Ain’t no doubt about it. I speak geek — with a Southern drawl.

I’m easily distracted by shiny tech toys, how-to articles and Top 10 lists.

My mornings start with social networking updates and Google Reader. That’s how my evenings end, too.

When Anna invited me to write once in a while, I didn’t hesitate. Me and Anna go wa-ay back to the dark ages of the early dot com days. She was my first virtual assistant.

So… I rushed over here to share… my brain spinning like a hamster on those little whirly things. (Or is it guinea pigs that do that?)

Ooo, ooo, let’s talk about social networking. Twitter is my fave! No, let’s talk about “gadgets and gizmos a-plenty.” Blackberry, anyone? But, then… What are tools without strategy? And what good is a strategy without an online home base? (That’s a website in case you were wondering.)

I think I’ll share some links and come back a little later when the whirly thing slows down.

• Influencers: A Discussion About the Law of the Few
• Social Networking 101
• Backgrounds in Web Design: Examples and Best Practices
• 13.2 WordPress Plugins You May Not Know About
• You Can’t Get There from Here

Catch ya’ later with more Straight Talk & Tech Tips.

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If you’re a geeky gyrl but no fan of baseball, hang on a sec. There may be untapped opportunity for you on or near the diamond. And if you ARE a baseball fan, how fun would it be to be able to list a minor league franchise on your roster?

This summer I’ve been able to enjoy all of my son’s minor league games with the Orem Owlz live not because I am independently wealthy and able to follow him around the Pioneer League but because of all the technical constructs in place to deliver the game experience to fans in faraway places.

I can listen to every game for free, delivered via streaming audio. Not only that, I can get each day’s lineup as soon as it’s posted in the clubhouse via Twitter. I can see photos and video by visiting the team website and on their FaceBook page and over at Flickr. During the game, a live chatroom is open (again, all free) to anyone, so I can login there as soon as the announcer begins his pregame interview, and can interact with fans who are in Florida, Canada, Texas, and New York, or even with those who are in the stands since the ball park offers wifi.

In Rookie League ball, aka short season, the staff is friendly and accessible, and each person wears several hats. Visiting the stadium last week, I met the General Manager, the owners, the director of marketing, and numerous other friendly folks. Since the same person is in charge of producing prerecorded content and announcing the game live, interacting with fans in the chat room, and tweeting the game, you can quickly see that this one guy is spread very thin. This is where we geeky types come in.

There are jobs available to make all of this happen in minor league baseball, and you don’t have to go through the Major League front office to get them!

If your set of tech skills is a good match, you might be able to drum up some business for yourself in Minor League baseball. Here’s how to find the people you’ll need to talk to:

Go to http://mlb.com.

In the horizontal navigation bar, select “team sites,” and then pick any team listed there. For this example, go down the American League column and select the Los Angeles Angels. Now, in the nav bar, move your cursor over “roster” and scroll down to “minor league affiliates.”

in the case of the Angels, that will show you that they have minor league teams in the Dominican Republic, Tempe Arizona, Orem Utah, Cedar Rapids Iowa, Rahcho Cucamonga California, Little Rock Arkansas and Salt Lake City Utah. You can see the address and phone number of each of these affiliates, or click on one of the logos to go to that MiLB team’s website.

The higher up the team is in the system, the more tricky it is to gain access to the owners and staff info. But here’s the info on getting a job in MiLB via the 2009 Job Fair. And visiting the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes site, clicking on “Quakes Info” you can find out the name of all the office staff (no emails) and even a job openings listing.

Clicking on the Arkansas Travelers site’s “about” link, on the other hand, gives you names and email for every one working in that club.

So, fan or not, there are technical opportunities within Minor League Baseball. And, despite our sluggish economy, you can visit one of these ballparks near you this summer and see firsthand evidence that MiLB is doing it up right by charging fair prices for admission and food. Maybe your next client will be one of these teams!

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I wanted to talk about this for a few minutes. I had a great time!

