If you have ever wanted to use your Twitter or Facebook account for good things then MassiveGood.org may be something that you can get involved with. We were recently made aware of the launch and wanted to do our part in order to help spread the news. There are so many ways to get involved and one of those is through blogging and raising awareness. There are other simple ways in which to get involved by simple shopping through one of their travel partners and look for the Click MassiveGood logo and just click. We have included a short video at the end of this post in order to share what they are involved with. There are some big names that are getting involved in this movement and now you have a chance to make a difference through micro-contributions and bring awareness and help to some of the preventable deaths that take place across the world.

MASSIVEGOOD uses the power of social media to help stop the millions of preventable deaths from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and increase maternal and child health in the developing world.
Social networks have revolutionized how we interact. But can they raise awareness and increase funding for some of the most pressing global health issues in the 21st century?

MASSIVEGOOD does both, by creating a worldwide community based on small individual acts of giving. MASSIVEGOOD lets you make a $2 micro-contribution towards major global health causes every time you buy a plane ticket, reserve a hotel room or rent a car.

Available in the USA since early 2010, MASSIVEGOOD allows travelers to make their trip really meaningful and connect with fellow contributors on this website, a social network for those committed to building a healthier world. To ensure that all travelers can make a difference, leaders in the travel and tourism industry have joined with global health organizations to support MASSIVEGOOD in an impressive private-public coalition.

It’s an easy way to do good and connect with others that are doing the same – just click MASSIVEGOOD!

If you don’t have the best eyes in the world or just don’t see as well as you use to; now might be a good time to have your eyes checked out. There is a great article that we had a chance to read at the Examiner where Eric one of the contributors writes of his first hand experience with Zenni Optical. If you know your eyes are bad and you’re already wearing glasses, I know of a great place you can get your next pair. Great Discovery: $ 8 Zenni Optical Rx eyeglasses and other glasses like these can be found at Zenni Optical. They offer some great deals on prescription glasses and at a great price too!

It’s easy to find stylish prescription glasses online now!

Zenni Optical offers a huge selection on many different types of glasses. You will be able to find $8 eyeglasses, $9.95 eyeglasses, $12.95 eyeglasses and $15.95 eyeglasses; so you have a choice in the price and they’re all cheap! They also have glasses for $19 in metal, plastic or acetate. A wide assortment of frames is available and you can find rimless frames, full or half rim frames. They even have the sunglasses you can clip on to your existing prescription glasses, so you don’t have to fight the sun in your stylish glasses. You will definitely want to check out the dozens of sunshade models they have in stock. Be sure to save Zenni Optical to your favorites so you won’t forget where they’re, the next time you’re looking for stylish prescription glasses!

There are many reasons to give a watch either for a birthday, anniversary, or wedding gift. One long forgotten tradition that I would love to see come back is receiving a watch for milestone events at work. I remember my father had a great looking Timex with a date and special inscription on the back that noted the anniversary date. This is something that he has kept all these years. I have always been passionate about having a great time piece to keep me on schedule. I am always looking for the next look in watches and have had a variety of watches from Seiko Automatic Watches to Swiss Army. The one thing I love is the mechanical time pieces as I have always had great luck and they seem to be more precise and less maintenance. The more features that a watch the less likely I am to purchase since I am only need of the time and date at a glance. My Seiko watch that I have now has been great and durable. I use it for work while in my suit and then wear it for casual outings. Even when I forgot to take it off when out in the yard it is easy to clean even though it has taken some abuse.

At Bluedial.com they offer a huge range of watches and time pieces with 100% satisfaction for your purchases. This is great for shoppers like me who want a specific feel and look and want to be assured that I am not stuck with my purchase in the event the watch does not meet my expectations. The following Seiko Titanium is great because you can wear it both for dress and casual wear and provides a great look for whatever the occasion. So keep in mind those college grads or Fathers Day is just a month and half away for some great gift ideas.

Content is what drives the internet and many Web 2.0 companies are looking to obtain new and fresh content. Even the big cable companies like Comcast Cable are going to the web to find videos to fill channels for their viewers. We have started to find ways to syndicate content to increase our audience and the concept is slowly working. As we create and bring in more unique content we build our customer base and then they in turn bring in additional visitors. This is simply done by them linking to our feeds on their sites and then more people are exposed to our writings. I have always been a bug believer in having great content and even more so video content to bring value to your readers. If you can be seen as a great resource to get up to the date information all in one place then you will be of value to your customers. If not you will join the ranks of the other billion or so websites out there.

