Successful Blog

Cool Tool Review: Creative Commons

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Todd Hoskins Reviews Tools for Business

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Todd Hoskins chooses and uses tools and products that could belong in an entrepreneurial business toolkit. He’ll be checking out how useful they are to folks who would be their customers in a form that’s consistent and relevant.

Cool Tool Review: Creative Commons
A Review by Todd Hoskins

Open Field by kathrynstar at DeviantArt http://kathrynstar.deviantart.com/art/Open-Field-20924389
Open Field by kathrynstar at DeviantArt http://kathrynstar.deviantart.com/art/Open-Field-20924389

Creative Commons is not a tool, but it’s important for every blogger, editor, and author to understand the licenses made possible by the non-profit founded nearly ten years ago. It makes the world a better place for both businesses and artists by enabling the free and easy use of creative materials.

If you are a business looking to include photography, artwork, or even music in your printed materials, ads, or website, you may want to contact a stock photography house. But if you’re a small business or individual working on a tight budget, it makes sense to find works available in the commons.

You can do a metasearch directly on the Creative Commons website. For example, if you want some imagery of an open field to illustrate an aspect of your business, choose your keywords, and search. Once you find an image, you can download it and use it with the restrictions provided by the license. The most typical license allows reuse with attribution, meaning you need to acknowledge the person who created or obtained the original work.

Here’s some helpful tips for giving credit to the author and publisher:

Creative Commons Attribution

It is the spirit of the web that makes Creative Commons great – that we can share, mix, and give credit to the people who influence, assist, and improve our own business and creative pursuits. For white papers and any creative materials that you or your company create, consider putting it out in the Commons as well. It may create some visibility, but more importantly it makes you more of a participant in the exchange rather than just a buyer and seller.

Summing Up – Is it worth it?

Enterprise Value: 4/5 – There are many places to source creative materials (I love Veer), but it also is valuable to know and use Creative Commons and participate in the larger community.

Entrepreneur Value: 5/5 – No attorneys needed. Period.

Personal Value: 5/5 – Never before has so much material been available to mix and reuse. Have fun and share.

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What’s More Important: Intention or Perception?

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A Guest Post by JennyDecki

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First, I’d like to thank Liz for letting me write a guest post. Even though we’ve only talked a few times and met once, if she called me at 3am and needed a ride home after an awesome party I wasn’t even invited to I would jump in my car and drive her home faster than, well, as fast as I could throw on some clothes and get there. So even if we don’t have coffee every other Sunday, I consider her a friend and I’m just happier knowing she’s part of my world. (Cue cheesy Disney music – bonus points for you if you know what Disney movie that is).

What’s More Important: Intention or Perception?

Today’s question is one most people don’t consider. Everyone keeps talking about transparency and authenticity and what you should do and who you should be but then you shouldn’t be this and you shouldn’t be that and only The Bloggess can cuss because she’s really, really funny to a lot of people when she does.

There are so many things that you’re being told you should be when you blog that you may not even be sure what your message is or who you are yet, I mean, I turned 35 last week and I *just* figured out what I want to be when I grow up. (35 is an interesting number. My kids think I’m a dinosaur but my grandmother thinks my life hasn’t begun yet. I’m both too old AND too young depending on the demographic being surveyed.)

Take this video as my exhibit A. I’m entered into a competition. I need to win. I need you (yes you, not some other reader, YOU!) to watch this,

 

NOW go to JennyDecki’s Mamavation Application and vote for @Jennydecki — Just check that box in the sidebar — once every 24 hours from now until 7/12 at 8pm CST. If I had my way you’d set an alarm on your phone to remind you.

It’s really important to me. If you watched the video and you already know why…

Authenticity Can Be Frightening

Now, obviously I’m not making up the fact that I am, in fact, fat. But transparency is making a video showing I’m fat. My message is what’s authentic, because even if I hired a plus-sized model with a less-large but still-overweight body to deliver that message it would still be authentic.

But here’s the kicker. The absolute scariest part of making that video is my fear of what other people would think of it. Because it doesn’t matter if you’re being transparent and it doesn’t matter if your message is authentic. What matters once you hit “Submit” is what other people will think of your video when they see it.

