Some books you read to learn, some for entertainment and others just because. I love all three options, but when I read to learn I have a strategy to retain the information. I rarely just read a book in bed that is about business, finance, law or psychology, but I do read those types of books regularly. I normally read business books at a coffee shop, book store, outside, in a recliner or at a desk, but no matter where I read them it’s generally mid-day. For some reason my brain is ready for this information either after a few hours of being awake but not before bed. I just don’t want to focus after a full day on more things I need to learn, but that is a personal preference.

A few things to consider:

• Always take notes, the whole book isn’t full of gems so keep track of where they are.
• I love reading on my iPad so I can book mark pages easily, but sometimes it’s distracting.
• My iPad allows me to quickly see the definition of words I’m unfamiliar with.
• I often read with my computer nearby so I can look up anyone the author likes to name-drop.
• Reading near my computer allows me to take additional notes, faster.
• If you want to learn more about something, don’t be afraid to walk away from the book and come back.
• It never hurts to re-read something important.
• If you like a quote, say it once and then write it down.

It’s not hard, mostly just the same kind of thing you would do in college to study or retain information. Read, take notes, and rethink how it applies to you. Then write a blog post about it, it’s kind of the grown up version of essay writing.

I’m trying to optimize the layout and content of my resume to make it more obvious what my skill set and competencies are. My previous ones where not very specific to project management or marketing and haven’t got me very far. I do believe the lord leads us where he needs or wants us, but I also believe you don’t get places without putting in some energy. God doesn’t approve of idle hands and helps those who put in the effort to get where they want to go. An old chinese proverb says a man who rises before the sun and goes to bed after dawn is seldom is unsuccessful, kind of a twist on the old adage the early bird get’s the worm.

I’m just doing my due diligence to try to be the best possible candidate for my dream position, but would love any thoughts or insight, you my reader, may have for me. What tips do you think make a successful job candidate?

How to Customize Social Media Icons

Their are many ways to customize social icons. I have used plugins, customized icons, and redesigned widgets. It took me a while to figure out how to do each of these and what you use will vary on your interactive skills. If you are new to the web, go for easier options like plugins.

*Free Icons

Social Media Sharing for Noobs

If you are new online, and using WordPress for your site or blog plugins will be your best friend. A few easy to install and use sharing plugins include:

• Facebook Like
• TweetMeme
• AddThis
• Share This
• Socialable
• Notable

Custom Social Media Sharing (Advanced)

You will need to have access to your site’s FTP, understand HTML/PHP, and know exactly where you want your buttons to show up in the WordPress Loop. If any of what I just said sounds foreign to you, email me and I’ll charge you $160 to do it all for you (plus icon design if you don’t choose one of my freebie packs but their are over 100 of them). If everything I’ve said so far sounds doable to you, continue onward…

*Please don’t email me asking for free help. NO, no and no. My blog is free, my time is not.

**Add the following code wherever you want the icon(s) to show up. Anything in bold may need edited by you.

Custom Email Sharing Icon

This code will also add whatever subject you want.

<a href=”mailto:?subject=YOUR EMAIL SUBJECT HERE&amp;body=EMAIL BODY HERE Ie. Check out http://coolriverranch.com” target=”_blank” title=”Share Cool River Ranch’s Horses via Email“><img src=”http://example.com/youricon.png” alt=”Share via Email thanks to Desaraev” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

 

Example: <a href=”mailto:?subject=I wanted you to see this horse&amp;body=Check out http://coolriverranch.com” TARGET=’_blank’ title=”Share Cool River Ranch’s Horses via Email”><img src=”http://coolriverranch.com/wp-content/themes/ePhoto/images/whitemail.png” alt=”Share Horse via Email” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

Custom Twitter Sharing Icon

This code will share your page via the user’s Twitter account. Everything in bold needs changed to match your site preferences.

<a href=”http://twitter.com/home?status=I like YOUR SITE NAME <?php the_permalink(); ?>” TARGET=’_blank’ title=”Share YOUR COMPANY NAME via Twitter thanks to Desaraev“><img src=”http://yoursite.com/yourimageurl.png” alt=”Share this site via Twitter” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

 

Example: <a href=”http://twitter.com/home?status=I like this horse <?php the_permalink(); ?>” TARGET=’_blank’ title=”Share Cool River Ranch’s Horses via Twitter”><img src=”http://coolriverranch.com/wp-content/themes/ePhoto/images/whitetwitter.png” alt=”Share Horse via Twitter” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

Custom Facebook Sharing Icon

This code will also add whatever subject you want.

