One of the most popular training certification course right now is VAClassroom’s Social Marketing Specialist Program. Craig Cannings, the co-founder of VAclassroom.com and developer of this program, has seen so many amazing testimonies on how this niche training program has helped to increase many of their graduates’ client and income opportunities!

VAClassroom is running a very attractive summer special on this course where you can access a $100 discount off the regular price of $397 (ONLY $297). The course includes over 30 interactive videos, supplementary resources guides, action-plan templates as well as an exclusive Social Network designed for our Social Marketing Students to connect with instructors and each other – a great learning atmosphere!

“If you are looking to further your Virtual Assistant skills in the area of Social Media Marketing then don’t overlook the Social Marketing Specialist Training Program offered at VAClassroom. The course material is extensive, current and very relevant to any business looking to leverage social media into their marketing plans.

In fact, within 1 month of completing the program, I secured a Social Media project that more than paid for the tuition of the course. Now that’s a good return on investment!”

Theresa Scholes
ClickVA

Here is the link and Coupon Code for the Social Media Marketing Training Program:
http://www.vaclassroom.com
$100 Discount Coupon: SUMMER09

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Looking through magazines for gift ideas I stumbled upon something I hadn’t seen in years, a glass piggybank. I recall receiving one when I opened my first savings account. It forced me to continue to save because I didn’t want to ‘break’ it until it was completely full, or I had enough to purchase something I really wanted. My eyes were always on the prize.

By the ‘80’s piggybanks had changed; they had stoppers in the bottom to remove money whenever you wanted. By not having to keep adding to your savings until you’d reached your goal, many times they were never met. The bank became a place to gather loose change but it took away the demand that you reach a goal or lose it all, by having to ‘break the bank’.

I think about my business goals in somewhat the same way. I have to find ways of making myself accountable to reaching my goals. Last year, I setup several reminders to check on my 2008 goals. When I got the first reminder, I realized, – YIKES, now where did I put those goals? J I was not contributing to them as I would have liked.

It’s difficult when you’re the boss, isn’t it? How can we make ourselves accountable for the goals we need to keep our businesses afloat in these challenging times?

Many of us struggle with this, so I found someone who is willing to help me stay focused on achieving my 2009 goals. And I’m doing the same for her!

Now do not beat yourself up if you don’t achieve a goal. They are always evolving to meet the demands of whatever’s going on in your industry, or marketplace, to help your business stay strong.

So set some attainable goals for where you’d like to see yourself in 2009. Find someone you trust who will help you stay on track and make you accountable for the goals you’ve set.

Re-invent yourself and keep making deposits in your unbreakable piggybank of growth. Stay positive and watch what happens.

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I recently did a Squidoo page (lens) for an author and ran across 2 widgets that are perfect for a pre-release book launch.

One is a Countdown widget and the other is the Amazon Spotlight widget.

There are a couple of Amazon widgets that do different things, but Amazon Spotlight allowed me to specify the author’s book on Amazon.com.  What’s cool is that it has a Buy Now button and everything, allowing this Squidoo page to easily act as the book’s sales page, if you don’t already have one.

Squidoo provides many widgets to make your page interesting and interactive. The fun part is finding the ones that will give your page that extra pop.

The Countdown widget supplies an air of anticipation and excitement to the page when your book is scheduled to be published and you have the date. Not sure what it looks like after the date comes and goes. Will keep you posted on that one.

If you want, check it out at The Introverted Leader.  It’s a good example of how authors and writers can use Squidoo to promote their book.

Social Network Marketing to the rescue!

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Ever since Facebook announced the changes they made to how Facebook Business Pages work there have been plenty of articles out there giving us the lowdown on how we can use these new features to our advantage in our businesses and client’s businesses.

In the spirit of this blog, I would like to share those resource links with all of you. They have really helped me to gain a better grasp of it all, so I’m hoping they’ll help you as well.

