Two fun web sites today. First, thanks to Rick in Minneapolis for the Solid Waste What to do Site (http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/solid-waste/what-to-do-A.asp). OK fun might not be the operative word – but it’s super useful for finding out what you can recycle, what is potentially hazard and other stuff.
The second is Groupon (http://www.groupon.com) – it’s a super fun one-coupon-a-day service. I have been jealous of this service in Chicago and they are looking at expanding. My hope is that if we all sign up they’ll get going in Minneapolis a little faster.
Yesterday I got to speak with a group of business owners in Owatonna about social media. They are part of a CEO Peer Council sponsored by Enterprise Minnesota. They were a fun group of folks. Some had signed up for Twitter but never used it; most had kids on Facebook; some used YouTube, email lists and LinkedIn; most sent text messages; all wanted to learn more.
I’ll post the presentation I gave below. The group was also interested in some how-to materials so I’ve gathered a list of past Byte on how-tos for them:
Today’s Byte is kind of a cheat in that I’m copying from a resource I found. Here’s a way to close lots of Word Documents at once – if like me you ever realized you have way too many open:
To save or close multiple documents at the same time in Word
- Hold down the Shift key while clicking the File menu option. This will bring up two hidden options in the File menu: Save All and Close All.
- Select the option for the task you want to perform.
When you select Close All, Word will ask you if you want to Save your changes. Choose this option if you want to save all your work and close out of Word quickly.
I got this from Vicki’s Tech Tips: http://www.vickiblackwell.com/tips.html She has lots of simple and super helpful Word type tips.
Today I’m giving a presentation to the Professional Women in Real Estate group in St Paul Minnesota. I’m excited to talk with the group. I suspect that everyone is coming at it with very different levels of experience and expertise. Here is the presentation I’m going to use.
I think I’ll also mention the Minnesota Voices Online list – the focus is rural and more community building but I think it’s a good group for anyone looking to implement a social media plan.
Today’s Byte is only kind of tech related. It’s a fun site that will help you come up with recipes based on what you have in your kitchen.
Super Cook: http://www.supercook.com
You enter your ingredients and it will give you a list of recipes that requires only those ingredients.
It will remember your ingredients – you can modify the list easily. You could also ask for ideas for recipes that only require a few more ingredients. It will even kick out a shopping list for you.
I thought it would be a good tool for the first week of school
Today someone asked me how to drive traffic to their site. I know I’ve written on this before but I thought that if I came up with a list of 7 things to do that Byte readers might find that to be interesting too. So here it is:
1. Give them a reason to visit the site today. Maybe a coupon, a special recipe, a video – whatever you think would motivate your target visitors.
2. Email (call or send a postcard) to past visitors and/or customers. Personalize it as much as you can.
3. Send a link to five well connected friends or colleagues and ask them to send it on. But again give them a reason. “I’m offering a free poster on my web site, would you post it on Facebook?” works better than, “Will you ask your friends to visit my site, I build trucks.”
4. Get connected yourself and post your link (on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter…)
5. Visit blogs that relate to your site. Post a comment. Don’t try to sell your site. Write something so clever or smart that they want to see who you are and link without you pushing.
6. Remember to tell people to visit your site when you meet or see them – draw on that reason to visit.
7. Give them a reason to visit in the future. Change up your reason to visit. Put a time stamp on the coupon, create a new video, have a monthly contest. Allow people to sign up for an email announcement of changes or subscribe via RSS.
It’s hardly an exhaustive list but these are mostly the kinds of things you can do when you have downtime. Most things will also give you an excuse to contact people and strengthen relationships and that’s always good for business too.
