Reconstruction Progress

I’ve had a few bumps in the road, but my little website rebuild project is picking up steam. I finally managed to import my existing Typepad content. What seemed straightforward turned out to be rather quirky, but I managed to bring in the goods. Now I just need to beef up my content and a few extra tweaks….

Marketing via Twitter

I’m fast developing a Twitter addiction - I’m just hooked on tweets!

Well - thanks to a tip on Nancy Marmolejo’s terrific Viva Visibility blog, I found a great post listing some handy strategies for using Twitter for marketing. Now Twittering counts as work!

Follow me on Twitter

Gorgeous Art by Helen Webber

My so-cool client Helen Webber is offering a special sale on her Jazztime watercolor print series. Visit Helen’s print sale page and check out all her beautiful offerings.

What a wonderful excuse to post some gorgeous art on my blog!http://www.helenwebber.com/printstore/howtoorder_water.htm

Digsby Unifies IM And Social Media Messaging

If you struggle with juggling different IM networks and social media and all their applications running on your computer at the same time… do yourself a favor and check out Digsby. Digsby is a single application that delivers all the major IM networks: Google Talk, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ & Jabber - along with an email notifier AND Twitter, Facebook and MySpace alerts - all in a single interface. Digsby also announced today that it now supports Facebook chat in addition to notifications.

In addition, Digsby offers customizable widgets you can add to your blog or website that allows your visitors to IM you from your website. You can see it in action on this blog —>

Read the C|Net Review of Digsby here.

Late to the party: learning to use Facebook

Late to the party, indeed. I just now am beginning to scratch the surface of Facebook. I spend quite a bit of time on LinkedIn (which I love); but have so far spent no time exploring the capabilities of FB… always assuming it was more of a personal thing. In my ignorance, I never bothered to really see what it can do. And it can do a lot. I am surprised by the number of people that use it excusively (and very effectively) for business and that it’s actually very useful - not merely a social distraction.

Along with my “discovery” of Twitter last week (which is surprisingly addictive), I feel I’m making some social networking progress these days. Next week: Squidoo.

Many thanks to Erin Blaskie - who patiently helped me see the Facebook light.

So - since I’m new, I’m still light on friends… please visit me. ;-)  Anyone else feel behind the curve with Facebook?

Brush with Greatness: Andrea Kalli Reads This Blog!!

I’m so jazzed… Andrea Kalli - Virtual Trainer extraodinaire and Podcasting, SharePoint and Exchange guru was kind enough to post to IVAANet about this blog. I’m honored.

Check out Andrea’s virtual training services on Podcasting, hosted Exchange and SharePoint. She’s unique in the VA world. Her teleclasses are great too - she was kind enough to do a teleclass for our DVVAA membership about blogging. It was a big hit!

Thanks again, Andrea.

Web Worker Daily » Archive Continuous Innovation in the Online Office «

A terrific article at WWD about innovation with online apps exceeding that of their desktop counterparts (posted via bookmarklet).

Link: Web Worker Daily » Archive Continuous Innovation in the Online Office «.

Back from the IVAA Summit… a BLAST!

I’m finally getting unpacked from the IVAA Summit in Charlotte… and I had a great time! There were terrific programs and a record turnout - about 80 VAs from all over the USA and Canada, and I had the pleasure of meeting most of them. Best of all, I got to meet many contacts I had over the years - this time in person!

The DVVAA girls again made a splash… 15% of the attendees!!  Special thanks to Laura Pumo for being such a gracious roommate.

Kudos to IVAA and the Summit Committee… you really know how to put on a show!

CNN.com Sells T-Shirts with Web Headlines

Frequent visitors to CNN.com have likely noticed that their headlines are sometimes unintelligible, tawdry and/or creepy and have no relationship whatsoever to important news.

Now we know the method to the madness: CNN Shirt

Not familiar? View Gawker’s Extensive History Of Terrible CNN.com Headlines

What if everyone who could telecommute actually did?

I’m always ranting about how the price of gas would drop like a stone tomorrow if all those who could do their work at home actually did. Here in the Philly ‘burbs, the main arteries leading to the city and to the office parks of King of Prussia are CLOGGED daily with information workers of one stripe or another, who, truth be told, really don’t need to be in the office all the time. Now, there is a study that tries to quantify the possible result:

They asked the simple question: what would be the impact if everyone who could work from home actually did? The answer they came up with for the USA: a savings of 625 million barrels of oil a year, as well as $43 billion less spent on gasoline and elimination of a couple of weeks of wasted commuting time per person.

The study (done by telework advocacy website Undress4Success) focuses on the immense environmental benefits of such a scenario, but there are compelling economic woes that can be alleviated as well. With skyrocketing oil prices linked to everything from worldwide food inflation to bankrupt airlines to shuttered pizza shops, anything that can drive down the cost of energy would help reverse the damage. For every infoworker who can skip the daily commute, life is made a bit easier (less traffic) and more affordable (cheaper gas) for those who can’t telecommute: nurses, farmers, police officers, chefs, hairstylists and truckers (and our truckers really need a break)!

The less obvious benefits: happier and more productive workers, fewer car accidents, cheaper auto insurance, independence from foreign oil - and perhaps most gratifying of all - handing Big Oil a well-deserved cash “haircut”.

Thanks to the wonderful Web Worker Daily for the validation I was looking for!

Be sure to read the original article about the study, at Undress4Success.

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