Many companies are now working with Digital Marketing experts like Fusion Unlimited in order to expand their reach and brand awareness. We have seen more and more companies linking into the video content and reaching out to bloggers to embed this content in their blogs. You can choose from a variety of topics and the videos are easy to install. Plus the fact that you have the opportunity to make money via advertising share, CPM start at $1. What’s great about this content is that it can freely redistributed or “Mashed”. This in turns takes on a viral marketing effect and you are compensated for the additional impressions that the videos are generating. Plus there are loyalty programs where members can earn additional prizes like digital cameras and even cars.

Infomercials are the worst idea ever and no way would they work in a million gazillion years, but you still see them around and on just about every channel. The reason infomercials are seen on tv is really simple and that is because they work! We all know just how fake they are and the bad actors they get to star in these lousy 30 minute ads; yet the positive results keep coming in. You must understand this in marketing and it doesn’t matter if it sounds like a good idea or not, it’s the numbers that you go by and we all know that the numbers never lie! So keep that MIND OPEN and put that EFFORT in and things will begin to look up for you. Marketers are using Brain training techniques in order to help you remember through all the clutter their brand and message.

Now I covered the M and O and the E has been taken care of too and that leaves the V to go. The V is for VERSATILITY. You always want to be in a position to move in a new direction and don’t get caught with all of your eggs in one basket. You might miss out on a great opportunity if you get tunnel vision for just 1 or 2 things online. Since your keeping an OPEN MIND; you might as well be VERSATILE enough to take advantage of any new opportunities or ideas that might present their self to you. You could be having success right now with your online earnings and maybe the money you make from the computer pays 1 or 2 of your bills. If you’re not willing to change directions, you might be missing out on the type of money, that you could quit your current job. So it’s great you don’t have to spend money from your paycheck because your online earnings pay the car payment. Just think how nice it would be if your online earnings could pay all the bills and give you spending money too! I think most people would agree if they could have all their current bills being paid off and a little extra spending money on the side, this would be called success. So always be prepared to jump at a new way to earn money online and you can achieve this by being VERSATILE.

MOVE = Mind Open + Versatile + Effort

or

M = Multiple Streams of Income

O = Open Minded to New Ideas

V = Versatility for New Ways to Market or Earn Money

E = Effort Needed Daily

If you are looking to buy a home within the next 6 months you may want to look a little harder. The Real Estate Bailout that has been put in place as a means to stimulate the economy will be ending at the end of April. It simply provides up to a $8000 tax credit towards the purchase of a home for qualified home buyers. Some of those requirements can be found in the following video but here are a few highlights:
» First time home buyers or those that have not owned a home in the last three years can receive up to $8K
» The contract must be signed by April 30 and closed by June 30 you can receive the tax credit
» There is an upper limit on the home purchased of $800,000

This tax credit has already added an estimated $22 billion to the economy and it can have a positive impact on the psychological appeal that houses are selling again and give confidence to the overall consumer. The implosion of the mortgage and housing market is what has lead us to the uncertain economic times. So now that you are able to receive a tax credit and enjoy some of the lowest interest rates in over 40 years get out there and find your dream home.

If you are like many Americans watching last nights State of the Union Address and wondering how all the talk will translate into more jobs you are not alone. Many Americans are looking to control their own destiny by going back to college, or looking to the internet to help them create their own source of income. I would caution you though that there are companies out there that may promise rags to riches fortune if you purchase their system only to find out that you are billed for more money and never see any results. One of the avenues that can help you start out slow and grow your business while you are in your current position is selling items on eBay or other auction sites. Many of the big sellers that are doing well have found a few wholesale vendors that they deal with and then resell those items online for a profit. It is actually quite simple and very easy to find wholesale sunglasses, wholesale clothing, and wholesale electronics where you can get great deals on these items and then resell them through online auction sites. I would recommend start small and find a niche that you can compete in by watching online auctions and doing some simple searches for keywords of products you are trying to sell and slowly grow your business. Good luck in 2010.

