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How did my blog feed become invalid?

Do you test your blog feed from time to time?

I sure do!

It is so vital to maintain an optimized feed on your blog, especially from a usability standpoint. Your whole objective when you blog is to increase your readership and keep them engaged. If something goes array with your feed think about the implications this could cause:

• Your content may stop being indexed by the search engines.
• Your content is not reaching your readers.
• Any new visitors will leave and may never come back if your feed appears broken.

So how do you know if your feed becomes invalid?

The first thing everyone who sets up a blog site should do to optimize their feed is burn it over at Feedburner. Once optimized I would make it a priority to schedule in time periodically to log in and check the status of your feed.

The second and obvious thing would be to actually click on your feed icon to see what happens. Does it open in a subscribe to feed window? Or, does is open in a window that indicates errors?

The best way to validate your feed to ensure it is working is to run it through Feed Validator. If you want to get really creative you could follow the steps to add the widget to your blog sidebar.

Again, refer to the FeedBurner Help Center – How did my feed become invalid?

One thing NOT to do is copy and paste text from programs like Microsoft Word. There are hidden codes that get copied to the clip board that if pasted in your blog can cause a lot of harm to your site. If you notice your sidebar pushed out of place or your feed not working this could be attributed to the Word codes.

Another great resource to learn more about your feed is over in the WordPress.org feed documentation.

Don’t count on your Twitter followers to increase the PageRank of your Twitter Page

Wondering how Google treats your Twitter Page?

It all boils down to backlinks and how reputable those backlinks are – Google treats Twitter Pages just like any other page on the web.

So what about all those followers you have? Google won’t rank you any better if you have 10 or 10,000 followers however… If you are an amazing tweeter you may just be able to get your followers to help you increase your rank…

Here’s how. It’s all about the number of links to your profile and the number of links to your tweets. This only tells me one thing… If you find the right twoove (twitter groove) and are able to post a combination of tweets that are relative to your followers interests while maintaining an ongoing rapport you may just hit the Twitter jackpot.

Take a peek at this video from the Google Webmaster Tools YouTube channel:

What are the factors that go into determining the PageRank of a Twitter page?

Watch Out! The Mommy Manifesto Is Coming…

The year 2010 is about to hit. People are rapidly adjusting to a “new life” and finding their way through the Information Age. But let’s stop and think about what this actually means for a moment.

The Information Age is suppose to mean that we as “ordinary people” now have the unique ability to share information freely amongst each other. Having instant access to seek the knowledge on virtually any subject matter you so desire is at our very fingertips.

That in itself is mind blowing, absolutely mind blowing. So why are so many people still facing barriers, and challenges? Why are people not able to fulfill their dreams and live the life that they envision?

The point I am getting at here is that women are still being subject to harassment and discrimination when it comes to work/life balance. Are we still expected to fulfill all of those “wifely” duties, bring home half the bacon, look pretty and sexy while being turned down for an advancement opportunity at work because we are pregnant?

I know first hand how this affects you as a “person” because I have been there, exactly there. I had a great job at a large Canadian Communications company with full benefits, the whole shebang. I loved it there. We had over 800 employees and my role as “Assistant To The Director” was to oversee all the daily administration tasks associated with two separate teams. This entailed attending weekly management meetings, taking notes, ensuring action items were completed on time, participating in team building activities and sometimes handling irate customers that wanted to speak to the “department head”. I was good at my job, well liked, and always received the full merit increase each and every year.

So why was it that when a very unique advancement opportunity came up that was so well suited towards my skills, experience, and talents (after 5 years of waiting), and I went to my boss, the HR department head, and the person whom was hiring for the role and gave them my resume and told them of my extreme desire for advancement that I did not even get a chance for an interview for the position?

Perhaps it was because I was 7 1/2 months pregnant at the time?

Today, over 3 years later I look back at the whole experience and although it still bothers me it has actually helped me become the person I am today – a successful Mompreneur(tm) who is in complete control of my destiny. And for that I am very thankful.

So you see, this is why I wanted to share with you my extreme excitement over the brand new book that Kim Lavine has written called “The Mommy Manifesto”. It’s available for pre-order on Amazon and will be shipping in August 2009.

