istockphoto.com
January 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I remember the old days. They were so long, long ago (about eight years to be exact). In the old days, we had to charge clients a fortune for stock photography and a king’s ransom if the client wanted rights-protected images (that would be harder for another company to use the exact same image).
Today, there are lots of options for free images and inexpensive images.
My favorite right now (for so many reasons) is istockphoto.com. Istockphoto.com is part of Getty Images and, so far, the partnership hasn’t changed everything I love about Istockphoto. Which is:
1. It’s a social network of really great, talented designers who love what they do
2. The site tells you exactly how many other people in the world have used the photo you want to use (this is a big deal if you don’t want your book’s artwork (or company images) to end up in a Ford ad! This actually happened!)
3. You can upload photos you’ve taken and get credit to purchase other photos
4. The site offers illustration and photo images – and so many of them are awesome!
5. There are many ways to search the site – by artist (if you find an image you like, then you can look at everything by one artist with one click), by type of image, by keyword, and by popularity
6. It features a really cool plug-in that allows you to mouse over an image and see it larger without having to click on difference pages over and over again – TIME SAVINGS!
I’m sure there are more, but those are my top picks. Images are inexpensive, the collection is amazing and different than other stock sites.
If you are looking for quantity for cost, try ablestock.com owned by Jupiter Images. Jupiter has other annual memberships where you can get unlimited downloads for a set price.
If you are looking for clip art, animations and PowerPoint templates and other cool add-ons, visit the Animation Factory.com.
For FR*EE images, try these sites:
Be aware… image sites can take lots of time! Decide what you are looking for before you go!
Aaron Wall and SEOBook.com
January 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment
If you have patience and want to do SEO (Search Engine Optimization) yourself there is only one source we trust on the topic, Aaron Wall and SEOBook.com.
SEOBook is a leading SEO blog covering the search and search marketing space. It offers marketing tips, search analysis, and whatever random rants come to his mind. The first version of his popular SEO Book came out in December of 2003 and has been updated about 50 times since then. In addition to SEOBook, Arron continues blogging, speaking at conferences, and participating in many search marketing communities. He consults for clients large and small.
The other advantages of Arron’s work include his vested interests in both the paid and free search engine optimization space. This allows him to give you the big picture of both spaces and can save you many hours on research.
So, next time you are wondering why you are on page 15 of GOOGLE, get some rest and head over to SEOBook and let the education begin.
Jott.com
December 31, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Ever wish there was an easier way to jot a note down while those amazing thoughts, ideas and brain flashes that come while you are driving down the road?
Good news – there is! It’s Jott.com and, guess what? It’s free (for now). This is a great little tool for those of you who call and leave yourself messages you don’t want to forget.
Get Jott.com and see your voice messages turn into text messages delivered straight to your email box!
Consider It Already Done.com
December 31, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Brandie Collier Geiger is a wizard at all things admin. If you have an ongoing need for a virtual assistant or need reliable, top-notch help for a one-time project, get in touch with her through her site.
I’ve worked with Brandie for many years and she is a busy entrepreneur’s dream. In fact, she’s already working with four of our clients, and she just launched her very own entrepreneurial venture less than three months ago!
What makes Brandie so wonderful? Her ability to get everything complete, on time, and with a cheerful attitude is second to none.
Windows Live Writer
December 31, 2007 | Leave a Comment
If you are headed into the world of blogging, you will definitely want to add Windows Live Writer to your toolbox. This is the coolest and most exciting addition to the world of blogs.
Windows Live Writer is a desktop application that makes it easy to publish rich content to your blog. You can use it with most blogging softwares, including WordPress, Blogger and many others. And, if you don’t have a blog yet, this snazzy program will help you set one up!
What exactly is ‘rich content?’ you ask. Well, it’s pretty much anything your creativity can conceive to support your text. Live Writer makes it super easy to add photos, videos, maps, tags and loads of other content – all with just a few keystrokes. Mark is raving about Live Writer and I have to admit that it is pretty impressive. What used to take several tries, formatting changes and the like is easily achieved by letting Live Writer do the heavy lifting.
The program allows you to preview before you post, and includes tools such as spell checker and quick hyperlinks. It is definitely the wave of the future in blogging, and will make your blogging experience so much more hassle-free.
When you are ready, snag it here for free!
AuthorSmart
December 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Ever think of writing a book? I’ve dreamt of writing books my whole life. For whatever reason, I kept thinking of it as a ‘one day’ item. Sure, I’ve written lots of short stories, articles and everything else in between for years (I even won a contest once!). But, it wasn’t until this past June that I seriously considered REALLY doing it. That’s when I met Gail Richards, creator of AuthorSmart.com – just one of an amazing panel of people dedicated to helping people get their dream books out to the world.
Gail puts out a nifty newsletter chock-full of great ideas. I just love how her creative mind works. This week’s newsletter had this great article – Branding Outside the Box (sign up for her newsletter for more great ideas). Use these great ideas for your business, new product, upcoming holidays – get jiggy with it!
Branding Outside of the Box
By Gail Richards, Creator of AuthorSmart.com
Here are some out-of-the-ordinary ways you can put your branding or book cover out into the world to get noticed:
CafePress.com lets you put your branding on a wide variety of items. The best part: you can order one or 100 and order as you need them, no inventory, no risk.You can even create merchandise and link to a shop from your website.
PhotoStamps.com · Put your postage to work for you. For slightly more than the cost of a regular stamp, you can put your own artwork or branding on your mail. Click on the graphic below for more info.
Totally Chocolate · Need I say more?
Jones Soda · This is my personal favorite. This company’s labels are already fantastic—each emblazoned with a photo submitted by a fan. Why not customize your own Jones Soda bottle labels with your book cover?
Free Marketing Membership Site
December 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I always love to connect clients to great resources. There’s no greater resource than www.marketingbestpractices.com. It’s chock-full of great ideas, advice and how-tos. David Frey is a great person, all-around good guy, and expert marketer.
He’s running a complimentary special right now for his super popular site, which he has just converted to a membership model. If you go there now, you can get a membership for FR*EE.
I don’t make a dime from Dave, this is all for you to tap into more advice than you could implement in a year!
Shutterfly.com
December 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I planned to add this to my gift list, and totally forgot about it. I first saw that Shutterfly.com has a cool way to create books when Candace Fitzpatrick shared a book she created for the kids her company worked with last year. The book was like a printed scrapbook and looked like it popped right off of a printing press. The quality was amazing.
Since then, I’ve seen others recommend Shutterfly.com’s books for holiday gifts that are more than unique – they are a memorable treasure. For less than $50.00 ($39.99 for leather with 20 pages, $29.99 for other options with 20 pages), you can have a gift that will last a lifetime.
Companies can use this for capturing a year in the life of their company, special employee outings, retreats, etc. For those who work with clients in an environment where a camera would be appropriate, this might be just that little something extra that gets people talking about your company.
On the personal side, this is sure to thrill grandmas and grandpas for sure. And, with buy one, get 25% off the second one, it’s priced right too.
BrianGardner.com (WordPress Designer)
December 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Our new site is just about to launch, and with it, the blog I’ve been so wanting to write! What was the holdup? Well, uh, I’ve got this teensy weensy issue with not liking cluttery, ugly or downright blah websites.
So one night I get the brain flash to look up “clean, minimalist wordpress template” and my whole word changed!
Enter Brian Gardner. We love his simple, elegant WordPress templates and they are just so easy to use! He’s just released a few more, and if you’ve ever been through the web design process (which can often take months and months), you will be delighted to hear that WordPress sites can be modified in short order – usually taking less than 10 hours tops! Simple changes can be made in less than 10 minutes. Even a novice can do it!
What’s not to love about people like Brian who make the e-world a less cluttery place to live? Plus, his themes are ridiculously affordable! Be sure when you check out the theme that you also look through the Showcase so you can get some ideas about how they can be modified. Bravo Brian – we love you!
Feeling the itch to get a blog moving…go with it!
WordPress.com
December 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Goodness, is it just me that feels like I’m getting o-l-d? J When it comes to blogging, I think most people have a favorite blogging software. Ours is WordPress. It is AMAZING and so easy to use. The kid (and yes that is an appropriate label) who created WordPress is 23. Did I mention that I’m feeling old? And, get this, WordPress serves an unheard of 100 million unique visitors per month at the site! I guess we aren’t the only ones who love WordPress.
Although I work with techie things, I am NOT a techie. WordPress is made for us non-techies. It literally makes me swoon (even when I’m wrangling a wandering graphic). I LOVE it. I even added a page ALL BY MYSELF to a WordPress site we just created for an upcoming launch (want a sneak peak?).
I love WordPress because it is super easy to use and it has an amazing community that supports it and develops for it. My favorite template BY FAR is Revolution by Brian Gardner. If you go to his site, you can see a couple of versions – one is a straight version for a website and the other is a newspaper layout that is totally awesome. I noticed that he just added a new one for a magazine layout. Revolution’s clean design and easy navigation is a dream, and Brian has done all of the work!
We’ve already been getting rave reviews from those who have seen the site we just created, so if you want to get rave reviews too check out all of the WordPress free templates and Revolution.
If you know how to type in an email, you, too, can have a blog up and running in no time flat!
