How to Create a Social Media Marketing Schedule

It's easy to get into social media for the wrong reasons and to post too much or too little. Here's how to balance out your social media efforts.

Why have you joined the social media media world?
Some social networkers are there for purely egotistical reasons. They don't want to engage in the conversation. They simply collect followers and friends in order to have bragging rights every time they collect another thousand. But connecting, following or befriending just anyone dilutes your influence and standing among those in your audience.

Others join because they feel they must. They spend a few days setting up their profiles and then abandon them when other tasks call.

The real motivation for any business social networker is connection: You should want to connect with like-minded people who can help your business and whose businesses you can assist. You want to add to the conversation, and not come across as desperate, spammy or a waste of time. If you develop a bad reputation in these communities, it will be hard to shake off.

But making such strong, real connections takes time, effort and thoughtfulness. If you never return to your profiles, you and your business will be forgotten (best case) or seen as unconnected, clueless or lazy (worst case). If you post too much, people might consider you a pest and stop following you.

Some social networkers are the worst of both worlds: They don’t post to their blog or text their friends or colleagues for weeks at a time. They don’t reply to messages sent to them, and the company site looks like it has gone out of business. Then, without any warning, they’re back . . . alive . . . and conversing. Was the organization’s social networking person out of the country? Did they suffer a grave illness? Nope. They were just distracted, disorganized, sidetracked or overworked. There’s no method to the company’s madness in being a social networking participant. Not committed. No strategy. Its influence will never be felt. The competition will soon fill the void.

Whether your company is a one-person business or a large organization, your commitment to social networking should be consistent, compelling and informative. The social networking community is a fragile, collaborative ecosystem. Make the commitment. People will follow a trail of dependable, exciting, instructive news. But once the trail goes cold, they’re gone and likely never to return.

Being a social media maniac isn’t the right persona either. You know who we’re talking about. These people can answer emails on their laptops with one hand while texting friends or colleagues on their iPhones with the other. They can’t be looked in the eye when talking because their heads are always looking down at some screen. This behavior may be seen as good technology gone bad.

The key is to strike a balance somewhere in the middle. Avoid becoming a social media ignorer or a social media maniac. Develop a social networking schedule that does not run your life but does keep you accountable. The goal should be consistency. Choose a schedule and stay the course for at least six months. As you find success, you can slowly grow your social networking persona.

The sample social networking agenda below can be used as a springboard for designing one that suits your schedule and the community channels you’ve joined.

Twice Daily in the Morning and Afternoon

• Check Twitter via a program like HootSuite. Respond when necessary. Follow the @replies that make sense.
• Check LinkedIn. Reply to emails and comments when appropriate.
• Scan Twitter followers for relevant conversations to join.
• Check your business's Facebook Page for questions and respond when necessary.
• Scan Google Alerts for brand and company mentions. Respond as appropriate.

Weekly or on Weekends

• Build Twitter Lists to better organize ongoing discussions and special interest groups. Set up saved searches in Hootsuite to find out if people are talking about you or your company.
• Scan LinkedIn questions from network connections and respond when appropriate.
• Catch up on LinkedIn discussions. Add to discussion when appropriate.
• Send LinkedIn invitations to connect with clients when beginning a new assignment.
• Ask for LinkedIn recommendation after successfully completing a project or engagement.
• Add new content to Facebook like videos or photos.
• Think of ways to repurpose this content and energy to reach a larger audience with the social networking gospel.
• Keep an eye open for new social networking venues, tools, and functionality that will make the social networking experience more enjoyable and easier to traverse.
• Identify new social networking influencers and build relationships where appropriate.

Through the Week

• Mondays: Schedule tweets through HootSuite to go out three times per day at regular intervals.
• Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: Join one hot trend conversation on Twitter, if appropriate, and add new content to Facebook (new items you are selling, photos, discounts and other promotions).
• Tuesdays and Thursdays: Respond to blog comments.
• Fridays: Check traffic at your blog or website.

Obviously, your daily social networking to-do list will be much different, given your available time and commitments. Just be sure to make the schedule livable. If it’s not working, change it. Keep making modifications until it works for you.
[ John D. Leavy/LinkedIn.com/in/JohnDLeavy ]

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How to Make Money Online: Step by Step Guide

Making money through the Internet is not that hard.  In fact, there might be a hundred and one ways for you to choose from.  With just a laptop and a reliable Web connection, you are on your way to online money making.

First and foremost you have to set up a PayPal account as most clients use Paypal in order to send in their payment for your services.  Just go to http://www.paypal.com if you want to sign up.  You just need to select your account type and fill out the necessary information.  The system will then have you confirm your email address as well as some other information and in the end, you will get your own Pay Pal account.