Putting out a video that says, “I’m fat, I want to lose weight, I want to win this contest to have intimate relations over the phone with a nutritionist.” is frightening.

There’s the fear that some jerk is going to send the video to all his friends, then they’ll all come calling with horrific comments, calling me names I haven’t heard since Jr. High and laughing at me.

… and Tests Your Beliefs

Even better, I’m at the edges of a few fat acceptance communities and some people believe that attempting to lose weight for the sake of losing weight is wrong. I know some of those people and they’re really great people.

… and I believe in size acceptance too, because – skinny or fat – people deserve dignity and the right to be judged on what happens when they open their mouth and talk to you, not when they open their mouth and put food into it.

The Moral of the Story: Be as sure as you can be about what you believe before you share it with the world. Once you share it you can’t take it back.You just have to know your message is yours and you are allowed to have opinions, make decisions, and share those with others. Even if you disagree with your neighbor, or Liz, or me, or the guy who runs the local Chamber of Commerce.

So help me out. Because if I don’t win — yeah I tried and that’s great — but I’m really more of a “winning” kind of person.

How to Help

I was told before I was chosen as a finalist, “You’ll have to do something amazing to win. Your social media contacts won’t be enough.” Please, even if you don’t support me…even if you don’t support weight loss…even if you don’t give care at all. Help me prove that social media is enough – because social media IS amazing.

Step 1: Go vote for me (@jennydecki) at http://bit.ly/teamjen

Step 2: Post on Facebook and Tweet for me: Watch the video and vote @jennydecki every 24 hours from now ’till 7/12 at 8pmCST http://bit.ly/teamjen PLZ RT!

Step 3: Send an email, write a blog post, or use the social media or traditional media avenue of your choice and link to this post so they can help me, too.

Step 4: Have we met? No? Feel free to follow me on Twitter @jennydecki and I’ll follow you back. I’m sure it will be a pleasure to meet you.

Is Intention More Important than Perception?

Of course intention is most important because it’s the only one you have ANY control over. Perception? You have to let the chips fall where they may. If you write things with the intention of trying to create a particular perception and you fail, you can’t really stand up and say, “Oh, I want a do-over because that wasn’t really me.” Nope.

Better to be stuck with people knowing you for who you are than people not even knowing you and still thinking you’re a jackass. The best part is when you are yourself and you stand up for something you find support in the oddest places. Like here. Or here.

And when a fat woman figures out her passion is health and there’s a runner trapped under all that excess weight, what the hell other option does she have?

Need permission? You have mine. I give you permission to stand up for something. To stand in between a rock and a hard place and just stand there. Own it.

Thank you for your time, I appreciate it more than you know. Thanks again, Liz. Don’t lose my number, you may need it after a party someday!

——
If you don’t know JennyDecki, you should. Besides being a brilliant marketer, Jenny also blogs.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

You Don’t Have To Raise Your Hand To Make A Comment

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By Terez Howard
As a blogger, you recognize the importance of following your favorite bloggers. You know that they can offer you the insight and direction you need, not only to become a better writer, but also a better business person.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably read through a host of different blogs from how to write effective copy to useful ways to promote your blog to marketing tactics for your products or services. I’ve been interested in online work for about two years now, and to this day, I’m still amazed at the influx of free information.

As long as I’m willing to do a little searching, I find that I can get reliable answers to all of my business questions. I have yet to ask a question that hasn’t been responded to on someone’s blog.

That’s what we bloggers are here for, right? To provide quality content. But when we read other people’s helpful information at no cost to us, what do we do to add to the discussion?

Questions, comments, concerns

I feel like I’m back in my school days here. Think about this. When the teacher delves into geophysics and you hear Charlie Brown lingo, you should ask for clarification. So, when you read a blog that doesn’t explain a topic clearly, don’t be embarrassed to ask the blogger for additional insight.

Did you ever have the teacher that had each student go around the room and name their favorite something? I think I was in elementary school when we named our favorite animals in front of the class. (At the time, my answer was cats). I remember thinking this exercise was stupid and a waste of time. Yes, I thought this as a 7-year-old.

