I discovered a great list, called "Life's little instructions". A 95-year old, successful man named William Snell wrote it for a young friend in 1993 (the year I graduated from art school). This list speaks to me and I love it! 

His words of inspiration:

• Sing in the shower.
  
• Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.
  
• Watch a sunrise at least once a year.
  
• Never refuse homemade brownies. -huuge smile-
  
• Strive for excellence, not perfection.
  
• Plant a tree on your birthday.
  
• Learn three clean jokes.
  
• Returned borrowed vehicles with the gas tank full.
  
• Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.
  
• Leave everything a little better than you found it.
  
• Keep it simple.
  
• Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures.
  
• Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
  
• Be forgiving on yourself and others.
  
• Say "thank you" a lot.
  
• Say "please" a lot.
  
• Avoid negative people.
  
• Wear polished shoes.
  
• Remember other people's birthdays.
  
• Commit yourself to constant improvement.
  
• Have a firm handshake.
  
• Send lots of valentines cards, sign them.
  
• Look people in the eye.
  
• Be the first to say "hello".
  
• Return all things you borrow.
  
• Make new friends but cherish the old ones.
  
• Keep secrets.
  
• Plant flowers every spring.
  
• Have a dog.
  
• Always accept an outstretched hand.
  
• Stop blaming others.
  
• Take responsibility for every area of your life.
  
• Wave at kids in school buses.
  
• Be there when people need you.
  
• Don't expect life to be fair.
  
• Never underestimate the power of love.
  
• Drink champagne for no reason at all.
  
• Live your life as an exclamation, not an explanation.
  
• Don't be afraid to say, "I made a mistake".
  
• Don't be afraid to say, "I don't know".
  
• Compliment even small improvements.
  
• Keep your promises no matter what.
  
• Marry only for love.
  
• Rekindle old friendships.
  
• Count your blessings.
  
• Call your mother.
  
• And your father too, if they happen to be alive. 
  

It doesn’t matter what kind of business you are in. Whether you are a small business, single person shop, a growing family business, a successful employer of dozens of people, your goal is the same. You want to get the word out about what you have to offer. Obviously, you know about the importance of having business cards and a website.  You might also need to have printed materials to give to customers to tell them about existing or new services.  It might be to your advantage to have a Facebook page, a Twitter account, or paid advertising. As you weigh the advantages and disadvantages of various forms, don’t forget that you might be able to get some ** FREE ** publicity from your local newspaper.  

Here are some ideas:

• Business sections of the local paper often have listings of new hires. If you hire Suzie Q as your new bookkeeper or customer service representative, let the community know. 
• Specialty certifications can give your company a leg up over the competition. Make sure you announce those accomplishments with a short (three sentences are enough) press release and photo.
• If your business is doing something to help a local family or a non-profit, share that information with the local media.
• Pitch a story idea to an editor for a holiday or a special occasion. It could be simple… a Christmas tree farm could invite a photographer to visit the first weekend of December and follow a family. Maybe Girl Scouts are coming to your bakery to learn about frosting cakes. All it takes is a phone call. You could find yourself on Page 1!

How do you introduce yourself? What information do you present in the first ten seconds? How do you finish?  Making the sale is all about how you structure your pitch. Executive coach and public speaker Kathy McAfee explains how to properly construct an introduction to maximize your time efficiency. McAfee argues that while showing excitement for your product is important, it's paramount to show restraint and tease the audience into wanting more. Once you get into the conversation with the audience, McAfee shows how to keep potential investors interested without letting them dominate the discussion.

A well-written article can:

• help you build your profile as an expert
• draw traffic to your site, and
• help you to build a database of potential clients through associated e-courses or a newsletter.

So far you probably haven't heard anything you didn't already know. What YOU are likely to be struggling with is the process of actually writing the article. Sure, you can come up with the content - but how do you really grab those readers? How do you keep their attention all the way through? And most importantly, how do you make them want to come back for more? 

Let's assume that you understand the basics of constructing and editing an article (it has a beginning, middle, and an end and you know how to check the grammar and spelling.) Most of us can manage that. But if you're not content with simply "getting something out there" - if you want to WIN readers - then you need to start thinking about what they want to know, rather than what you want to tell them. 

Put your readers first - every time. Give them what they want, and they'll be queuing up to read anything you produce. Give them something bland (or worse, blatantly self-serving) and they'll blast by you so fast you'll be spinning in the back draft. 

The following four steps will give you a blueprint for writing articles that captivate your readers - whatever the topic. 

1. Find Out What Your Readers Really Want
Sometimes you'll know what they want because you're an expert in the field, and understand the problems. If you don't know the subject area well, you'll have to do more research. Look for forums on your topic and see what people are discussing. What are the problems that need solving? Can you provide an answer? ("If they have a headache, give them an aspirin.") 

2. Start With An Attention-Grabber
Spend time working on your opening. Try to avoid trite questions like "Have you ever wondered why so many people find it difficult to lose weight?" Firstly, it's dull. Secondly, it's not targeting the person reading the article - what do they care about the difficulties "many people" have with losing weight? They only care about THEIR weight problem! 