Click Newz

TechCrunch

Mari Smith

All Facebook

Mashable

All Facebook (more)

Advertising Age

All Facebook (even more)

A Virtual Business Solution

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Ever wonder how you can become a content machine? Not to worry! If you’re not the creative genius you always hoped you’d be, you’re in luck. You don’t have to be a writing machine if you know where to look…which is right in your own backyard.

There’s something I always want you to continue saying to yourself – “repurpose my content, repurpose my content, repurpose my content”. Take newsletter or ezine articles you’ve done and repurpose them. Take forum answers you’ve spent time on and repurpose them. I find some of the best topics for articles comes in the form of questions my target audience is asking. Forums and Yahoo Groups I belong to make an excellent breeding ground for what people really want to know more about or are having trouble with, and which you can provide answers to…in the form of an article, of course.

Where can you post all this content treasure you’re building up?

Using content sharing sites such as HubPages and Squidoo are not only easy, they are fun to use. These sites have widgets and gadgets to make a more interesting article page. By adding pictures, user interactivity, videos, or incoming RSS feeds, Twitter Search to pull in tweets about your topic, eBay, countdowns, sports information, newswires…the list goes on, they offer up some great design and layout options for the complete newbie.

Plus, here’s the real bonus: the search engines just love them! Both are free to use. Both offer stats so you know how popular your articles are, where the traffic is coming from, what outgoing links were clicked on, etc.

New features are regularly being added to these sites. Recently, Squidoo announced that you can push your Squidoo lens (the article) out to your Twitter stream, making your content even more viral. What a marketing bonus!

When creating your hubpage or Squidoo lens, don’t forget to give yourself some link love by including a link back to your own website, for those all-important external links. Both sites encourage their authors to post multiple articles on as many topics as you want. Try to keep them centered on your business or industry. You are not limited to just one.

Blogging vs. Article Marketing vs. Non-traditional article sites

Sometimes I struggle with this myself, but the real point to spreading it around is to give you more exposure in various places on the Internet, plain and simple. Repurpose your content and create different versions of your articles to post on all three areas, and you’ll be good.

Think of it as a magic triangle of Article SEO:

1. You have your article posted as a blog post,
2. you have a slightly different version of the same article posted in an article directory, such as www.ezinearticles.com,
3. then you have another slightly different version of the article published on HubPages.

It’s quite common to easily own several top spots on Google for the same search term. All with links to your website and including your primary keywords and phrases. What a great opportunity to display expertise in your field!

Sound appealing? Yeah, thought so.

Be sure to visit and participate in these websites to gain a greater advantage in search engine visibility over your competitors:

HubPages: www.hubpages.com

Squidoo: www.squidoo.com

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Everyone is talking about social media marketing.  All of my clients and the leads I receive call me telling me that they need, want and have to have a blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.  They don’t know why…they just know they do because everyone’s talking about it and everyone’s doing it.

So I get a barrage of phone calls and emails saying “I need it but why do I need it?” Some people get it, some people kinda get it and some people – you know – get that glazed over look in their eyes where they’re thinking “crazy marketing girl say what?“

If you’ve been struggling to wrap your head around social networking, this video by Perry Belcher on Social Media Marketing will definitely be helpful!

If you want to save half an hour to an hour of unbillable time (not to mention your sanity) explaining social media marketing to people over and over again, then definitely put this video into your toolbox for explaining to clients what it’s all about and why it’s so dang important! 

Okay, here’s the parental advisory – I think there’s one “bad word” Perry drops in this video…nothing you haven’t heard before and not bad for a 10 minute video actually – I probably would of had more slip than just one – however, just in case there are kids in the room or in ear shot, be advised. Other than that – this dude is freakin’ hilarious and makes me giggle while clearly explaining social networking in a way we can all grasp.

If you can’t see the video below, click here.   (also look below the video for some great book resources on social media marketing!)

By the way, here are a couple of fabulous books over on Amazon that I recommend on Social Media Marketing.

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