Kim Lavine built a company from her very own kitchen table worth Millions of Dollars today. That company is called Green Daisy. Now, years later Kim is helping other Women fulfill their dreams and guiding them towards success. It’s not just a “Man’s” world out there – Women CEO’s, Women Entrepreneurs, Women who are Real Moms are Climbing the Ranks and Breaking New Grounds. The “Information Age” is our Age.

Check out Kim Lavine’s Youtube Channel, The Mommy Millionaire Magazine, and the Mommy Millionaire Online Community where like minded Moms network, share, inspire and fulfill their dreams. You can view Kim’s unique product line in the Buy Mom shop at GreenDaisy.com.

So Watch Out – The Mommy Manifesto is Coming… And will teach you “How To Think Big, Break Limitations, and Achieve Success.”

How To Use Twitterfall To Build Your List, Track Your Brand, and Be Productive! (In Honour of Earth Day)

I am very excited to tell you about Twitterfall and explain briefly about how you can use this nifty tool to help grow your list, build your niche twitter network, monitor your brand, and inevitably boost sales!!!

Twitterfall is like having your own unique real time Twitter Search Engine. For this article I will use a fictitious company that offers “Green Products” specifically geared towards families. The company will be called “Turn Your Family Green”.

When using Twitterfall the unique search options include:

• Trends – will show the top trends that are currently hot on Twitter.
• Custom Search – will allow you to search by any given keyword you choose to see in real time who is talking about that exact term.
• Geolocation – you can search by keyword within a specific radius of any given location. For example, I can search for tweets about me “@eMarketingVA” within my city “Ottawa”.

Also, Twitterfall gives you the option to log in to your Twitter account so that you will be able to reply, retweet, favourtie tweets, follow people, etc right from the active Twitterfall.

Now, onto the sample research project using Twitterfall for the “Turn Your Family Green” company!

Today happens to be Earth day, that happens to not only be a hot topic on Twitterfall right now but also correlates to Green Living extremely well.

So, when I clicked on the Trend term “Earth Day” in twitterfall I came across 1000s of people who are all tweeting about it. Once I took a few minutes to go through and check out some of the people by looking at their bio, website, etc. I came up with the following person (I could easily provide more examples) who I would have “Turn Your Family Green” follow on Twitter:

• @avenatura RT @brodyisaak Happy Earth Day – BC is the greenest Province in Canada.

** Now, @brodyisaak’s bio says he is an outdoor lover and environmentalist – who would be a great target for my products at “Turn Your Family Green”.

Next I did a custom search for “Green family”, “green living”, “green products” and came up with the following of interest:

• @beerbeatsbites @chrisalward I work near Dundas & Uni, and live near King & Dufferin. Will also be at Green Living on Friday in case you’ll be there.
• @GetButtonedUp Happy Earth Day! Make Going Green a family effort. Place 5 minute wall timers in your showers andmake it a race for kids 2 get in an out.
• @NewHomesFresno Great resource: Green: Policy, Living Science http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/green/index.html?hpid=smartliving
• @Fanny57  HAPPY EARTH DAY EVERYONE – I’m SO GLAD I LIVE GREEN! VISIT MY LINK AND SEE HOW YOU TOO CAN HAVE A SAFE HOME
• @nancyjc @GeekMommy My Green Tip is ‘catch + use rain water to water plants’ #11MOMSGREEN #GMContest
• @1Thing4Green RT @couturecuisine: Happy Earth Day. Here are some Green Follows: @Greenpreneur, @Ecomates_Ethos, @EcoInteractive, @Ecomates4Life, @Wind …
• PSLifeStyle RT @SonyElectronics Sony Expands Recycling Program to Retail Stores & Launches New Green Website http://electronicsblog.sel.sony.com/blog_post/?contentid=6611823866222888939
• news_tech Black-and-white printing goes green with soy toner (AP) http://feedtwitt.info/technology/?p=7859
• @1Thing4Green RT @dnjm: Thinking green today @LiveEarth @onegreenearth @1Thing4Green
• @afroginmysoup Want some great “green living” tips? http://themomsreview.com/category/green-living/
• @LegalOut Wishes everyone a Happy Earth Day. Cool Family Guide to Going Green & Save. http://www.greenandsave.com/greenguide/family.html
• @FOX40NOW How you can make your house more green for cheap, tonight @ 9 on FOX 40
• @beautyofasite Herban Cowboy’s Organic Grooming Products: A green line of products – check them out at www.beautyofasite.com/c-5587-organic-grooming.aspx
• @Arteaa RT @HP_IPG: Happy Earth Day! HP helps consumers be green AND save green w/ eco-friendly printing products

