a comment with your site link so we can all go visit it and get you up there in the rankings.

15 More Fantastic Social Media Resources for Foodies

For all my culinary peeps online - check out the sites below and let me know what you find. I'm not an expert or consider myself a "foodie", but definitely appreciate some good grub!

There's lots of conversations and projects happening with Social Media, and it's great to see such an interesting industry taking advantage of it. Bring on the deliciousness! Can someone invent Smell-o-vision, please?

15 More Fantastic Social Media Resources for Foodies

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LinkedIn Polls - My first one!

I created my first poll on LinkedIn. Pretty cool! It lets you poll your 1st level connections for free, gives you the URL (see below) and shows you a graph of the results. Great for market research! What question(s) do you need answered for your biz????

Here's my question for you:

How much time PER WEEK do you spend on your Social Media Marketing (tweeting, Facebooking, networking, blogging, etc)?

Please click the link to see the answers and choose your vote!

http://polls.linkedin.com/p/49864/nciur

I want to also know the most frustrating, annoying, complicated parts so I can better serve those who are looking for answers. I think I'll do another one. What fun! (It's the little things....)

Thanks for your input and comments on the blog.

Cheers!

I want the new iPhone 3Gs!

I want the new iPhone 3Gs! Of course I'm an Apple fan (for almost 10 years), but I wasn't one of the millions to jump on board and grab the first mobile piece of genius that Steve Jobs & Co. came out with. At the time of the very first iPhone launch about 3 years ago, I was actually employed at AT&T. The sense of excitement and anticipation of how this new-fangled technology would affect the world was unlike anything I've ever experienced. We actually had hired extra security guards to secure the store and the crowds because it seemed to be the biggest thing since sliced bread and everyone wanted one! That was a crazy week...

Regardless, I've been a Crackberry, er, Blackberry user for about four years now, and love it. The main reason why I didn't jump all over Apple's newest family member was because to me, I needed the business functionality of the BB more than the entertainment purposes which the iPhone provided. It was cool, but not functional enough to me.

HOWEVER, now that I can't seem to stop taking digital movies and tons and tons of digital pics, I think I need to make the switch to the obvious Mac-daddy (no pun intended) - the new iPhone 3Gs. I've been debating about buying a Flip Cam (retails $149+) but now that this video feature is on the newest iPhone, it's lookin' like a winner. And I've been out of my phone contract for awhile now, so I'd get the best price, which is also a consideration for someone who disklikes making two-year long purchase decisions..lol.

Here's the link to the sales video for it:

http://www.apple.com/iphone/guidedtour/#medium

Anyone have any feedback on this product? Did you have the older version(s)? What do you use your iPhone for? Why would or wouldn't you buy this newest phone? Anyone find any glitches yet? Is it true AT&T won't let you use the MMS feature yet?

Can't wait to hear your opinions! Thanks to those who have already answered this on my Twitter account. Keep it coming!

Come meet up in Beverly Hills this Friday!

I love supporting other positive women who are out there making big things happen! So many things happening here in Los Angeles and if you're into fashion and beauty from the inside out, then please get in touch with the gorgeous Ungenita!


She will be launching her company this Friday at the Luxe Hotel in Beverly Hills and I can't WAIT to attend. If you're local, please contact her blog to see all the great details. Would love to see you there!

Funny Facebook Glitch

A view from my back-end Home page on my personal Facebook profile, top right-hand column:



Anyone else seeing this funny 'lil oversight? Must be on a developer level. It makes me laugh every time I see a "suggestion" on my page to add...myself. What a great suggestion! Random.

haha..it makes me laugh. I had to take a screen shot after seeing it a few times now. Is this happening to anyone else?

Facebook Hits 250 Million Users. WOW.

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, sent out a note on Facebook today with a heartfelt "thank you" resulting from his web-baby receiving its 250 millionth sign-up. That's a lot of people, ya'll. He says it was never intended to be about anything other than allowing people to connect and share with others. I agree and it's plain to see that although they are doing a great job at monetizing the site via Facebook Ads and such (comment this if you've done a campaign - we're curious!), the basic premise still remains the same. Great job, Facebook! Considering the rapid amount of growth, don't you think they've done a pretty good job of handling it all?

Here's a short video showing the growth. When did you join?

A friend of mine, BRI, 17, on America's Got Talent 2009!

(Note: NBC Universal has copyright of this video and disabled embedding for blogs - but GO TO YouTube TO SEE IT!!! They are allowing it there!)

Proud to know this amazingly talented up-and-coming artsist, BRI! Check out her audition on this season's "America's Got Talent."


We first met back when I taught music Marketing at a school she was attending in Hollywood a few years ago. This girl can sing, play and has a great and friendly personality, too.

GO BRI!!!! We'll be rooting for you to go all the way.

Let's show the world how beautiful viral marketing can be - share this video with everyone you can on all of your social networking sites. Exposure is key in any business. Especially show business!

FREE Twitter Class This Friday!

Recently a lot more people have been asking me to give them additional Twitter Tips, so I came up with an easy and efficient way of doing it. I want to gift to you some excellent and FREE Twitter education so that your business can start seeing immediate results this Summer!

Register now for this Friday's FREE class where I'll be teaching you:

"3 Easy Ways to Build Your List and Make Money on Twitter"

Friday July 17th, 3:00-4:00pm PST/6:00-7:00pm EST

The class is valued at $297 - you will NOT want to miss this opportunity!

On this free call I will be giving you:

- specific, detailed steps to take that you can implement right away
- the recorded presentation so you can go back and review the material
- a live Q&A session to ask me your burning questions about Twitter

No beating around the bush, being too vague or throwing you a bait-and-switch. Just plain 'ol facts that I've learned about Twitter by spending thousands of hours researching what works and what doesn't work. I can't wait to share them with you! (And no, Twitter is NOT all about telling us what sandwich you just ate.)

But HURRY - I only reserved 99 spots available. Register HERE. Pass this along to your friends who need Twitter help and join me on Friday!