BusinessBlogAngel

Liz Strauss' 25 Words of Work/Life Wisdom Writing Project

There is no doubt that Twitter is a seriously powerful weapon in your social media marketing arsenal. Over the last couple of days, I've seen some great examples of how people are using Twitter to not only network, promote their business activities and attract traffic, but also drive more sales.  In the last hour, as a direct response to a couple of Tweets that caught my eye, I've bought a product I didn't know I needed(!) and been inspired by Robert Hruzek to take up Liz Strauss' 25 Words of Work/Life Wisdom Writing Project challenge.   

I'll write again about Twitter, but in the meantime, here's my attempt at those 25 words:

Oh The Shame...

"Do as I say, not as I do";
these words float shamefully around my brain
as I fail
to Twitter, Stumble, blog and podcast
consistently.

Given that I'd not posted for ages - and this is my second today - I'm inspired to do another...

Recent Business Bloggers' Blogs

I can barely believe it's been over a month since our last post! I see I've started a few posts along the way, but they're still languishing unpublished in my Typepad account.  To break the silence, I'm simply going to plug just a couple of business blogs which have recently had the Business Blog Angel treatment. Please drop in on them and leave your comments and encouragement - I know the owners will be chuffed to bits if you do. 

SueTrinder.com

Sue Trinder & Associates

Transforming communication at work.

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Diary of a Property Investor

The PropertyMadeSimple Blog by Peter Stanley

Everything you ever wanted to know about property investing.

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Are you business blogging yet?  Click here to discover why you should be...

Holiday Greetings from Business Blog Angel

Hi there... yes, it's me, Claire... Since Joanna joined the team a couple of months back, I've been pretty elusive here on the blog... well, she does such a brilliant job, doesn't she?... but it's that time again, so I've dropped in to say a huge, big Happy Holidays to all you wonderful readers, clients, followers and friends of Business Blog Angel. Your support is much appreciated and we look forward to working, networking, Facebooking, linking, blogging with you some more in 2008 :o) 

By way of a thank you, I've donned stripey tights and a silly hat and elfed myself - turn on your speakers and click on the image below to watch my elfin animated message! (Takes a little while to load, but I hope you'll think it's worth it!)

So... I'm spending today tying up loose ends on client projects and then it's 'feet up' until January 2nd. But just in case you find yourself with some spare time over the festive break and want to spruce up your blog ahead of the New Year, Joanna's compiled a really useful 'Best of 2007' post list from the BizBlogAngel archives: 

The top 10 things you should know before you [business] blog
Blogphobias - what worries you about business blogging
Business blogging - what and when to blog
Practical tips for business bloggers
Business blogging and SEO
How to create a blogroll - tips for when you're tearing your hair out
What do you do when you can't think what to blog about?

See you next year!

Warmest wishes,
Claire x

Online identity management: joining the Blog Angel Team

I had to smile when I saw that Claire was going to be offering help with online identity management – because I figure I could do with some of that myself just now as I establish my new identity as part of the Blog Angel Team.

Once Claire and I had agreed the fundamentals of the way we’d work together, with me doing some blogging here to help keep things up to date plus some surfing and researching to find out what you’re up to and the kind of things that it would be useful to share – well that immediately threw up some questions about how to establish my new identity – and some practicalities that I’m still working out how to crack.

Passive income online - how to work less and earn more with a membership site

Can you be in London for 9am on Friday 12th October? 9.15am on Friday 16th November?
 

I'd say that c.99% of my clients want to work less and earn more by creating passive income streams online. For many, this translates as affiliate links and Google AdSense on their Typepad blogs, websites and social media profiles. Others step it up a little and 'profit from their passion' by creating e-books and courses.  These strategies are great, but if you are really serious about generating passive income online then you might want to consider a membership site. Now... if you think that sounds like a lot of hard work, heartache and expense, then think again...

SubHub.com - experts in 'publishing for profit' provide a complete solution for designing, building and running your own money-making, content-driven membership website.  Having worked with SubHub on no less than 4 projects now, I have first-hand experience of  3 crucial key facts which make this recommendation a 'no-brainer':

Comment spam on blogs - how do you handle it?