As soon as you have a PayPal account then you are surely ready to think about which online money making “scheme” would you be interested in.

Below are examples of great ways to setting up Your first site and make money online :

Find/Buy a Domain Name
Most of the time succeeding in the online industry would be for you to get the right domain name.  You may have a domain search online and have the choice of whether you would just be working locally or would be using the global Web.  Searching by category would also help you get ahead of your competitors.  Having free domain alerts would also serve as your reminders or trackers in terms of newer inventory.  Check out sites such as Go Daddy and Dotster for your domain name needs.

Buy Web Hosting
Now that you have a domain name, it is time for you to learn about web hosting.  A web host can be referred to as your service provider that is responsible for storing your site on the computer that should be connected to the World Wide Web.  This is of course to make sure that visitors are able to see and go to your web site.  Your web host has to have a fast speed in terms of Internet connection and should also have a lot of sites to be found on many servers.  Think of your web host as your leaser from which you rent out a space to have a website on the Web.

Buying a web host would ensure that visitors, when they type the name of your web site, would be able to access it.  You just need to decide on the name you want and then inform your web host and when the name you chose is available, your web host will make sure that the space they set up for you will automatically direct your visitors (the bones who typed your site’s name in the URL) into your site.

Design your Website or Buy a Template
Once you have started on building your site, the next important thing you would have to look into would be designing your web site.  This step takes time though.  Good thing there are the so called pre-designed templates which you can buy or even get for free.  There are varied pre-designed templates over the Web that would give your site a professional look and at the same time make your site attractive.  Of course, it will be best to choose a style or design that will reflect your business, your likes, etc.  If you are just a newbie webmaster, then a pre-designed template is the solution.

Add Unique Content
One of the most popular ways of making online profit would be adding unique content to your site.  For the reference of newbie web masters, unique content is the information found in your site alone free from plagiarism and that content would determine the spot that your site will hold in terms of visibility, traffic, etc.  Remember that your clients will pay you more if your site’s content will boost traffic, visibility, and a lot more.

Having unique content is really beneficial.  The content your website has, once unique, is said to attract more visitors.  True, a person searching for information on Fashion would get a list of hundreds of websites that have information on Fashion but if a site’s content is unique more people would decide to click on that site’s link as compared to the others.

One good way of developing unique content would be to create lists that would give you plus points to your visitors.  Bear in mind too that more information would lure your visitors to stay longer, frequent your site for information, give their contributions to your site, and of course, refer other people to your site.  The trick is also to keep on adding unique content into your website regularly to make your visitors come back again and again.

Make Money with an Affiliate Program
Affiliate marketing is one more way to make money online.  Joining an affiliate program would mean that you as a web site owner would just need to place either an ad in your site or the so called linking code which your visitors can see and then click on for them to be taken immediately into your client’s site.  More traffic brought into your client’s site and also the more sign ups or purchases that you bring in would mean a greater amount of profit for you.

There are a lot of affiliate programs you can find just by searching on the Internet.  You just have to apply online if you are interested in joining and then wait for approval.  An approved application would mean that you get an HTML code which you just have to cut and paste into your web site.  This would then link a client’s site into your site and that means you can now start earning.

Other Ways to Make Money Online
Having an online shop has also been the trend nowadays also because of the fact that you do not need to hire employees, no rent needed, etc.  Sites like Multiply, eBay, to name a few do permit their members to sell their stuff or auction off items freely or at a very minute cost.  It is surely quite easy to have an online store; just make sure that your merchandise would be those that have a high demand for people to continuously buy from your shop.

Creating your own Blog is also a good way to make money online.  The more traffic would mean more profit and of course the fact that you keep more people interested in your client’s services or products would place more cash into your own pocket.  Great ways to increase your blog’s traffic would be through search engine optimization, press releases, etc.

With research, determination, as well as the necessary resources, making money online is not that so difficult.

Learn more about How To Create Online Magazine

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Work from Home Opportunities

At Home with Working Moms and Dads There are instances when parents need to stay home to take care of the children. This is one reason why a lot of parents are quitting their job to devote their time for the well being of their families.

Staying at home doesn’t mean that parents will not be working. There are a lot of options to choose from so dads and moms who need to stay home can still help with the household budget.