I have had the opportunity of having the one of the first iPhones and then upgrading to the most current version the 3GS. I would not trade it for any other simply because of the simplicity and the 100,000 plus apps that you can use to make your personal and work life much easier. When I first received the iPhone our company was just rolling out the Blackberrys because of its capabilities to easily integrate with Microsoft Exchange on a secure platform. As the popularity of the iPhone grew many developers and Apple got on board to offer iphone, hosted exchange that would enable large enterprises and individual to experience the same functionality that they had come to love with their Blackberry’s. While getting email and calendar synchs on a more stable platform was needed, the iPhone continued to dominate the social media world.
I have used it more for these applications and keeping in touch with my co-workers and friends through apps that help me organize my twitter and facebook accounts. I have come to realize that having the ability to having my email,calenders and contacts updated in real time while I am away from the office or home is just as important. There is even a great tool from company called Cortado that allows you to test out their iPhone hosted exchange solution for free by going to www.cortado.mobi/exchangeforiphone. Allowing for free 30 day trial and step by step instructions that allow you to set this from a PC or MAC based system is great and simple even for the busiest of users. With the hosted exchange you can use your existing e-mail address which is like porting over your cell phone number. Everyone can stay in touch with you and existing organization can use their native structure to help role out this new platform and give their mobile employees one of the easiest phone/PDA/internet devices on the planet.

In the world of business having the ability to stay in touch with your customers can be a challenge. Some offer Toll free numbers that allow you to speak with someone live. With all the social media sites and blogs that are available for customers to read and gain information large organizations need to have resources and expertise in the ability to drive content through these various channels in order to create or maintain brand awareness. There is a new company that can help you brand your company through 800 Numbers while helping charity at the same time. At charity800.com they donate 1/2 cent for each minute from each call to the charity of choice for the business. They offer a full array of high featured phone options while allowing you to market you brand and let your customers know that for every call they can help various charities. This just enables you to keep your company and brand localized with more control. No company wants to their image or brand to be in the hands of a total stranger that just decided to post something on their Facebook account or created a snappy YouTube videos that all of a sudden goes viral.

The value customer relationship management is critical to any business and having the right content management system software in place that is simple to understand by your reps is even more critical. Most sales people are resistant to change if they cannot see the value in how it will make them more effective. Once you have the content in place then you will then need to have the tools in place to interface with your customers that are looking for this content. Customer relationship management software today has come a long way since I first started in copier sales. I have since moved onto another industry where they use a very sophisticated CRM tool which offers an immense of data and integration. At one company called charity800.com they can offer a full range of PBX solutions while giving their customers Call Tracking Numbers that can be used to understand where and when your calls are being received.

Here are some of the benefits of charity800:

• No Double Billing.

• Instant Activation

• Month to Month. No Commitments

• Real-time call logs
• Old Fashioned Customer Service

I have found though that those reps that can take a few pieces of that tool and interface more effectively and target their customers are the ones who excel. Being able to understand the information you have to develop strategies and tactics while you are in the field is a powerful tool. And now that most of that data can been seen on the fly without having to wait for month end reports, we are able to tailor or selling efforts and create better value for the customer and the company.

I love all the different ways to market online and they are several ways to do it. I’m searching for the best way to go about it, please let me know what has been the best way for you. Anyone that has an effective marketing strategy can really do well with online programs that pay money like affiliate programs and other things. Small businesses are learning the great benefits from advertising online these days. Even if you are marketing soccer shoes or Freestyle test strips there are various social networks and viral advertising methods you can use to reach your costumer. The number of consumers and shoppers grow each day that rely on their computers to find them products and services. So it can be very beneficial to finding out the best ways to market online.

Blogs have really shot up the charts and they are gaining popularity for people looking to promote online. I think traffic exchanges are a good way to drive traffic to your websites and this can help with search engine rankings. Being ranked high on the search engines is the best way to find your target customers, because these are the people searching for your specific product or service. Forums that have chat and message areas are another way people can take advantage of advertising space on the Net. I see users in chat rooms all the time with a link in their signatures. So for every post they start or reply to, they are leaving a trail or link back to their website. Paid to click sites are a good way to get unique visitors or traffic to your sites and I have used them from time to time. I do find lots of places you can advertise for free or really cheap, so online advertising really isn’t that costly right now. Let me know your secrets or tricks to marketing online and what avenues have you taken that led to great results?

For those that are looking to market something online or if you have some service or product to promote, I strongly encourage you to make friends online. You don’t have to come up with all the great ideas on your own, when it comes to succeeding online. You want to keep an open mind and listen to what others say about online marketing. I have learned so much from my online friends and I hope to learn even more from them in the future.

A social networking website can help you achieve this too. We have been online and using Facebook, Twitter, and FriendFeed to converse with other marketers and even have started playing some of the online games that are offered like at Facebook. You can earn chips or buy facebook poker chips online through the approved sellers like Zynga, or I just found out by logging in you can send your friends free chips. The interaction is great and it is a great way to work and play while surfing the social networking community. If you are searching for new connections just do a search engine search for the social networking websites that exits out there today. A lot of new ones have come out in the last year or so and they have huge membership bases and these are people wanting to make online contacts.