<a href=”http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=<?php the_permalink(); ?>” TARGET=’_blank’ title=”Share YOUR SITE via Facebook“><img src=”http://yoursite.com/imgurl.png” alt=”Share  via Facebook thanks to Desaraev” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

 

Example: <a href=”http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=<?php the_permalink(); ?>” TARGET=’_blank’ title=”Share Cool River Ranch’s Horses via Facebook”><img src=”http://coolriverranch.com/wp-content/themes/ePhoto/images/whitefacebook.png” alt=”Share Horse via Facebook” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

Custom Digg Sharing Icon

This code will also add whatever subject you want.

<a href=”http://digg.com/submit?url=<?php the_permalink(); ?>” TARGET=’_blank’ title=”Share  via Digg”><img src=”http://yoursite.com/urlfortheimageicon.png” alt=”Share via Digg thanks to Desaraev and Agency Couture” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

 

Example: <a href=”http://digg.com/submit?url=<?php the_permalink(); ?>” TARGET=’_blank’ title=”Share Cool River Ranch’s Horses via Digg”><img src=”http://coolriverranch.com/wp-content/themes/ePhoto/images/whitedigg.png” alt=”Share Horse via Digg” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

Custom LinkedIn Sharing Icon

This code will also add whatever subject you want.

<a href=”http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=<?php the_permalink(); ?>&title=YOURNAME&summary=I Love this site and thanks @Desaraev for this custom icon&source=<?php the_permalink(); ?>” TARGET=’_blank’ title=”Share  via LinkedIn thanks to Desaraev”><img src=”http://yoursite.com/icon.png” alt=”Share via LinkedIn thanks to Desaraev and Linkedin” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

 

Example: <a href=”http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=<?php the_permalink(); ?>&title=CoolRiverRanchHorse&summary=I Love Cool River Ranchs Hores&source=<?php the_permalink(); ?>” TARGET=’_blank’ title=”Share Cool River Ranch’s Horses via LinkedIn”><img src=”http://coolriverranch.com/wp-content/themes/ePhoto/images/in.png” alt=”Share Horse via LinkedIn” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

Custom MySpace Sharing Icon

This code will also add whatever subject you want.

<a href=”Http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=postto&t=YOUR SITE NAME OR COMPANY&c=I LOVE THIS SITE OR WHAT YOU WANT THEIR NOTE TO SAY BY DEFAULT&u=<?php the_permalink(); ?>&l=<?php the_permalink(); ?>” TARGET=’_blank’ title=”Share via MySpace thanks to Desaraev”><img src=”http://yoursite.com/thelinktotheicon.png” alt=”Share via MySpace thanks to Desaraev” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

 

Example: <a href=”Http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=postto&t=COOL RIVER RANCH&c=I LOVE HORSES&u=<?php the_permalink(); ?>&l=<?php the_permalink(); ?>” TARGET=’_blank’ title=”Share Cool River Ranch’s Horses via MySpace”><img src=”http://coolriverranch.com/wp-content/themes/ePhoto/images/my.png” alt=”Share Horse via MySpace” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

 

Custom StumbleUpon Sharing Icon

This code will also add whatever subject you want.

<a href=”http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=<?php the_permalink(); ?>” TARGET=’_blank’ title=”Share YOUR SITE NAME via Stumble Upon thanks to Desaraev”><img src=”http://yoursite.com/linktoicon.png” alt=”Share via Stumble Upon thanks to Desaraev” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

 

Example: <a href=”http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=<?php the_permalink(); ?>” TARGET=’_blank’ title=”Share Cool River Ranch’s Horses via Stumble Upon”><img src=”http://coolriverranch.com/wp-content/themes/ePhoto/images/whitestumbleupon.png” alt=”Share Horse via Stumble Upon” border=”0″ style=”float:left;” width=”30px;”></a>

My baby brother is in Kosovo, this is his second tour. I received an email from his hotmail account today, with a random link that I would immediately recognize as spam. My first instinct was to let him know via Facebook and send him an email telling him to change his password. Since he was overseas, I also took the liberty of emailing everyone else I noticed got the email with a few friendly tips including not to click on the link.

