Successful Blog

SOB Business Cafe 02-26-10

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Altitude
Today on Twitter’s #SMChat, DJ Waldow asked about professional uses for Twitter and what we got out of it.

In my first year as an independent consultant, I can attribute over $100K in revenue for my business directly to Twitter. How?

Small Biz Survival
Suzy and Tracie make bread in a little strip mall in Mishawaka, Indiana. They have a franchise with Great Harvest Bread Company. They give you free slices to sample. (Apple Scrapple is very good.) They are like lots of bread stores in lots of towns.

Their store/bakery is only a couple miles from our daughter’s college, but I never would have noticed it. It’s one of many stores in that mall, and there are many strip malls along Grape Road.

So how did Suzy sell me a muffin and a coffee mug?

Servant of Chaos
CMO.com released a handy chart with snapshot social media information designed as a quick heads up for chief marketing officers. It’s not a panacea and it doesn’t cover all the places, spaces and platforms – but it’s a great start.

Social Media Marketing Institute
You can bet I understand the importance of numbers. They are crucial to every business.

BUT…..(you knew this was coming)… everything you do in your life doesn’t have to have a concrete measurement. Todd Carpenter said, “if you coach a softball game”, do you measure the ROI of getting new clients?” Now, that is just silly. Of course not.

Lip Sticking
I’ve decided to step out and say what few people are willing to say: women business owners need to approach social media differently than male business owners.

Related ala carte selections include

Being Five …
If you truly believe something with all your heart …

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

I’m a proud affiliate of

Thanks to Week 226 SOBs

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muddy teal strip A

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

muddy teal strip A

dzine-press
kenmcquire
n2growth1
shegeeks
social-strata
womanz-world

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

deep purple strip

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Business Cafe 02-19-10

by

SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Name Wire – Strategic Name Development
This year may mark a milestone in branding and naming, one that has as much resonance as Marlboro Friday.

Walmart is unceremoniously clearing brands off the shelves that do not sell well and replacing them with their own private label versions.

Logic + Emotion
It’s unlikely that people will abandon existing platforms or networks unless they become so polluted that we have no choice. Sure we may have wandered away from e-mail, but how many of us have actually abandoned it? Very few I suspect. E-mail like Twitter or Facebook will remain relevant as long as our friends and co-workers keep using it. When they stop, it might go away—but how likely is it that scenario?

Barry J Moltz
You need money to finance the start up or growth of your business. Who are you going to call?

How do you finance a business in 2010?

Altitude
You have an idea!

You’ve thought it through, and you’re excited. You’ve uncovered something that’s really going to help your company or your boss or your client achieve their goals. You want your project to get attention and action. It deserves it, right?

Life Beyond Code
You buy a burger (or almost anything) and while the person in the counter rings that he or she looks up and asks,

“Do you want some fries with it?”

The offer is compelling and it works. Most people take up that offer and McDonalds wins.

Read more: http://www.lifebeyondcode.com/2010/02/17/do-you-want-a-gift-with-it/#ixzz0fzdwf2IP
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike

AdRANTS
Ooo! Ooo! Facebook Fan Pages work for marketers! A recent study conducted by Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business found companies that use Facebook fan pages can increase sales, word-of-mouth marketing and customer loyalty.

Colour Lovers
Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Medical Research Methodology describe the development of a color chart, The Manchester Color Wheel, which can be used to study people’s preferred pigment in relation to their state of mind. Those who described themselves as happy picked shades of yellow where as those feeling anxious or depressed chose shades of grey or dark blue.

Related ala carte selections include

Justin Case You Were Wondering
has several jobsearch videos and articles to HAPPO — Help a PR Pro Out

101 Cookbooks
I came across a cookie when I visited Portland a couple years back. It was a crackle-edged puddle of chocolate with a texture that made me think of a collision between soft meringue and a fudgy brownie. I kid you not, love is not too strong a word to use here.

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Register Now!! for sobcon-vmc

Don’t Miss the FREE SOBCon Webinar at Noon EST Monday – Feb 15th!!

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Brogan, Garrett, Naslund, Strauss, and Starbucker

We’re delighted to invite you to a conversation about strategy and tactics and the relationships that move our businesses online and off.

Join us at noon EST on February 15th, to kick off a special SOBCobn2010 Webinar with Chris Garrett, Chris Brogan, Amber Naslund and Liz Strauss

SOBCon2010 Webinar
Mon, Feb 15, 2010 12:00 NOON EST – 1:30 PM EST

Just click this link.

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/197073915

We’ll be talking the entire SOBCon Program and how the virtual meets the concrete in own online businesses.. We’ll also be announcing the winner of the SOBCon FREE Trip and a new special limited time offer! I’ll add an update to this post with the name of the winner after the webinar.

Meanwhile, here’s what SOBCon looked like last year … via @ramseym

We’re doing everything we can to bring you all the value, the experts and expertise, and the time to work and network that you need to make your business outstanding and extremely profitable in 2010.

What could you do with a weekend of the time, expertise, and support you need to focus your business?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Register Now!! for sobcon-vmc You need to be there.