I am @CandyTX and @2minuteswithava on Twitter
TweetCamp San Antonio Website
What are Hashtags? Click HERE
The #tweetcampsa hashtag

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About a month ago Candy talked about her new PalmPre so I thought it only fair to share some things about the Blackberry Pearl.

In the Smartphone world you can get in some great discussions when you bring up Palm vs. Blackberry. I happen to be a Blackberry girl. I have a Pearl and have clients (and many friends) that I have successfully moved to Blackberry devices.

As with all Smartphones you can get your e-mail, calendar, texting, and web access on the Pearl. When I first got my Pearl I went with the regular data plan through my cell provider. It worked great, but I had to tether to do syncs with my desktop. I was able to find some applications that did many of the over-the-air syncs which helped a lot. A few months ago one of my clients upgraded to a Blackberry Exchange Server and because I needed to have access to e-mail on that account I upgraded as well. That was the BEST possible upgrade I’ve ever done. Now everything syncs over the air – my calendar, my address book, task lists, everything. There is nothing better than being out somewhere and knowing that every single phone number you’d ever want is right there in your phone.

This Blackberry is my first trip into the Smartphone world and I was leery, at first, about whether I wanted and needed the added features of the phone. Today, I can’t imagine not having my phone next to me. When I decided to get the Pearl I was concerned with the size of the other Blackberries (at the time the Curve was the only other option available from my carrier). I liked the slim, sleek feel of the Pearl so I went with that. Unfortunately, I’ve quickly outgrown the phone however.

While I rave up and down, from here to Alaska about how great the phone is, I highly recommend getting at least a Curve if you are going to be a power user. If you’re not sure about the benefits of a Smartphone and want the smaller size the Pearl is an awesome phone. I’ve never regretted my decision to get the Pearl – I’m just very ready to upgrade (and have an appointment with my rep already for the day that my big credit is available for my new-every-two phone).

In the coming months I’ll share some of my “must have” Blackberry applications. For now, let me share one aspect that is unique to the Blackberry that I’ve grown to love: Blackberry Messenger. It’s a Blackberry instant message/text message program. But, it does so much more than that. You can have multi-user conversations. You can see when the other person has received AND read the message you’ve sent (which is great when I’m sending my assistant a message). You can share files and pictures. Best of all, it’s free for Blackberry users.

My Blackberry and I are very close.  It’s never far away; it’s my alarm clock in the morning and my link to friends and family throughout the day. I’m very much a Blackberry fan and when I meet someone with a Blackberry (especially if it’s new or another version than mine) I don’t hesitate to talk about it and I’ll even ask to play.

If that makes me a geek gyrl, so be it. I’ll take that title proudly.

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Social Media Marketing sure is HOT! I have been very successful in helping clients with my Social Media Marketing packages, but one of the questions I’m always asked is, ‘What are the benefits?’

While most clients want to be assured that closing new business is a part of the benefit, and it is, it is probably the least in overall importance to your total marketing efforts within this platform.

As a generally ‘free’ form of marketing, social media can generate incredible exposure for your business. With proper use of your profile areas, and links, you can create lots of exposure to your offerings.

Not only will this increase traffic to your web presence, but you can increase your subscribers/database by making sure that you have something to offer people, with little to no cost, when they first connect to your home page.

These tools can also connect you to new business opportunities and joint ventures. By searching for groups that connect to your target market, you will soon find others well suited to your niche. These connections can lead to some pretty incredible relationships with like-minded entrepreneurs.

All this activity, back and forth between your social media also helps to increase your search engine optimization. Sort of a nice bonus – you’ll be much more visible when people are looking for your products and services.

Participation in multiple social marketing communities and groups can also help to generate a more qualified lead. Connections can be made through mutual friends, testimonials and recommendations, all which help to establish you as a trusted expert. In many cases, the lead has already decided to do business with you before they ever make a connection.

