A video, some Q&A and you’re on your way!

Ping it, baby!

Just ping it!

First I want you to watch this video, where I share with you all why it’s important to ping. Here’s the link… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdzk0EfRhl0

And next, I’m going to do a bit of a Q&A with a Facebook friend Andrew Mazer who wanted to know how to maximize his ping’ing & flickr experience.

(Andrew) Q: Rob, are there any sites you WOULDN’T submit to on the ping.fm list? How did YOU choose the sites you wanted to post?

(Rob) A: Yes!

First I stick with the high response sites to post to (twitter, facebook, buzz, linkedin & plaxo)

Then I’ll add in a secondary tier (myspace, facebook fan pages, tumblr, plurk & friend feed)

I don’t waste my time on all the rest as the time to set up versus getting response from subscribers is low. I keep it to about 10 sites, it’s easier to monitor. I get on my main 3 sites (facebook, linkedin & twitter) everyday -all the rest I check maybe once a week.

Q: I set it up this morning and made a post. Included twitter, fb, jaiku, blogger but I didn’t see any of my posts. Do they show up later? I appreciate your tips and your replies.

A: Slight time delay! Your posts should appear soon! The system is designed to cycle posts asap, but sometimes there is a delay of several hours due to traffic to the site.

Q: Do tagged photos on flickr have any seo to your knowledge?

A: They do if you are searching for photo’s – flickr due to their high submission (of subscribers photo’s) is well liked by search engines…however unless you are specifically searching for photos (which most do not) your photo may end up not being seen.

There ya go!

Until Next Time,

“Live With Passion!”

Rob Anspach

P.P.S. Did you see it? If not, check out our Web Success special episode on

 

Slaying the Zombies!

Two years ago, my life was flipped upside down!

I just didn’t know what to make of it.

My marriage, my kids, my relationships with my friends all changed.

It seemed that normal conversations were being replaced. Yep, things were changing!

At first, I thought it was a fad. Then, I wondered when it would go away.

What I’m talking about feels like a disease, but it isn’t!

Although you’d think with so many people involved it would be an epidemic.

If a disease were to hit 500 million people it would be labeled a pandemic and steps would be taken to subdue and conquer it.

Think Alice in the Resident Evil movies! A virus turns people into zombies and Alice is the heroine who goes on a quest to destroy the zombies while rescuing the normal humans not infected yet.

We are not zombies! But we do hunger… for humans!

What is it you ask?

It’s our need to socialize online.

I was on Plaxo and MySpace when they were considered cool, then I gravitated to LinkedIn and Twitter. But these pale in comparison to the power that Facebook as on society.

Facebook has taken over!

It’s now ingrained in society so deep that people don’t know how to change.

Before this phenomenon occurred people were content…

Now, they are fixated!

People are checking in and engaging in virtual conversations, playing games, posting pics, sharing information, and spying on each other…it’s voyeurism gone wild!

The media uses Facebook as a resource for their stories. Defense attornies are now armed with new ways to discredit their opponents clients. Conversations are centered on what happens on Facebook. Lives are changed!

To be honest I have learned to deprogram myself from the chatter.

I check my “wall” in the morning and again in the evening and I’m trying to ween that down to once a day.

Yeah right Rob… you seem to be front and center to all the action!

It does seem that way doesn’t it?

My posts do appear every few hours.

Yet, I don’t post them when they appear!

What?

I have learned to take back my time and refocus my energies and my passions on real world human things… like vacations, hiking, exercising, coaching, marketing, spending time with my kids and I could go on.

I program my posts to go out when I want them to… and where I want them to!

I use Facebook (and all other social media) as a tool to market to the masses.

It’s like my mom used to say to me years ago, “Stop playing with the Atari, and go out and enjoy the day!”

Disengage from the virtual world and go out and enjoy the real world!

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

P.S. Learn to be like Alice and slay the time wasting social media zombies! Learn to refocus and take back control of your day!

Disruptive Technology!

Thought I’d keep this short and sweet today!

I was watching a video the other day that stated we are 10 years into a 25 year cycle of disruptive technology. Yes, disruptive.

Think about it, social media is disruptive!

It’s disruptive because it forces us to do things we didn’t used to do and we do them for no other reason than that of getting people to react. Yep, to react!

All of our personal thoughts, likes, friends, places we go and yes, even our marketing are now centralized across the social media spectrum.

Every post we put on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Plaxo and all other social media sites (and even our blogs) is really nothing more than a message that causes a reaction in the reader and gets them to take action. Click a link, respond or disregard!