So, as you can see using Twitterfall as a productive tool to help build your list and grow your network on Twitter can have many benefits. You will be able to monitor your own business name, your name and any other keyword associated to you to see who is talking about you and what they are saying. That way, if there is anything that may not be true you have the opportunity to correct it. You can find key people within your industry to connect with. You can promote your products and services to the right market.

Keep in mind, that you want to remain friendly, approachable, discreet, and make sure you do not use Twitter just to bombard people with your offers all the time. It’s a reciprocal relationship – you need to offer help, advice, and respond in kind.

Good luck and happy Tweeting!!!!

Technorati Tags: twitter, twitterfall, twittertools, earthday

How Realtors Can Generate 1000s of Leads With A Virtual Work Team

Are you a Realtor searching for the best way to implement an effective Social Media Lead Generation strategy?

If so, then you are not alone! There are literally 1000s of Realtors right now searching for information, guides, how to’s, and the right people who can help them tap into the latest social media craze.

Well today, I am so excited to announce that the REVA Institute has launched!!!

Although brand new the REVA Institute will quickly become a key resource for Realtors to network, learn, and find the key players they need to fast track their Internet Marketing plan and tap into the cutting edge strategies to break their traditional marketing approach.

In the information age it is no longer necessary to spend 1000’s of dollars on off line marketing pieces that more often then not get thrown into the recycle bin without even the slightest glance. It doesn’t matter how cool your graphic designer is, or how glossy the card stock you use – the fact remains that if you do not implement an online lead generation strategy or better yet a social media lead generation strategy then you can literally kiss goodbye a huge percentage of buyers and sellers looking for the most savviest Realtor online…

I can assure you that climbing the SERPs for the term “my city real estate” or “real estate in my city” is not going to cut it anymore. So stop spending your money on pay per click campaigns, and “SEO” companies that claim to get you to #1 in Google for $1000 or more per month – that is just not cool and will not work anymore…

What will work is having a cutting edge content management system that looks sleek, showcases your listings with the class and style they deserve online today, and making it fun and easy for your leads to keep up with you, your team, and the valuable information you continuously provide because they opt in on their own – they want to learn from you, they want to buy and sell with you. And, most importantly they want to refer you to everyone they know because of the experience they had while working with you.

So why the REVA Institute (Real Estate Virtual Assistant) you ask? Well that is simple:

• The Founders of The REVA Institute are not only extremely passionate about what they do,  have a proven track record of providing top notch support to very successful Realtors, have built a huge amount of credibility and respect right across the industry, and are innovative and current.
• The REVA Institute is designed for both Virtual and In House Real Estate Assistant’s. Think about it. How cool is that! How many places do you know of that you can send your In House Assistant to learn all the in’s and out’s of the business right from their own desktop?
• They offer a comprehensive certification program, and a sensible place to network, learn and share idea’s.

So, as you can see it makes sense for a Realtor to turn to the REVA Institute to find the key players to make up their virtual work team that will ultimately take their business to the next level and generate 1000s of leads through Internet and Social Media Lead Generation!

Technorati Tags: socialmedialeadgeneration, internetleadgeneration, realestateleadgeneration, realestatevirtualassistant, revainstitute

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  • How did my blog feed become invalid?
  • Don’t count on your Twitter followers to increase the PageRank of your Twitter Page
  • Watch Out! The Mommy Manifesto Is Coming…
  • How To Use Twitterfall To Build Your List, Track Your Brand, and Be Productive! (In Honour of Earth Day)
  • How Realtors Can Generate 1000s of Leads With A Virtual Work Team
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