And while I will say that these social media sites have certainly helped me to close sales with new prospects, many in areas of the world I might never have reached otherwise, I believe the most important benefit I’ve found to social media marketing is the overall reduction of my marketing expenses.

By adjusting my marketing plan and being consistent with social networking, I have been able to reach more prospective clients, build stronger relationships with current clients, peers, and colleagues, for little to no cost. How bad could that be?

So take the plunge. Get involved with Social Media…and enjoy the ride!

Jeannine Clontz, IVAA CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, owner of Accurate Business Services is a Virtual Assistant (VA). ABS provides ‘as needed’ marketing support to busy entrepreneurs. Clontz is a writer, author, VA Coach, and speaker on business topics including business ethics. For her free 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, send a request to: service@accbizsvcs.com. For more information visit: http://www.accbizsvcs.com, www.VAbizcoach.com or her book website http://www.entrepreneurialfreedom.com

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I found this great little Wordpress plugin for my blog, called Please Link 2 Me. It encourages readers to link to your articles from their website by providing them with the html, anchor text and all.

What is anchor text?

It’s a very powerful website optimization strategy that utilizes keyword links instead of  url links to point to a page or location and are used to indicate the subject matter of the page that it links to.

Anchor text enhances the relevance of the target page (<– that’s your page) and the inclusion of important keywords in the anchor text can make a big difference in the final ranking of your site pages in search engines. The objective of search engines is to provide highly relevant search results; this is where anchor text helps.

The use of this particular plugin encourages external backlinks to your website. Links coming from other URLs should use effective anchor text in order to associate keyword phrases with your  specific internal pages. Using this plugin allows you to control those external links by providing the link AND the anchor text.

Are you starting to see the value now?

The real key in making this work to your benefit is by giving your blog articles appropriate Titles using keywords. That’s another article altogether….

Here’s an extra tip for those that submit to article directories: use anchor text in your Author’s Resource Box.

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Summer brings vacations, time off and lazy days, and many of us don’t start to think about the impact on our businesses until we start planning a vacation. But one of the best things you can do for your business, your family and your sanity is to have an ongoing coverage plan for work. After all, you never really know when you might be out of the office unexpectedly, and the last thing you want is to have to scramble to make sure the needs of your clients are met.

There are a lot of ways you can keep your business running and prevent losing clients when you are not working. You may have clients that typically plan ahead for most of their work, so taking off a few days even without much notice may not impact them greatly. But if you have a large client base and a lot of work that tends to come in unanticipated, you’ll need a more formal plan in place.

One of the best ways to line up coverage is by collaborating with a fellow VA. If you subcontract work regularly, your subcontractors can be the ideal people to step in and cover for you. They already know some of your clients, understand their needs and know how you like to work. Or, even if you don’t subcontract, you can coordinate with another VA to create a vacation-coverage arrangement where you cover for each other. Plus, many times the coverage you will need while you are not working is simply having someone you trust checking and responding to e-mail and voicemail, so the time commitment shouldn’t be too great for either party.

Another thing to think about is creating a set of operations manuals that document how your business runs and the work you do for your clients. This is a huge project, but something you can start to tackle little by little and benefit from immediately. Not only can this type of manual be a working document for your own business, but it’s also something you can provide to your clients so they have some insurance that their own businesses will not hit a stand-still if you are not available.

How do you plan for time out of the office and ensure nothing falls through the cracks?

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Well, I promised an update months ago on our hiking adventure, at here it is, at the 11th hour, I might add.  We are heading out to the UK tomorrow and will spend 14 days hiking across three National Parks from the Cumbrian coast in the West to the Eastern Yorkshire Coast.  I am so psyched!  And from a philosophical perspective, it is so exciting to see a dream, and a plan turn to execution and reality.  For that I’m giving myself a pat on the back and probably a few band aids to the feet….