Work from Home Opportunities for Parents
In order to get that extra cash, there are a lot of home based businesses that parents can look into:

• Affiliate Marketing: This is one of the most lucrative businesses the moms and dads can get into. All you need to have is a computer. Internet and your own website. Affiliate marketing is like having an online billboard and enticing online users to click the banners. The more clicks the more money that will come in to your website. Affiliate marketing involves developing a particular topic in your website so readers will be interested to click on the other links or ads that you have posted on your page.

• eBay: This is another great work from home where you can market things on the web. Parents can start with the things at home that the family don’t need anymore. This gets rid of clutter at the same time will earn you extra dollars. All you have to do is sign up and start selling. You must build a good reputation as a seller so people will trust you and will be confident to buy goods that you offer online.

• Blogging: Making money through blogging is easy if you know what to do. First you must have a blog where you write about things that you love. Develop these topics and generate traffic to your blog. Once you have people visiting your blog, you can start making money by using affiliate programs. Basically, put ads on your blog and pay you on a per click or per purchase scheme.

• Article Writing: If you are a mom or dad that can write a few hundred word articles per day then this is one good opportunity for you. This is collaborating with online publishers or editors who need help producing web content. The topics and fees may vary depending on the difficulty of the assignment. There are websites that you can visit so you can get projects to start with. It is also very essential to develop your network so you can get more projects that pay better.

• Surveys and Mystery Shopping: If you love to shop, ask or answer questions, then this maybe the job for you. A lot of companies resort to mystery shopping to check the quality of the service. They want to ensure that their employees are properly doing their jobs and giving quality service to their clients. Surveys on the other hand provide feedback from the end users end. Surveys basically pay you for your thought so they can improve their product or develop new ones. Paid surveys and mystery shopping are all over the internet. All you have to do is register. Remember companies who need this service will not ask fees from you, but instead will pay you for your feedback.

Home based jobs for moms and dads are gaining popularity as parents need more time with their families and at the same time earning to support the needs of the household.

Learn more about Home Businesses and Make Money Online !

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How Much Insulin Do You Need?

If you have type 2 diabetes and your doctor thinks it might be a good time to start insulin therapy, there are two important factors to consider: How much insulin do you need to take? When do you need to take it? And both are very personal.

"You can't paint everyone with type 2 diabetes with the same brush," says Mark Feinglos, MD, division chief of endocrinology, metabolism, and nutrition at the Duke University School of Medicine, in Durham, N.C. "You need to tailor the regimen to an individual's needs."

A person with type 2 diabetes might start off on half a unit of insulin per kilogram of body weight per day, especially if there is not much known about the nature of his or her diabetes. Still, it is not unusual to need more like 1 unit, says Dr. Feinglos. (One unit per kilogram would be 68 units per day for someone who weighs 150 pounds, which is about 68 kilograms).

A lot depends on your specific health situation. People with type 2 diabetes suffer from insulin resistance, a situation in which the body loses its ability to use the hormone properly. Early in the course of the disease, the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas respond to insulin resistance by churning out even more of the hormone. Over time, though, insulin production declines.

Taking insulin can help you overcome the body's insulin resistance, though many factors can affect your dosage. If your body is still sensitive to insulin but the pancreas is no longer making much insulin, for example, Dr. Feinglos says that you would require less insulin than someone who is really resistant to insulin.

"But the most important issue is not necessarily how much you need to take," he adds. "Rather, it's the timing of what you to take. Timing is everything."

Source :  Lynne Peeples [Health Integrated Solutions]

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Why Insulin Makes Sense for People With Type 2 Diabetes

If you have type 2 diabetes, you have more options to control blood sugar than ever before, including no less than six classes of oral medication and an injectable drug based on lizard venom, Byetta.

Still, just because one certain drug—insulin—has been around for nearly a century doesn't mean that it should be considered as less useful or less important than other "more modern" medications. In fact, insulin's tried-and-true safety record and ironclad ability to lower blood sugar in all patients make some doctors more likely to recommend it sooner rather than later in some people with type 2 diabetes.

"Insulin is an appropriate choice at any point," says John Buse, MD, PhD, director of the Diabetes Care Center at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, in Chapel Hill. "You can start it as the first therapy for diabetes. In some countries, such as Germany, many doctors advocate that as the best approach.

"Insulin therapy has gotten easier over the years, making the drug less painful and simple to use than in the past.

But even if this therapy doesn't seem suitable for you right now, don't be afraid to use it if your doctor thinks it can help control your blood sugar in the future. Elevated blood sugar basically acts as a poison in the body, so if other treatments aren't working, you'll need to do whatever it takes to get it into the safe zone.

Most fears about insulin are unwarranted, or at least outdated, says Dr. Buse.

Source : Health Integrated Solutions

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