The video went on to say, it’s during this cycle that wealth generating potential is unlimited! And, how we position and market ourselves is incredibly important.

How will you position yourself to generate wealth?

How will you be successful?

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

P.S. “The great successful men of the world have used their imagination, they think ahead and create their mental picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building – steadily building.” – Robert Collier

P.P.S. Coming Soon… Success Secrets TV – the online show dedicated to helping entrepreneurs stay successful.

Where do I sign up?

I just returned from a great vacation at the beach.

The cool thing was, it looked like I was was in front of my computer posting to social media the whole time. Nobody knew I was away.

Yeah, I know… it was wrong of me to trick you in such a dastardly way. But hey, even us marketing maniacs need a break now and then. So, I apologize if I tricked you. Although, it was so much fun…muwhahaha!

If you must I know I was in Dewey Beach enjoying the fun, sun, surf, sand and way too much food. I think next year I might have to take the whole summer off.

Well, I wasn’t without my iPhone!

I stilled checked voicemails, emails and occassionally poked my eyes into Facebook and Linkedin a few times to see what was happening.

One gentleman called me and couldn’t believe I wasn’t actually posting “live”, that everything that was appearing on my social media sites had been preprogrammed to go out at specific times.

I carefully explained to him that although I would love to be in front of my computer or tied to checking every post via my cell, it just wasn’t feasible and that it would hamper my ability to help my clients. And, that by having my posts staggered throughout the day I could live my life and focus on helping my clients make money.

“Where do I sign up?”…was his reply!

He had suffered frustrations from trying to post to every social platform out there, he was tired and needed a break. He just wanted to focus on what he knew best…and social media wasn’t it.

He realized that I could probably teach him how to do it, but that it would require time and he really didn’t want to come up with material for content, nor be distracted with trying to learn something new.

So as I write this, I’m also researching, writing and jotting down information to turn into brilliant, money-making, attention-grabbing posts for him!

How ’bout you?

Do you want to put your social media experience into overdrive? Are your frustrated with content creation? Maybe, you’re annoyed that you’re spending too much time glued to the computer and not enough time focusing on making money! Or, maybe, you just need a break away from knowing what’s going on with everyone on your social sites.

Yep, I can help ya!

Social media is rapidly changing the landscape of the internet are you prepared?

Facebook has surpassed Google in traffic. Yep, social media has trumped the world’s greatest search engine. Over 500 million users are actively engaged on Facebook!

Are you ready?

I am!

If you want to improve your social media experience, without all the headaches, without the frustrations, without all the annoyances or without all the sweat equity lost coming up with content and hours of posting every day… then you owe it to yourself to change.

If its frustrating, annoying, or a waste of time why do you do it?

Learn to change the rules!

Learn to simplify your life!

Click here to start the process!

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

P.S. I’m going to try raise $40,000 in 30 days, click here to learn more and how you can help. Tell your friends! The more people that can help the better chance this will succeed.

It wasn’t an affair…really!

At first it was like a passing fancy…then it escalated!

Oh, boy! I was hit hard.

I couldn’t get enough.

It had gotten so bad even my wife questioned if I was having an affair!

I wasn’t! But, it seemed that way to her, and I’m sure others thought that as well.

I really wasn’t! Well, maybe I was! Just not that way you think.

It wasn’t any one person. Nope! It was a whole group of them.

What? Huh!

Yeah, that’s what most say when I tell them. Followed by “sicko”, “nutjob”, and some other words I’d rather not say. Until, I shared with them what really was going on!

I blame it on social media. Yep, first Plaxo, then MySpace, then LinkedIn, Facebook,Twitter and some I left at the proverbial curbside and have long forgotten.

My need to socially interact online was consuming up my daytime and stealing me away from my loved ones at night. I was going from one social site to another posting about what, I couldn’t even fathom a guess any more. I’m hoping it was the purpose of promotion and nothing else.

Times have changed and I realize the errors of my ways.

Sort of like an intervention. When all your loved ones approach you and tell you, “you have a problem and we are here to help you through it”!

Yes, I’m still on social media…but I’ve found a way to balance my time.

For those of you that are like I was… fully engulfed! You might find what I’m about to say a bit disheartening, maybe frightening…but your family and friends will be glad to see you again.

Limit your time! Or as I like to call it “my exposure”!

If you wish to stay on social media, hey, I’m all for it…I still do it…but, I do it responsibly now!

I limit my time to 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening. No more!

To free up my time, I put all my posts on autopilot! I preprogram my posts to go out at selected times of the day and night and make it look like I’m still there for my social buddies.