I didn’t know it all, either. My teacher was preparing us to do at least one thing: socialize. Blogs are a key component of social media. Commenting about our favorite something from a post or sharing some other personal knowledge generates discussion. It makes this social media social.

Teachers make mistakes. When I saw a teacher’s math problem didn’t add up – literally – I let her know quietly and tactfully. I was not about to risk my parents making a visit to the school to hear about their mouthy daughter.

When we see a problem with a blogger’s data, we should let the writer know and do so quietly and tactfully. Even if it isn’t a technical error, we should air our concerns because once again, we get to engage in a social conversation.

What’s the point?

Questions, comments and concerns help us to learn more. That’s why our teachers throughout our years and years of school encouraged them so much. We remember what we talk about. We make connections. We build on this foundation.

Not to mention, the teacher feels his job has been worthwhile when he sees his students responding to his direction. Bloggers, too, feel that sense of worth when people respond to their posts.

Of course, these responses must only contribute to a meaningful discussion. None of that “Nice post” or “Good job” stuff. Sure, it’s nice to be complimented, but a few dozen of those a day can amount to nothing more than spam. I cannot tell you how many spammy comments I don’t approve per day and from the exact same website!

Since I don’t like words full of nothing, why would I give them to someone else? We bloggers have to stick together and truly talk to one another. We can learn so much from one another, but only if we open our mouths, or rather move our fingers, and converse.

How do you engage your readers in conversation?

 

—
Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas . You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger

Thanks, Terez!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Social Media Book List: #PROJECT MANAGEMENTtweet and The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web

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A Weekly Series by Teresa Morrow

I’m Teresa Morrow, Founder of Key Business Partners, LLC and I work with authors to help manage their online book promotion. As part of my job I read a lot of books (and I love to read anyway!). I am here to offer a weekly post about one book author I am working with and one book I have put on my reading list. This week I will be highlighting ‘#PROJECTMANAGEMENTtweet’ by Himanshu Jhamb and Guy Ralfe. and ‘The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web’ by Tamar Weinberg. The books I discuss will cover such topics as social media, marketing, blogging, business, organization, career building, networking, writing, self development and inspiration.

‘#PROJECTMANAGEMENTtweet: 140 Powerful Bite-Sized Insights on managing projects’ by Guy Ralfe and Himanshu Jhamb

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“Jhamb and Ralfe have provided a real treat with this book. Each PM tweet provides a rich mini-lesson on how to succeed as a project manager.”
Anthony C. Mersino, author of ‘Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers’ and President, The Project Advisors Group, Inc.

People are transcending cultures and geographies and are embracing diversity in their experiences and interactions with others. Most importantly, this book is a thought provoking resource for managers and those who work with a diverse group of people, be it in the workforce, community projects, team building assignments, social gatherings, or business meetings. Organizations need to know how to manage diversity to be successful in the future, and in today’s competitive age, the flexibility and creativity augmented by diversity is crucial for success.

‘#PROJECT MANAGEMENT tweet’s’ quick-read and accessible format makes sure that you immediately ‘get’ the authors’ thought-provoking and time-tested insights and apply them directly to your own project management situations. Its tweet-sized wisdom keeps the reader’s perspective firmly in mind. In concise chapters, the authors cover what your bosses, your team members and your customers would wish you to know about project management. Among the many gems the author share is this takeaway: Every ‘unknown’ in a project can be guaranteed to introduce a ‘known’ risk. But, with ‘#PROJECT MANAGEMENT tweet’ near at hand, you can be assured of immediately minimizing your risks and multiplying your successes in project management.

Here are a few tweets from ‘#PROJECT MANAGEMENT tweet’ I would like to share with you:

#6 Testing without test plans is like landing in a new city without a map.

#15 Four key questions on a task:
What is being done?
How is it going to be done?
Who is going to get it done?
When will it be done?

#24 Acknowledge breakdowns, as soon as they appear, to the customer; but more important, to yourself first!

#36 Team members live in their own worlds. It’s the Project Manager’s responsibility to make the project a
part of their world.

#52 Pay close attention to the “Opportunity Costs” of your commitments to clients.