Here are a few tips to keep your password and information safe from hackers:

Do you own a small business and want to take that business online? Farmers, doctors, lawyers and restaurant owners all are in completely separate industries of business, but can all reap the rewards of sharing knowledge and gaining an online customer base. Any small business owner or corporate looking to succeed markets their business in one way or another, and you do not have to know how to program, use Photoshop to design materials, or spend hours learning about search optimization and Google Web Standards (not that you can’t or that it wont help your business in the long run – they are great things to know). Instead you could just hire me, Desarae Veit, and my company Agency Couture to help you build an online presence and promote your company.
Any like any store front, you have a home base and in the online world that base is your website. It’s were your customers will go to learn more about you, your products, services and if you choose we can integrate an ecommerce store so clients can purchase your products or services online.
The next step is to make sure your site is optimized, in short this means to make sure people can find you but optimization is so much more. Optimization is the process of getting your business found in search engines (ranking for keywords and phrases that your customers will use to try and find you), it is the process of making sure your site is handicap friendly based on ADA regulations, and that it is fast and efficient for all browsers. You can sum up search optimization as the standardization for great websites.
And finally relationship building and customer service, the back-bone of any good business. Social media can be used for lead generation, customer support, relationship building, reputation management and keeping in contact with customers. It really has a million uses and the first step is to make sure that we get your networks branded and customized to tell your story. Once they are setup (and we’ve picked a couple of niche networks that are popular for your industry) we invite your current customers to join the conversation – if there isn’t one already. Telling YOUR story is just as much about you as it is about your customers and getting them excited to keep coming back to your brand.
Promoting your company involves ongoing content building and campaigns including contests, blogging, writing about your product, using existing advertising tools and email newsletters. Depending on your product or service we may integrate video, event planning, photos and other tools that would interest your customers and entice new customers to purchase your products and services.
Finally we track the progress of these campaigns based on your goals. What goals? Well, we’ll help you develop a few based on your products and services. They may include getting sponsorship if you are a non-profit. If you are a doctor it may involve finding new clients or making sure people in your area know about specific procedures and why you are the best at your job. If you are a handy man or women we can help you show prospective clients that you are a leading professional in your industry and teach them about specific tools of the trade. In the case of retail your goals may include brand awareness, customer support, training, and retention. Once we have set a list of goals and begin defining your story, it’s onto metrics and analytics. We use tools to track your progress and determine over time which campaigns are helping you progress with your goals. Then make changes to the campaign based on what we have learned.

I’ve wondered from time to time if some people follow me just to put up hate mail, or comment every time I do something they don’t like. I don’t intentionally go out into the world to piss people off. It doesn’t stop people from complaining about my occasional typos or bad grammar. Nor does it stop someone from telling me they hate my design skills. On occasion I’ve been told I’m everything from pretty, to ugly, to stupid or that I just look like a dumb blonde. For the most part I try to take it in stride and ask myself if I did anything to provoke the nay sayers.

Some people I’ve met in person. One or two I’ve dated. Some haters come from work or school. Some don’t hate me, they are just really picky about grammar. In any case, I’m not saying all I get is negative comments but I do wonder how you deal with them. I doubt they will be the last negative mentions I receive. I say that because it would be impossible to completely block them, if I really wanted to. One or two I’ve tried, it’s all but impossible. None of them are nearly annoying or scary enough to get a restraining order on. In any case I can’t block them all from my YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, 65 websites and hundreds of other social networks.

So now I simply ask myself, for the people I barely know or the ones I may have met once or twice: What could I possibly have done to you to merit a bashing (even if it is only every 3-6 months). If you don’t like my blog, why not stop reading? What do you get out of it?

As far as my grammar, I don’t market myself as a copy writer. As far as doing social media for clients, I believe my writing skills are fine (I always hire an editor). And while I don’t have the money to pay them to edit all my blogs, who cares? I know if my grammar looked really bad it could seem unprofessional, I know. On the other hand, one of my favorite bloggers and make-up artists KandeeJohnson.com has horrible spelling and grammar in all of her posts and no one ever says a thing.

So now I ask, what would you do? At this point – I’m not sure what advice I would give someone else. I’ve tried everything. Blocking, .HTACCESS file ip blocks, just deleting the comments, just ignoring the comments and letting other readers comment for me, try to play nice and just respond as best as I can, but it’s draining. I don’t want to stop blogging, but I don’t enjoy negativity. One bad comment can really pull the ‘oomph’ out of your step. For every hundred comments, one negative comment still gets to me. And yes, I read every comment I receive and the positive ones really do make my day.

I suppose in some ways it’s my fault, I put myself out there. I’m online. I’m not a celebrity by any means, but like celebrities they can’t control the paparazzi and people will always have one eye hoping they both succeed and fail.