If anyone would like to join us virtually – we had to make it geeky, of course – we will be blogging from the fells and dales (cell phone connection permitting) to our hiking blog at:  http://wrightsolution.wordpress.com.   Please visit and sign up for updates on our journey.  (Lots of pictures of Carla and me dripping wet in raincoats, I’m sure!)  We’re also raising money for cancer research and would welcome a small donation to the cause via the donation button on the blog.  We’ve already raised over $1000!!

Here we go.  See you later!

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As I walk into my office every morning, I check all of my social networking sites only to find that 2 hours have passed by and I haven’t even begun to work. With so many sites out there for social networking and the time it takes to read, update and communicate, I have to wonder how long it will last before the system breaks down from lack of commitment.
I am THE prime example. I have been a geek gyrl from the beginning but have only posted one blog. I have a ton of information to share, but I just cannot find the time to blog about it. I’ve created a possible solution for myself. The time that I spend standing in line in the grocery store, bank, etc. is when I think about blogging ideas. But, by the time I sit down to write about it, a million other things have happened and I have either forgotten about it, or just cannot find the time.
Recently I took a trip to see my son, who is a Marine stationed in North Carolina. My husband, 2nd son, and I took turns driving so, I took out my blackberry and started voice recording my blogs. What a GREAT IDEA. Now I am constantly recording little messages, blog ideas and notes to myself when I am standing in line at the grocery store, bank, etc. I get a lot of strange looks at times, but I need to organize every minute of my day and it is a perfect use of time instead of skimming through gossip magazines.
So the question of Social Networking – Fad or is it here to stay? That is a question that I feel is too early to answer. But as long as it is the hottest thing out there, why not seize the opportunity and let’s see if it sticks.

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Not so fast! Don’t click that tiny URL yet because it could be malicious. Over the years, Internet users have learned not to follow suspicious links but many blindly follow shortened URLs. Scammers, phishers, and affiliate marketers know this and regularly use shortened URLs to bypass security controls and trick unsuspecting users into visiting malicious Web sites. Clicking a malicious URL, whether in its original form or shortened, can infect your computer with malware or worse!

URL shortening services such as TinyURL.com have been around since the early 2000s. Originally designed to make long URLs easier to deal with, URL shortening services are now a must for anyone who uses microblogging sites such as Twitter. After all, with Twitter’s 140 character limit, a single URL quickly fills the entire post. By using a tiny URL, tweeters are able to explain what the link is about. URL shortening services are enjoying a resurrection thanks to Twitter and other microblogging sites.

Because short URLs often mask malicious URLs, smart Twitter users don’t randomly click these links. If the link is from a trusted source, such as CNN, the URL is most likely safe. However, links in re-tweets, from people you do not know, or found via Twitter Search may be suspect. Imagine searching twitter for “free coupon codes” and finding a Tweet with a short URL directing you to a “free coupon codes” Web site. Sounds perfect, right? So you click on the short URL only to find a nasty surprise: pornography, a scam site, or a driveby download.

One way to avoid these surprises is to use a URL expanding service or a URL preview if offered. Several URL expanding services such as ExpandMyURL.com and PrevURL.com allow you to copy and paste the short URL into a text box. Once entered, you will see the long form of the URL and, in some cases, a snapshot of the Web page that the URL represents. Once you see the long URL, you’ll be better able to determine if it is a worthwhile site. For example, a URL such as CNN.com/headlines is legitimate while a URL like HotSexPhotos.com/Priscilla is obviously a porn site.

Another technique is to type the word “preview” in front of the short URL. This works for URLs made with the TinyURL.com service. For example, if the short URL looks like “tinyurl.com/12345,” entering “preview.tinyurl.com/12345″ will take you to the TinyURL.com home page where you will see the original long form of the URL.

An add-on for the Firefox Web browser is also available from LongURLplease.com. This add-on automatically replaces short URLs with the original long URL, allowing you to be better informed before you click.

Short URLs have their place and are becoming extremely popular once again due to the popularity of microblogging. While most short URLs are legitimate links, enough of them point to malicious or pornographic sites. Use common sense and make sure that before you click, you expand the URL.

Be Smart. Be Safe.

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