#77 Always try to recover any delay at the start like it was the last day of the project.

About the Authors:

Guy Ralfe, has worked on global projects for over a decade. At Starr Specialty Coatings, Guy manages project delivery. He is an active contributor on ActiveGarage.com, a web portal he co-founded to address the fundamental concerns of business.

Himanshu Jhamb, thrives on challenges in Software Project Management and has successfully led global teams in industries ranging from Telecommunications to eCommerce. Himanshu is Senior Project Manager for Atypon Systems and co-founder of Active Garage, where he frequently writes about Projects and Project Management.

You can purchase a copy of ‘#PROJECT MANAGEMENT tweet’ online at ThinkAha Books or at Amazon

This blog post is part of a virtual book tour done by Key Business Partners, LLC and I have received a complimentary copy of ‘#PROJECT MANAGEMENT TWEET’ by the authors.

The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web by Tamar Weinberg

Now I would like to highlight a book on my “review” reading list–The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web.

Here is partial book description on Amazon.com:

Written by an expert in social media and viral marketing, this book cuts through the hype and jargon to give you intelligent advice and strategies for positioning your business on the social web, with case studies that show how other companies have used this approach.

The New Community Rules will help you:

* Explore blogging and microblogging, and find out how to use applications such as Twitter to create brand awareness
* Learn the art of conversation marketing, and how social media thrives on honesty and transparency
* Manage and enhance your online reputation through the social web
* Tap into the increasingly influential video and podcasting market
* Discover which tactics work — and which don’t — by learning about what other marketers have tried

Many consumers today use the Web as a voice. The New Community Rules demonstrates how you can join the conversation, contribute to the community, and bring people to your product or service.

About Tamar:

Tamar Weinberg is a freelance writer and author of The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web (O’Reilly, July 2009) who specializes in social media consulting and strategy, blogger outreach, reputation management, and search engine marketing (SEO, link building, and Pay Per Click Marketing). She has been involved in the Internet since the early 90s and has dabbled in social online interactions for more than fifteen years. Tamar has been working nearly exclusively with Internet Marketing side since 2006, though she also has experience with web hosting and technical support and can handle complicated WordPress installations and configurations with ease. At the present time, Tamar is the community & marketing manager of Mashable and consults at social media marketing agency M80, in addition to working alongside other companies in her own role as a consultant.

Read more: http://www.techipedia.com/about/#ixzz0t0VnajSg

*courtesy of Amazon

You can purchase a copy of ‘The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web’ on Amazon.

I truly hope you will check out these books and please comment and let me know your thoughts on them.

#DellCAP: Have You Got the Right Model for Your Ideal Customers?

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Have You Really Thought about the People You Want to Reach?

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At the recent #DellCAP Days meeting in Austin, we — 15 customers and C-Level folks from operations and customer service — had an interesting discussion about sending customer service offshore.

When asked about it, the Chief-of-Staff gave a most honest and simple response that they felt that people wouldn’t be willing to pay the higher price for computers it would cost to keep those services in the U.S.

DELL is going for operational excellence in delivering there product. Operational excellence is a low-cost, reliable product with less customization and lower service.

The question came up … Is that attracting the market you want?

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Every market falls into three tiers:

  • operational excellence … think Southwest Airlines
    An operational excellence model attracts customers who care most about price. Their loyal is lower. A second high value needs to hold them when a still lower price becomes attractive.
  • customer relationship … think Zappos
    A customer relationship model attracts customers who care about their individual experience. They want customization that suits their lifestyle and their values. They’re willing to pay more for what they value — service or commitment that is tailored to them.
  • product innovation … think Apple
    A product innovation market attracts early adopters and prestige buyers. This group is willing to spend more to get high performance and to be the first on the block who owns the shiny new object. They are also willing to pay a premium price for a one-of-a-kind experience.

As you can see each tier’s model attracts a different customer.