But, I’m not! Nope, I might be at dinner with my wife, or at a movie with my kids or even on vacation at the beach. It’s a case of being in 2 places at once. The great fake out.

Hey, I’m not trying to deceive anyone…just trying to maximize my time and get the most out of life. Life’s to short to spend it in the virtual world…get out there and have fun.

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. Yesterday I launched my fund raising campaign ($40,000 in 30 days), click on my weblink above to learn more and how you can help. Tell your friends! The more people that can help the better chance this will succeed.

Where’s your marketing plan?

 I was looking over my calendar and realized the month is almost over! Eeh gads, I thought… I don’t have my marketing plan for the next month done yet.

 

  This is not good… I’m usually on top of things.

 

  How did I let this get by me?

 

  Into marketing mode I go…

  (sort of like panic mode with adrenaline, but not quite near chaos mode)

 

  Okay… newsletters…check!

   Postcards…check!

   Thank you cards…check!

   Reminder cards…check!

   Social Media Campaign…facebook, twitter, linkedin…yep, yep and yep!

   WordPress blog…planned out!

   Press releases…ready to go!

   Newsletters…shoot not ready…need to finish!

   Newspaper ads…scheduled!

   Radio…not this month!

   Internet ads…scheduled!

   Articles written for industry magazines…done and scheduled!

   Direct response mailers…ready!

   …and list continues…

 

  In any given month I have about 2 dozen different ways of attracting new and existing clients to call me. Some ways are fine tuned to maximize the extraction of dollars where others are geared to just remind customers we are still here to help them.

 

  Usually I plan several months out…and know exactly when and how a piece is going to be run. I know who that piece is targeted to and have down to a science what I can expect my return on investment to be.

 

  What’s in your marketing plan?

 

  Do you even have one?

 

  If you don’t, well you’re like 99% of most small businesses. No plan, no course of action…no nothing!

 

  Or maybe, you do a few things…but nothing on a consistent basis.

 

  Look, it’s not hard to do…but it is necessary!

 

  Your marketing plan when put into action makes you accountable and your results trackable, measurable and verifiable! It keeps you on course!

   

   

    Until next time,

 

  “Live with passion”

   Rob Anspach

  http://www.robanspach.com/

 P.S. Implementing a clear marketing plan will give you an advantage over your competition and define who you are as a marketer.

Three Easy Short-Cuts!

Over the last two years I have found myself signing up for one social networking website after the next.

Maybe you have too!

It’s crazy, I tell ya!

Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace… just to name a few.

And holy smokes…the time involved to post to all these sites…UGH!

I thought there has got to be an easier way to do this.

I mean really, millions of people on these sites and someone has to have the answer. What I needed, was a way to free up time, an easy to us product that would make networking and marketing on these sites easier.

I downloaded program after program in hopes of finding something that would work to my liking. Not only was I getting frustrated but my computer was having a seizure from all the mismatched and overlapping programs running in the background fighting for usage. Then the crash! My computer had had enough! I removed all the programs and started over.

Then it happened!

In my quest to find the answers… I found 3 great short-cuts that I believe make social media marketing a bit easier. No downloads required!

The first one… www.ping.fm – a brilliant way to post your message once and have it delivered to all of your social networking sites. No longer do I have to sign in to all my individual social sites to post the same message. Nope! Ping.fm saves me so much time…that I actually get more writing done.

The next one… www.bit.ly – a fantastic way of shortening all of your long url’s into a easy to use short link. Most social sites limit your postings to 140 characters, with a shorten url you can be more creative with your posting. There are other url shortening sites, but I find bit.ly easy to use and your results are trackable, which is very cool!

And finally… www.hootsuite.com – an awesome way to schedule your postings. Say you’re going on vacation and you really don’t want to post while gone… not a problem… schedule ahead! Yep, you can schedule your posts in advance. It’s like Ron Popeil says for his Ronco products… “Set it and forget it!”

And it just gets better…

Hootsuite can integrate your Ping account! Now you can put all your posts on cruise control while you work, sleep or read. Post once, schedule later and “blam”…delivered!

Hootsuite even has it’s on url shortener called ow.ly – but I still prefer bit.ly. Ow.ly’s tracking results are sometimes delayed or don’t always give a true performance of the click-thru’s…but that’s my take… you can experiment and discover for yourself.

So there ya go… 3 simple solutions to maximize your social media marketing experience.

Until next time,

Live with passion

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. It’s not rocket science! Even the Geico cavemen can use social media now!