Open up a new stream of marketing today and search for more online friends. Bounce ideas and suggestions off one another and share all your marketing secrets with your new friends. You will find that your new online friends are one of the best marketing tools that you could have ever dreamed about. Just remember that you don’t know everything and regardless of how many years of experience you have, you can learn something from a newbie just as easy as a professional online marketer, if you will leave your egos at the door and try to learn from each person you meet!

If you’re just getting started with a new business or your ready to make the next step with your small business, you can count on social marketing  to help. They can connect you with friends in the same area of business, allow you to exchange ideas and thoughts in a forum setting and they also provide a way that you can submit business articles on a lot of different topics. This can be an effective way to reach out with others online and learn valuable knowledge that will push your small business to the next level.There are even construction and service companies that specialize in everything from electrical to waterproofing basement projects that are using social media to attract new customers and keep their current customers up to date on their specials. I think we all could use help with marketing online better and network solutions can provide you with the tools and knowledge to be a more effective marketer online.

I think this is the biggest way they could help out my small business concerns I have for my online efforts. If you think your small business could use help with online marketing, you could benefit too from the services provided from social media.They even have new ways to help service companies to search key words in conversations within twitter and then you can send a tweet around that specific topic. It is very natural and provides a simple solution to help you engage a whole new audience and you can even geo-target to make it relevant to your market.  One or two new strategies or tactics in the way we conduct our business online can make a big difference. Don’t wait for things to fall in your lap and go out and get the knowledge needed to move your business ahead in the future.

If you are starting your website or blog, why not use your email to help build traffic and brand your website. We use traffexone@comcast.net and rogersemall@comcast.net. We place a signature in that is automatically sent out to all those we communicate with. So whether is is freinds, family, or customers they all know what we have to offer. And the best part is when you send along some great news, or the joke of the day, your email is attached and more and more see your sites. See the power. Most email providers allow you to set up a default signature that can be sent with all emails. So check it out and make your email a part of your online branding.

Play this interactive game that mimicks the Ballon Boy Hoax.

heyzap.com – embed games

heyzap.com – embed games



heyzap.com – embed games

What is Ping.FM Ping.fm says, “simple service that makes updating your social networks a snap.”

We have recently started to use ping.fm in order to help broadcast our microblogs across various networks. They allow you to type in messages just as you would in Twitter with more characters and then it will go out and update your various social media websites like the ones that are listed below. We have even added a ping.fm widget that will update as we become more vocal through ping. For bloggers this is a great tool if you are looking for ways to drive traffic to your site through various high traffic sites and also help in your branding of your website.

Here are a few of the ping.fm sites that it will ping.

There are three types of Communication in social media:

1) How to Broadcast.

This is where you broadcast a message out to your followers and add value to their life as well as update your followers about new blog posts, podcasts, interesting sites and blogs you have run across, and whatever else you want to broadcast. This is a ping.fm specialty- BROADCAST.

2) Start the Conversation.

This is where you actually hold a back and forth conversation with people on your social sites. It is a 140 character conversation that could go on for a while. We were in a conversation about the various microblogging sites that went on for over three days and involved over 200 updates and the traffic was amazing..

3) Create Collaboration.

This is where more than one person is communicating in one message. It could be two, three, four people that are collaborating on a project that all are part of the message and efforts. This is how many projects are done online through a “joint single message.”

what do you need to do now:

1) Go and register at each of the social networking sites:

While it depends on your ultimate outcome you might as well register for all of them to get started and then you can scale back once you identify your target audience
2) Next you will want to test out each site to make sure that you have configured everything correctly.

This is critical as to make sure you have registered correctly on each site.

3) Start adding friends and following people in order to enhance your breadth and depth of readers.

Also, there are applications that ping now has for use, that will help you to create a more useful and powerful usage for the services it offers. What are some of them?

All of these applications make using ping so much easier, including the mobile device for the iPhone and multiple site applications. You can improve your time and message with just one click of the button.

The rising social media power of ping.fm to help your branding and messaging efforts is amazing. You will find other sites out there that offer similar services like socialthing.com (currently in beta testing) and hellotxt.com but be careful in only choosing one as you could get in trouble for spamming some of your accounts. In our opinion Ping.FM appears to have the market lead and offer the most available social media sites on the web.