Try to come up with an opening paragraph that gives the reader that warm "Hey, this is about me!" feeling right away. Better still; try to generate a rush of excitement - "This could be the answer I've been looking for..." 

Example: "The diet gurus make it all sound so easy: to lose weight, all you have to do is expend more energy than you take in. Huh! If it were that simple, the "Big People" stores would be out of business in a heartbeat. Luckily for those of us who are tired of diets, gyms and dull group meetings, there is a back-to-basics way to tackle this. A way that won't cost you a fortune or leave you feeling deprived." 

3. Write As You Speak... Then Edit!
The sample opening above also illustrates the importance of the tone you use in your article. You need 'meat' in each article, of course, to make it worth reading - but make sure it's not indigestible! 

You're better off writing your article in a natural, relaxed style that's akin to normal conversation. It doesn't matter if the first draft is a little too informal - you can fix that when you edit. Naturally you don't want to irritate your readers with a too-breezy style, but too-formal is worse. Readers may want facts, tips, and strategies, but they hope to be entertained, too! Let your personality shine through. 

4. End On A High
What's one of the biggest problems with most articles? They fizzle out! Writers often don't know how to end on an upbeat note. They either just stop dead or they come up with a trite ending like: "So what are you waiting for? Get started today!" 

The beginning and the end of your article are the two parts that make the biggest impression. Start by creating a feeling of anticipation... and leave them feeling satisfied (or excited) when you finish. 

If you are offering advice to help them solve a problem (like obesity) gives your readers a reason to feel optimistic and good about them. Don't make rash promises... but do offer hope. If you are giving hints on marketing or business, sum up the benefits of acting on your tips. You can also experiment with using a pithy/humorous quote, or giving readers a specific action to get them started. Be creative - and don't rush it. 

Here's a final tip: create an article-writing cheat-sheet for yourself. Divide it into beginnings/middles/ends and add more useful strategies as you think of them. (For example, using the tips in this article, you might write: ENDINGS - end on a high, offer hope, use funny quote, suggest action to get started.) 

Do this, and you'll be steadily cranking out articles that everyone wants to publish!

Author Bio
Article by Terry Jackson. 

On March 30, 2012, all Facebook Pages will get a new design. Here is a helpful video from the Social Networking Academy, and a list of what changes are coming your way.

1). Cover Photo – Some interesting restrictions have been placed on what you can and can’t have on your cover photo;
Cover images must be at least 399 pixels wide and may not contain:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
  
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section. 
  
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features. 
  
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”.

2). Your Profile Picture which will initially be the top part of your avatar, must be square and at least 180px wide

3). You Can No Longer LAND on a Custom Tab!!! Welcome pages and tabs still exist, but you can no longer default to land on any tabs. As with the timeline on your profile your photos and apps show in the central section in boxes, which means we can add a nice looking graphic to our Welcome pages and tabs to encourage people to click on them. Here’s what FB say about the central boxes;

Photos, likes and apps are now at the top of your Page. Photos show in the first spot, but you can change the order of everything else so people see what matters most. You can show a maximum number of 12 apps, so make sure to put your most important ones first.

I have to say I’m really disappointed that you can’t land on your custom landing tabs anymore, but somewhat relieved that we still have them!

4). You Can Pin Posts to the Top of Your Wall!The main design is the same as your profile page so as with that you can now add posts at different dates in the past, you can feature your post by clicking the star so it covers the width of your page, or you can hide it from your page altogether, but the really cool feature is being able to pin specific posts to the top, kind of like a ‘sticky’ post in forums.

5). There’s a brand new admin panel from which you can see your notifications, new likes, insights and the new private messages that people can now send you from your page! From your admin panel you will also see the Manage button which gives you access to the main editing section of your page (Basic Info, Manage Permissions, Apps and so on). Not much has changed in there apart from the Manage Permissions section which no longer has the default landing tab section! – Boo!

Also from the admin panel, you can access Facebook ads, a function to share your page and to invite friends, plus access to Facebooks help section.

6). New Message Feature! I mentioned above messages, well now your fans can message you directly! The messages will show within your admin panel and you can respond from there.

7). Tab Pages are now BIGGER! I believe the official size is 760px, I’ll keep you posted!

8). You will AUTOMATICALLY get the new design on March 30th. So jump in there and make the most of it, because it’s coming whether you like it or not!

The RSS Basics
If you are new to the terms RSS or news feeds then you are in the right place, read on and find out a little more about them and how they may offer you or your business a new way of communicating.

RSS Feeds or news feeds are growing quickly and have become a major part of the Internet but many users don't understand what they are. They allow people to see when their favourite websites have added new content without actually having to go to that website, this can be done through simple, often free pieces of software named RSS readers.