Look Who’s Entered to Win a FREE SOBCon Trip — OR Get a $250 Discount

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150 People to Fine Tune Your Web Presence

sobcon-vmc

Suppose you could take a weekend retreat away from the noise of the Internet …

  • to focus on your business with the support of a mastermind team
  • to get quality time to interact with the top people in social media
  • to get the best information AND time to discuss how you’ll apply it
  • to work with sponsors who are doing the same thing
  • in a room limited to 150 people — all focused in the same direction
  • without worry because the food and the wireless are outstanding.

Imagine a weekend work retreat with these people totally invested.

Here are the entries to win …

  1. Jon Swanson @jnswanson wrote How Becky McCray Changed My Life
  2. Leia Ferrari @lferrari2 wrote My BlogCrush confession
  3. Cynthia Smoot @ohsocynthia wrote Getting Back to Basics …
  4. Kristin Rielly @geekgirls wrote Opportunity Can Be the Greatest Motivator
  5. Ria Sharon @RiaSharon wrote How Our Relationships Matter
  6. Deb Brown @debworks wrote The Virtual Meets the Concrete
  7. Ellen Nordahl @ElleLaMode wrote Inspiration to Embrace Uncertainty
  8. Laura Maly @laura_maly wrote Online Thoughts Crash Into Reality
  9. Esther Crawford @faintstarlite wrote My Internet Addiction
  10. Glenda Watson Hyatt @glendawh wrote Lives Change When the Virtual Meets the Concrete
  11. Jasmin Tragas @wonderwebby wrote Virtual Adventures and Girl Scout Cookies
  12. Ken Trump @safeschools wrote Inspiring Person: Liz Strauss
  13. Paul Merrill @paulmerrill wrote How Chris changed my life
  14. Teri Conrad @tlchome wrote The Doctrine of Stephen Jagger
  15. Susana Molinolo @foodplayground wrote #SOBCon2010
  16. Lynne Jarman-Johnson @LjjSpeaks wrote Work + Fun = Passion
  17. Erno Hannink @ernohannink wrote Als online ondernemer doormodderen of in stroomversnelling – SOBCon 2010
  18. Stephen Sherlock @SherSteve wrote Hitchhiking with Aloha
  19. Hope Bertram @windycitysocial wrote SOBCon2010 – Getting to know Hope
  20. Connie Roberts @ConnieFoggles wrote Connecting Is The Easy Road To Blogging
  21. Carole Hicks @carole_hicks wrote SOBCon2010 – The People Who Have Made a Difference For Me
  22. Deb Hildreth@adlex wrote I am …
  23. Hollie Pollard @commoncentsmom wrote They Don’t Even Know
  24. Chris Burdge @b_WEST wrote #SOBCon2010
  25. Pieter van Osch @pyotr wrote Online Creativity Accelerated by Off Line Event
  26. Lisa Grimm @lulugrimm wrote Reflection: Inspirations From the Web
  27. Dave Murray @DaveMurr wrote #SOBCon2010 – To Everyone, Thank You for Being Here and for Helping Make This Ride All the More Meaningful
  28. Nathan Hangen@nhangen wrote 3 People/Places that Have Inspired and Educated Me for Online Success
  29. Nerissa Marbury @OneEpiphany wrote The Person I Secretly Admire (or use too)
  30. Lynn Reidl @lynnreidl wrote Peace of Mind: a Concrete Reality
  31. Phil Gerbyshak @philgerb wrote Big C Communities Matter: #SOBCon2010
  32. Tamara @unexperiencedmom wrote Liz Strauss Labeled Me an SOB!

    33. And this just in from

  33. Jordan Cooper, stand-up comedian @NotaProBlogwho wrote Nigerian Spammers Changed My Life

Would you write a blog post to get a chance to win a FREE SOBCon Weekend?

An Expense Paid Ticket!! AND the BlogIt EarnIt Discount

Here’s what they did to enter …

Now, we’ll put all of the entries in a random drawing and choose one lucky winner. We’ll announce the winner at the Webinar on February 15th. The winner will receive:

  1. a free ticket to SOBCon2010 – $895.00 value
  2. airfare and three nights at Hotel 71 – up to $1105 in hotel and airfare

A total package value worth as much as USD $2000 – nontransferrable, nonrefundable.

And remember as a thank you for sharing a story, we’re sending everyone who enterred a special code to take $250 off the $895 FULL conference rate – that’s over a 25% savings!

If you can’t make to SOBCon2010, you could “pay it forward” and pass the discount on to one of your friends — or offer it back to us as a gift for us to pass on for you.

Don’t Miss the FREE SOBCon Webinar Monday

Join us at noon EST on February 15th), to kick off a special SOBCobn2010 Webinar with Chris Garrett, Chris Brogan, Amber Naslund and Liz Strauss

We’ll be announcing the FREE SOBCon Trip contest winner and a new special limited time offer!

SOBCon2010 Webinar
Mon, Feb 15, 2010 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM EST
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/197073915

We’ll be talking strategy and tactics for our online business.

We’re doing everything we can to bring you all the value, the experts and expertise, and the time to work and network that you need to make your business outstanding and extremely profitable in 2010.

What could you do with a weekend of the time, expertise, and support you need to focus your business?

We’re all coming for the same reasons.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Register Now!! for sobcon-vmc Make the investment.

Thanks to Week 225 SOBs

by

muddy teal strip A

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

muddy teal strip A

authentic-organizations
guerrilla-comm-blog
random-acts-of-data
sound-n-sight
wheel-on-the-web

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

deep purple strip

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss