By Amanda Ponzar

Whether you’re a nonprofit business or individual you almost don’t exist if you’re not online and in social networks.

A few weeks ago, a nonprofit development director asked if I could help raise her profile on LinkedIn. You know the world’s about to end when Amanda Ponzar becomes a social media guru. When I first started using LinkedIn three years ago, I didn’t post a profile photo because “it could fall into the wrong hands.” I quickly realized I don’t get to choose whether or not I’m online, but I can be proactive about controlling my information.

Fast forward to 2010, and I’m a LinkedIn junkie, networking out the ying-yang which benefits me personally (five recruiter calls this year) and helps advance United Way’s work and recognize our corporate partners. No offense to Facebook with its 500 million users, but I’m just not that interested in posting personal weekend plans or reconnecting with high school crushes. “This is business not personal” to quote The Godfather.

My five LinkedIn Tips:

• Get to know people in the real world (volunteer, attend association events like AMA, PRSA, Chamber of Commerce, etc.) to build your network.
• See who you already know on LinkedIn (LinkedIn can do it automatically if you enter your personal email), and ask for recommendations.
• Complete your profile with employer names so former business associates can link to you.
• Share news, research, tips or job postings on your network activity update. Include links. Post what YOU would want to read.
• Join groups and respond to other posts.

One of the best nonprofit social media experts I know is Heather Mansfield at DIOSA Communications, who I heard earlier this year at HandsOn Network’s LEAD Summit. Heather has a knack for social media and trains nonprofits nationwide. Check out her LinkedIn tips for nonprofits (or any organization). Plus, I asked Heather where women excel in social media. Her response?

1.) Women are friendlier online, thus they tend to be better at building online community. Men are often too combative and argue. Some men could actually learn a lot from women when it comes to building and nurturing an online community — if they can check the ego at the door and just listen.

2.) Women in general know how and when to use (smile icon).

3.) Women’s ability to multi-task makes them excellent social media managers because you have to be running 5-10 profiles on a daily basis.

So, get out there. Read, succeed, create, think, do — and make sure people know about it. Why not get started by commenting on this post?

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By Guest Blogger Robbi Hess

Today’s the day writers everywhere celebrate the ! – . , – ; – : and the ?, right? Hopefully, though, as writers even if we don’t consciously celebrate punctuation, we at least practice it correctly. The sad fact is, though that not all writers follow the rules! (What do you think? A bit too much emphasis there?)

As a writer, Strunk & White and style guides galore dominate my life. When you longingly thumb through the latest edition of The Chicago Manual of Style marveling at the tissue-thin paper bound within that thick tome, hoping upon hope that someone will buy it for you for the next holiday (National Punctuation Day would be a timely holiday, I think), you know your love of words and punctuation may have crossed a line.

Jeff Rubin, founder of all things punctuation, offers up a few ideas on how to celebrate.

Here’s a game plan for your celebration of National Punctuation Day®. A few words of caution: Don’t overdo it.

• Sleep late.
• Take a long shower or bath.
• Go out for coffee and a bagel (or two).
• Read a newspaper and circle all of the punctuation errors you find (or think you find, but aren’t sure) with a red pen.
• Take a leisurely stroll, paying close attention to store signs with incorrectly punctuated words.
• Stop in those stores to correct the owners.
• If the owners are not there, leave notes.
• Visit a bookstore and purchase a copy of Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style.
• Look up all the words you circled.
• Congratulate yourself on becoming a better written communicator.
• Go home.
• Sit down.
• Write an error-free letter to a friend.
• Take a nap. It has been a long day.

Your task today is to go forth and spread correct punctuation wherever it’s needed!

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That’s how many women Miles Weston says there are in the world, in his article, “Women Rule”.

This is a fascinating look at  a global market being either neglected or dismissed. Women routinely make the news, but it’s often for trivial things. I consider fashion, food, and fun trivial, to a point. I don’t dismiss the power of the fashion/food industries, nor do I mind hearing about the escapades of certain celebrities. But, when that’s the major push of media – covering Paris Hilton or whatshername who can’t stay out of jail, instead of covering the small business owner making a go of it in this tough economy, I have to wonder if anyone is taking women seriously.

Weston says, in his article, “…the ‘female economy’ will drive $5 trillion in incremental global spending during the never several years.” And, “More than 1 billion women work worldwide.” Neither of those facts is substantiated, but they make sense. So, I’m inclined to support them.

Fact is, women are the mover and shakers the world over. We’re not standing behind our man any longer – we’re standing next to him, and sometimes, in front of him. Yes, in some instances, we’re still the support standing behind him, also. Women in this country are standing on their own two feet. We’re working Moms, executives, business owners, and wives and mothers, too. And, we’re gamers. Ha!

As we move into the next decade of this new century, women from the world over are beginning to find their voice, their purpose, and their power.

Weston cites a report by Booz&Company (one hesitates to share a link since she could not find the article on the site), showing many of the “women of the third billion” as “neither prepared nor enabled”… since many of us come from less developed nations. What I find hopeful is the fact that the roadblocks to success are disappearing. Weston quotes Booz & Co. as saying, “…if we get this Third Billion into mainstream middle-class, hockey stick sales will result.”  Still, I wonder why companies like Best Buy, continue with mere lip-service. No hockey sticks for them!

I also find it interesting to see a focus on how different women are from men. It’s something I’ve touted over and over, despite the general feeling today that companies should market to the “consumer” and not the gender of the consumer. Yes, marketers. Women are different from men. Yes, we think differently. Yes, we buy differently. And yes, we run our businesses differently.

Weston covers much of our “differences” in his article. But, his facts, supported by great research, are just that – facts garnered on surveys. I like surveys. I like facts and statistics. However, I like talking face-to-face to people, better. A small group of women meeting for lunch can tell you more than all the fact-finding surveys in the world.

If you want to know how your women customers think, and how they perceive your product, including how they go about the buying process, invite 25 of them to lunch and listen to what they chat about.

The 3.25 Billion women of this planet are rising up to be heard. We’re working together to make life better for all of us, not just for “our children.” It’s your job, Sr. Marketer, to figure us out. First step, read Weston, read Lip-sticking, then… ask us personally how much of what you’ve read is true.

You may be surprised.

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By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna’s Promo Talk

Dove is one of my favorite brands and also a brand that I have written about quite often on my blog. They have been pioneers in utilizing social media as a way to market to women online and in creating awareness of their brand and their Campaign for Real Beauty which they first launched back in 2004.

Dove’s latest focus of this campaign is called the Dove Movement for Self-Esteem which has a huge goal of creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety. The movement has been providing women with tools to help them take action and inspire each other as well as the girls in their lives.

Here are some simple things that Dove is inviting us women to do to help spread the message:

Join the movement here and watch their Vision in Action video.

Share what you wish you’d known at 13 with the next generation. Try and think back and remember what it was like to be 13, a very important time in finding our own self esteem. Dove is inviting women to share their message here or tweet the message to @Dove with the hashtag #dovedifference. You can also read some of the many messages other women have left. Here are a few:

@mmc67 don’t ever take one single minute you spend with someone you love for granted #dovedifference

@simplybcreative:The best is yet to be…#dovedifference

Here’s mine:  @ddeclemente: Be true to who you are and what you believe in and you will love yourself and be loved.

Once you share a message Dove provides tools to easily share it via Facebook, Twitter and email.

Dove is also planning the Dove Self-Esteem Weekend Oct 22nd – 24th and asking us to save the date. To stay updated on this event and to find out more ways to get involved, people can sign up through Facebook, on their Twitter Page, the Dove Movement website as well as their blog. They are providing suggestions for the weekend and women are sharing what they are planning.

According to Dove research, the self-esteem tipping point happens when the transition to teenage years results in the loss of trust and communication with adults. 67% of girls ages 13-17 turn to their mother as a resource when feeling badly about themselves compared to 91% of girls ages 8-12.

So, now we all have the opportunity to make a difference in a young girl’s self-esteem by sharing our messages of advice and encouragement with the next generation.

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Speaker/entrepreneur Wendy Kenney has penned a book that small business owners who have been blogging, Tweeting and Facebooking about their businesses can benefit from. For those business owners who have not joined the social media bandwagon, what are you waiting for? Your competition has learned the best way to spread the word and now with information gleaned from Kenney's book, they can take their social media plans — and their businesses — to the next level! 

Kenney's book speaks to every small (and large) business owner looking for innovative ways to reach both their existing customer base and draw in new clientele. In her book, "How To Build Buzz For Your Biz: Tap Into The Power of Social Media, Publicity, and Relationship Marketing To Grow Your Business," Kenney offers you tips on making every marketing dollar count.

The book reads like a workbook with spaces provided at the end of the chapters to answer the thought-provoking questions Kenney raised. If you take the time to answer the questions, you can effectively have a brand building and marketing campaign plan by books' end.

She helps you zero in on your "perfect" customer and reminds the small business owner that you can't be everything to everyone. Once you've determined which are your ideal customers, you can hone your talents and help them grow and thrive with the expertise that you offer.

I've been involved in social media for many years and there were a few "aha!" moments for me that I quickly bookmarked for future reference. Some of the topics covered were items I'd read about in the past and had perhaps even implemented but had either forgotten or they'd slipped from my business view; I've re-implemented them after having read the book.

Kenney's book is useful in that you don't have to read cover to cover to reap the benefits (it helps though, if you are looking to put together a comprehensive plan to take full advantage of social media and all the benefits it has to offer).

The effective utilization of social networks and suggestions for how to create buzz  (from "creating" a holiday to holding a contest) lead to out-of-the-box thinking to enhance your marketing techniques.

The back of the book material is filled with information useful to the new entrepreneur as well as the established business owner and offers information on social media monitoring resources, website/blogging platforms, press release sites and more. 

Bottom line: This book, sprinkled throughout with real-life situations, is a well-organized business tool, that if utilized properly, can help you expand your scope and range in the social media marketplace.

This just in! Buy the book on September 21st, 2010, on Amazon.com and get one free! Simply email your Amazon.com confirmation to book@23Kazoos.com.

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Many years ago, when I was a stay-at-home Mom, I was having lunch with a girl friend who worked part-time. She had a unique relationship with her spouse – at least it seemed unique to me. They shared household chores and raising the children.

What a concept! We're talking 20 years ago, folks.

Back then, men rarely did things like vacuuming, mopping, laundry, or even cooking. They carted kids back and forth to soccer or gymnastics or dance, but didn't participate much in the activity. Unless Mom said, "We're on snack duty," and dragged them to recitals where they helped man the snack table.

My friend's relationship with her husband was 50-50. She rightly noted that both of them worked (even though she only worked part time… and I use the word 'only' with reservation since her job as a nurse was a substantial one), and both of them realized that the house was 'their' house, the kids were 'their' kids, and the responsibility was also 'theirs.'

"We work to live," she said. "We're not living to work."

"Interesting," I replied. The concept of looking at your career as a means to support your lifestyle – a lifestyle business, so to speak, was new to me. "My husband feels that because he works outside of the home, he's more important,"I told her. "It's my 'job' to take care of the house and kids. Not his."

That's when she stopped what she was doing, looked me right in the eye, and asked, "Does he LIKE what he does for a living? Is his work satisfying for him?"

No question, the answer was, "Yes. He feels fulfilled at work."

"Well then," she said, "work is play. He should have plenty of energy and time for his family and his home."

Work is play. Wow. Who knew? That conversation has never left me. I asked my husband what he thought of it and did not get a positive response. Perhaps that was the beginning of the end of my marriage.

Today, I embrace the concept that work is play. If you are not working at a career or job that fulfills you, that gives you something to look forward to, that does more than pay the bills, that inspires you but doesn't wear you out, perhaps you should rethink what you're doing. Find a way to turn work into play. Be happy at your business or job. Show your children that they, too, can aspire to a career of play, all day.

Living to work? So passe'. Working to live – so today.

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That could be me. How about you? I'm not proud of the fact that numbers intimidate me. I was never good in math. I can keep myself on a budget, mainly because my budget is pretty small and easily managed. And, I know the value of savings, as well as a good retirment plan. Yet, I don't have either, really.

When I read articles about "us", the baby boomer generation, I'm struck by the realities of our lives compared to the myths that continue to persist. For instance, the myth that we were all hippies, we all attended Woodstock, and we all smoked marijuana.

I don't know anyone else's truth but here's mine: I was never a hippie, though I dressed like one. I did not attend Woodstock and don't care. And, no, children, I never smoked marijuana, though many of my friends did. I was sure we were all going to be hauled off to jail and that no one would believe I hadn't smoked anything. But, that never happened.

The Atlantic Monthly has an article titled "The Least We Can Do" in its October issue, discussing the baby boomer generation, calling us, "Self-absorbed, self-indulged, and self-loathing."

I'm not sure who they're talking about, but I am sure it's not me. Yes, I have been self-absorbed – but it was so long ago I barely remember it. Having children took the "self" out of being absorbed. I do not ever remember being "self-indulged" although I am a clothes-hound, to this day. If that counts, then I guess I'm self-indulged, along with millions of other women – of all ages. As for self-loathing, doesn't everyone experience that at one time or another in their lives?

The article struck a nerve with me because it attempts to put all baby boomers into a box. We're all this or that. We're all from the same time period, generation, whathaveyou, but we're certainly not all from the same place. And, we're certainly not all part of the Woodstock mentality, which they ascribe to us. It's a mentality I've heard over and over; essentially, "Baby boomers rejected 'the man' and now they are the man."

Rather than continue to tell us what we did (or didn't do) and what we should now do (to redeem ourselves), perhaps the folks who would chronicle our history need only to look to the current and future generations. Did they not learn what they know from us? Are they not smart, responsible citizens, working to make life better for … each other, their families, their country, the world – even their pets?

If there is to be a testament to the good or bad of our generation, and to the way we live out our lives as citizens of the U.S. and the world, it will come from our children and grandchildren. I am confident the kids growing up today will work things out better than we did. They're smarter, taller, curious, devoted to the earth (for the most part), and willing to take on responsibility – like the Grandma who has no retirement savings.

In the end, our impact on the U.S. will be as major or minor as the impact our kids make when they tackle the big issues – there will be some cheering and there will be some shouting. At ground level, it's as it has always been. The good and bad of a society is reflected in its treatment of children, the elderly, and pets. I think we boomers stand on solid ground when it comes to kids, our parents, and our pets.

But, what do I know? I'm just a boomer woman on a blog.

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Driving Traffic through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was one of the break-out sessions I attended at BlogPaws West in Denver. It was so good I chose it not once, but twice. It was a highly interactive session that included audience participation, so after experiencing the first session on Friday I just had to come back the next day for more.

Mary Archer of Strategic Rankings started off both sessions with her quick SEO Myths Debunked presentation that she has shared with us on her blog. Many of us guessed that most of these statements were indeed true. Download the presentation and you'll see what Mary's dogs, Sadie Lu and Sally Mae, taught us!

Next the real fun began with Stephan Spencer, co-author of The Art of SEO, along with his daughter Chloe Spencer, the Lip-sticking blog's newest guest blogger, took the controls and asked for a volunteer to review their website. They pulled up the pet-care related site from our first victim and started to tell us what could be done to improve it's search rankings. Here are some of my key learning's from the sessions:

First off most people don't use the proper keywords in their title tag. This is what shows up at the very top of your browser when you visit a site as well as on the search engine results page. If you look at the top of your browser now you'll see the word "Lip-Sticking" or if you clicked on a link for this specific post it will read " Lip-Sticking: Tips on Driving Traffic Through Search Engine Optimization (SEO)".

Most of the examples of sites from those in the audience showed that they are just using the name of their blog, company or organization. For the majority of sites, unless you have a very popular brand name, this is not the most effective title since people are not searching for your brand. In the case of Lip-Sticking they may be searching for "Marketing to Women Online". So a suggestion would be to change the title tag to include "Lip-Sticking: Marketing to Women Online". I have to speak to Yvonne about this recommendation.