Whether we’re DELL or a solo service professional, we need to make sure our price / value model matches the customers and the market we can reach and those customers we want to attract to us. If you want fiercely loyal customers,

  • Know why people are buying what you offer and know that price will always drive your loyalty relationships. If you attract people who buy for price, they will leave if you no longer hold the lowest price in the market. Build in other values to protect your loyalty. Southwest has outstanding “fun” as their price value-added.
  • Incorporate barriers to entry to reduce the threats to your value-added. Zappos has established a “story of service” that underscores their outstanding commitment to relationships and empowered, happy employees who serve individual customers in unique and personal ways.
  • Be the “first hired and first trusted” to serve your most loyal fans. Value what your customers value. Apple doesn’t appear to let other price points or other offers change their dedication to building in “childlike wonder” into every innovate design they offer. They also realize that their most raving fan- customers will forgive a few glitches to be the first to own the newest Apple products.

All three tiers can offer great customers for the business who serves them.

Have you got the right model for your ideal customers?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

I’m a proud affiliate of

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The Declaration of Social Media Business Interdepence

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Forgive Me Thomas Jefferson …
but we do share the same birthday.

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On the Internet, July 4, 2010

The Declaration of Social Business Interdependence

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for people to band together, to connect, and to assume among the powers of the market, the innovative, competitive, and collaborative marketplace to which the Laws of Economics and of Human Behavior entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of all — customers, vendors, clients, coworkers, partners, competitors, consultants, C-suite executives, family members, friends (excepting the unethical, the liars, thieves, and gamers of the system) requires that we should declare the causes which impel us to the do business.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that life online and offline are both real life, that each is endowed with certain unalienable connectivity, that among these are conversations, relationships, transactions, and the pursuit of bandwidth to build dreams into realities.

–That social networks are instituted among creators, curators, crowds of fans, leaders, listeners, thinkers, and caretakers deriving their just powers from the consent of the community.

–That whenever any business, any site or any platform of interaction, any relationship becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to abandon or to abolish it. They may lay a new foundation on like values and organizing its powers that protect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence dictates that long established platforms should not be changed for light and transient causes — with the result of exporting information and friendships into chaotic ubiquity; and accordingly experience hath shewn, that people are more likely suffer bad code and crashing sites, than to change their social networking habits and passwords.

But when the possibility of abuses, misuses and usurpations — particularly of personal information, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off what might harm their reputation and their future security.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the social web, solemnly publish and declare,

  • That these social networks are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent (excepting those offering extraordinary paid content).
  • That we will navigate the social web with appropriate caution tempering our transparency, rising to the belief that TMI can be not only dangerous to personal identity, but a passive invasion of others’ privacy.
  • We throw down, block, and abolish all content thieves, spammers, scrapers and people who hijack our Twitter streams to try to sell things as soon as they meet us.
  • We shun people who get to know us for the purpose of exploiting our networks.
  • We ignore Twitter breakdowns and glitches at our pleasure and make no promise to continue to do so.
  • We distrust people who say they know social media, but have no online presence and no social networking profiles.
  • We curse bad links and outages that interfere with getting our work done so that we might spend time with our families.
  • We will never forget that no amount of talking or attention getting will help a product or service that is woefully lacking. Social media cannot fix bad hires, faulty product, or other failings..
  • We commit to being social offline and online in equal and equivalent measures to build trust through predictability.
  • We protect each other when we see something happening that could cause a fail. We will not take pleasure or participate in huge social media bashing sparked by bad advertising, bad employee behavior, or human error. Discussion will not require beating a horse that is dead already or fueling a fire unnecessarily.
  • We refer business to the people most qualified in our networks by value of their intelligence, competence, integrity, and interpersonal skills, not by value of their number of followers or their friendship.
  • We strive to grow our businesses, our relationships, and our personal awareness so that we might have more to offer. That growing and knowing will allow us to align our goals with strategic partners to build stronger business, relationships and communities.
  • We do not click links or open attachments from people we do not know … ever.
  • We recognize the value of our cooperative, respectful, authentic interactions with like-minded people and value every tweet, comment, blog post, and that we share as we build our businesses and rebuild the economy of the world interdependently. .

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other time of our Lives, participation in our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

We declare our interdepedence as people who work on the web.

—–
We’re not starting a revolution. It’s already started.

What will you declare?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

I’m a proud affiliate of paid content worth investing in …

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The Declaration of Independence