Some months ago, the issue of malicious and/or spam commenting on blogs was raised by Linda Fox, a regular visitor to this blog. She told me the story of Kathy Sierra, a female blogger who received some pretty nasty spam comments - so nasty in fact that she cancelled all public engagements for fear of actual, physical attack and she hasn't posted on her blog since April 6th.

At the time, I have to admit to thinking that her reaction was emotional and extreme and - if like I do, you believe in the Universal Laws - her stance was simply creating more nastiness.  But then I was not standing in her shoes, and I'm not sure we can ever know for sure how we would react in a given situation until we are in it.  Then just a few days later, I started to get a few spam comments of my own.  Not of the same ilk, but personal, off-topic and, to my mind, slightly disturbing.  Some of the comments were made using the names of other regular commenters or people to which I had referred in previous posts, but I could see from the IP address that they were not the same people at all. 

So what to do about it?

Tonsil Trouble

Blimminy! What's up with my health at the moment?  No sooner am I back on top of things after my back issues than I am incapacitated with another health 'challenge'... this time Tonsilitis...

I had no idea Tonsilitis was so vicious!  I hadn't been that ill since the peak of my UC... I'm through the worst of it now though, just swollen glands to show for it, so it's just a question of rebuilding my strength and not 'over doing it' as I endeavour to catch up on the entire week I lost!

Today I'll be reorganizing my diary and letting clients know what's going on.

What 5 Things Do I Do Nearly Every Day To Be Successful

My good friend Judith Morgan has been blog tagged again. This time by her top Tech Coach Sandra de Freitas. Judith didn't actually tag me this time - i suspect this is because I didn't join in last time. Hey, I was moving house! Anyway, I've tagged myself this time and am ready to play...

My 5 things I do nearly every day to be successful are:

1. I eat with nutrition in mind. Eg. Breakfast is a low carb, high protein, high omega affair. Typically, fresh berries, mango or apple with a combination of nuts, seeds (particularly ground linseeds), spices and organic, natural bio yoghurt.  This sets me up beautifully for the day - keeps my blood sugar and energy levels steady and reminds me daily of the importance of loving myself and caring for my body accordingly.

Scurvy Elephants in the Garden?

Headed over to the Mouse and Trowel Awards voting area today to vote for my new friend Heather Gorringe's company Wiggly Wigglers. (That's Heather left, winning another award.)

Her team are up for Best Gardening Podcast - and so, so deserve it. Check it out here.  As I commented on Heather's blog today,

"I live in a city in a gardenless flat. I used to watch the beeb's Countryfile for my weekly fix of country culture fantasy. No more. The Wiggly Wigglers podcast has taken over - its utterly superb."

I run another blogsite for the Scurvy Elephants Society and it dawned on me that Heather is a perfect example... (What's a Scurvy Elephant?)  She is building such a strong brand - a genuine 'global micro-brand'  - and it seems to me to be a brand based on passion, values and authenticity. 

Blogging and podcasting is just so good for that - for being yourself, sharing your passion and your values, and in my opinion, this gives small business a huge advantage over big business in the social media marketing 'space'.  I'll be interviewing Heather v soon for the podcast so that particular issue is bound to come up. It'll be interesting to hear her take on it.

Are you a Scurvy Elephant? Join us here and let us share your Scurvy Story with the world.

Business Blog Angel at Corporate Podcasting Summit

A real quickie today...  I'm currently doing some really exciting work for new and existing clients, I have a new Podcast Production Company to develop, a new PC, a new (and quite wonderful) boyf and I took 2 days out to go (and speak) at the Corporate Podcasting Summit earlier this week. As a result, I'm struggling a bit with time management.

One of the things I wanted to achieve in moving to Wales, was to have more time for 'fun & recreation', rather than working into the small hours as I used to do as a single Londoner. This is totally doable, but typically, I burn the candle at both ends and then wonder why my productivity levels plummet. I must get more sleep!  Anyway...

Check this link... it will take you to a page where you can download a montage of one of the round table discussions at the European Corporate Podcasting Summit. Not sure I agree with everything that's being said there and will blog more about that over at www.PodcastProductionCo.com just as soon as I've cleared my backlog.