I went to my blog, Donna's Promo Talk, and did just that. I added my tag line to the name of the blog so now instead of it just the name of my blog appearing it reads "Donna's Promo Talk – Promotional Marketing that Creates Excitement and Gets Results". I hopefully will now start to see more traffic from people searching for "Promotional Marketing".

Both the Lip-sticking Blog and Donna's Promo Talk are built on the Typepad platform which doesn't give you the option to change your title tag. It just defaults to the name of your blog, which is why I added words to the name of my blog. WordPress however has a plug-in that can do this that Stephan actually created called SEO Title Tag. This allows you not only to change the title tag of the site, but also any individual pages and every post.

Typepad gives you the option for posts to have the name of your blog before or after the title of the post. I just changed my to have the blog name after the post title. Again, as Stephan had pointed out, more people will be searching for content from keywords in your post then from the name of your blog.

This brings up a great tip we all learned regarding content which is that you should be using relevant keywords in all your blog post titles. They recommended a few keyword research tools that you can use. The one I use that is free is Google Adwords Keyword Tool. One thing that Stephan pointed out about this tool that I haven't been doing is after you type in your keywords and hit search, scroll down and change the default from "broad match" to "exact match". Since the tool is primarily for pay-per-click (PPC) ads, not SEO, broad match doesn't give you accurate traffic volume results. For example, many more searches will include the word "shoes" but a much smaller amount will include the keyword "horse shoes".

Links to your site is another pillar of SEO that was discussed. The more links you have from quality, relevant sites, the higher Google will rank you. To see who is linking to your site you can use Yahoo's Site Explorer. In order to use this free tool you must be logged-in to your Yahoo account. You can change the results to not include links from your own domain so it will give you a more accurate number of in-bound links. My results included many links from Lip-sticking to my blog of course, but I did find many other blogs and sites that are linking to me that I wasn't aware of. You can export this list to an Excel document as well.

Both Stephan and Chloe (who BTW is still a teenager) did a great job presenting at these sessions. Take a quick read over at Chloe's last post, Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling at 16 Years-Old on Lip-sticking to learn more about her. I met Stephan at BlogPaws in Columbus back in April when he presented there as well as several years ago when he came to Rochester to speak at a luncheon sponsored by our local AMA. So it was wonderful to finally meeting Chloe.

These were some of the basics that were covered at BlogPaws and I'm now planning to read more of Stephan's book so I can become somewhat of a SEO expert. Everyone walked away from these two sessions with a few things that they can easily do to help increase their site's search rankings. I hope you also received a few new tips from reading this post. Please feel free to add more!

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Coming to the panel as a 19-year-old girl with a virtual pet blog I made when I was 14, makes it hard to stand out among this crowd.

That's why speaking at BlogHer, at 16 years young, was the best, first conference experience I could have asked for. There were 4 other women bloggers on my panel; women I felt comfortable with and, with my age and shyness, was acknowledged by. It was a great atmosphere for my first speaking gig.

From there, it got harder; speaking at sessions with all men for the most part. But, I got words in at each one, and I'm still speaking at conferences today. Just last month I moderated at SES San Francisco, on a teen entrepreneur panel (again, all males, who were very successful and very much tech geniuses–it's hard to shine next to blindingly bright lights).

Coming up this month, my dad and I are running an SEO session at BlogPaws West 2010. My dad, Stephan Spencer, is an official SEO whiz; but I know more than the average blogger, so I'm confident I'll manage to get a few tips in, to work along with his expert advice.

See what I mean? Young and female is tough. But I'm a tough girl, and I'll keep fighting for that limelight.

I plan to start a new company, soon, that I hope will take me far and do fantastic financially. I'm just waiting for that lightbulb idea to pop up, like for NeopetsFanatic.com did back in 2006. Now that I'm following that climb to success, I plan to turn ChloeSpencer.com into a popular personal blog and vlog, not just a press site, as it is now.

So yes, I'm a small girl with big dreams. But aren't we all, inside? And somehow, we ambitious driven women always find a way to break through, to shine brighter than we had ever imagined.

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