The term RSS is short for "Rich Site Summary" but many people now refer to it as "Really Simple Syndication". It was mainly used by news groups and sites to quickly share and broadcast their news with people. This proved to be a huge benefit as not only could they reach a huge audience quickly, they found that user's integrated feeds into their own website, this has been shown by the success of the BBC news feeds.

How to start using RSS feeds for your self?
In order for you to receive the latest news on topics of interest to you, firstly, you need a newsreader to be able to view the RSS feed. There are many to choose from, some Internet browsers such as Firefox (our favourite at Blueprint IT) have a built in RSS reader but there are many stand alone pieces of software which are also free that will enable you to receive the latest news. We will use Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer 7 as examples because they are very simple to use.

Once you have chosen your newsreader your ready to pick up news. Simply choose the websites with your favourite information on and if they have a news feed then all you have to do is subscribe to it (this is almost invariably free). You can subscribe to any RSS feeds by clicking on the orange RSS feed button symbol, this will allow you to receive all the news from that feed. Alternatively, some websites may not provide you with the RSS feed button but may provide you with a link, simply copy and paste this link into your news reader and you will be able to pick up the feed.

The RSS Feed will present you with a page full of news from the website that you chose. You have the option to subscribe to the RSS Feed, this will act like a bookmark that will let you visit the page at any time.

Alternatively, if you decided to use a standalone RSS Feed reader, you will automatically download the latest news through the software each time you open it.

There are many benefits to RSS Feeds to both business owners, customers and general internet users, it's just a quick and simple way to share or view news from your favourite sources with the minimum of effort.
By: Rob Jones  

You already know about the great potential in social networking sites for marketing your business, but you may not have thought of using the YouTube digital marketing channel as a part of your social media marketing mix, especially if your business isn’t media-related. However, it is a top way to show off your products or services, while engaging your current customers and reaching potential ones.

The possibilities are endless on how you can create intriguing videos and here are a few ways of using YouTube to drive traffic to your website that you should use once you commit, the top three of which are described below.

Top Way #1 – Identify the Keywords that Need to be Included in the Video
YouTube is the worlds 2nd largest search engine. It has hundreds of millions a user a day and every day thousands of hours of video content are added. YouTube is 4th largest web property in the world and is on the path to become the source of advertising and publishing new content.

Use the most highly searched, relevant keywords in your video title and description. There are tools that you can use to help you discover the keywords that are relevant to your business.

You can change your video’s title and description at any time if you find that the video is no longer coming up high in searches or if you want to explore a new “keyword market.” The right keywords will get you ranked higher in both YouTube and search engine searches.

When thinking of a title for your video, you should consider descriptive, eye catching phrases that the user would think of inserting in the search field in a search Engine. Possibly adding dates, time, location or something more unique and specific can drive higher ranking to your video.

When you add a description to your video, try to use complete sentences, add details like place, location, dates and something the user can relate to. When adding tags to your video always be consistent, use descriptive keywords and avoid keyword stuffing.

YouTube highly recommends using there Insight tool which gives results of demographics and data that can give you a better hand on whats working and whats not. Insight will help generate reports that tell you where there traffic is arriving from, what keywords are being searched and provide data that will help you see which target audience is viewing your video.

Top Way #2 – Include a Transcript of the Video
The transcript makes it easier for search engine spiders to identify the topic of your video, so indexing is more accurate, and any keywords in the dialog of your video get included, too, which can translate to higher ranking. Transcripts should be saved in the .txt format and can be uploaded using the Edit Captions button on your video’s YouTube page.

Follow this link to find a few very useful tips on how to create free high quality captions and check out a screenshot of what the Captions screen looks like:

Top Way #3 – Include a Call to Action
Perhaps the most important tip is to include a "call to action" in your video. In other words, tell the viewer what you want them to do (visit your site), why they should do so (for example, to purchase the product you’ve just showcased), and give them the means to do it.

There are several ways to go about it. There is a call-to-action overlay that you can customize to take viewers directly to your site from within the video.

In addition, remember to include your domain name in the description – use the complete URL to create an automatic hyperlink. You can also add annotations to your video.

These small, pop-up boxes can be used for things like recommending other related videos of yours, reminding viewers to subscribe to your channel and to like and share the video.

Creativity is inspired by the freedom of playfulness and fun.  “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” — Mary Lou Cook 

“The world is but a canvas to the imagination.”  — Henry David Thoreau 

“To draw, you must close your eyes and sing.” — Pablo Picasso 

“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” — Albert Einstein 

“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” — Joseph Chilton Pierce 

“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.” — John F. Kennedy 

Want to share your Facebook business page with all of your friends? First, sign into your Facebook profile (personal page). Then navigate to the url of your business page (i.e. www.facebook.com/your business name. If you are currently an admin of the business page, you will see a tab on the right side under Admins that says 'Invite Friends'. When you click on that button, the default window pops open to 'recent interactions', but if you hold down that drop down menu, you can select 'Search All Friends'. Click on each check box button of the individuals that you want to share your business Facebook page with then click submit. A confirmation window pops up stating 'We've let your friends know about your Page."