EXTREME CHANGES @ EXTREME EZINE. WHOOP!!

Posted on 2010.09.17 by Extreme Information

As Tupac said, “It never stops, when my mama ask me will I change, I tell her yeah, but it’s clear I’ll always be the same, until the end of time.” Change is sometimes inevitable, sometimes it is planned and sometimes it is unexpected. The first black President campaigned on changes.

The minute we stop changing is the minute that we fall behind. Adapting is a very important ability to have. Most of us don’t like changes. We get comfortable and when we find things has changed, we tend to panic because we have become used to the way things were. Life is short, change is good, until the end of time. Tupac was one who understood that resisting change would eventually cause society to eventually accept change.

extreme changes 2pac websites president obama good bad slogan tupac

Change can sometimes be a lonely road, but breaking the cycle from everyday life is sometimes critical to emotional well being. Logo designs change, website ownerships change, places change. Make the most of it, accept it, and learn from it!

Posted in Old Archives | 30 Comments

8 Tips to Enhance Your LinkedIn Profile

Posted on 2010.08.1 by Extreme Information

LinkedIn profiles are our one and only place to build connections and a network around our experience. Sure, other social media platforms give us an opportunity for us to talk about our experience but our LinkedIn profile  allow us to showcase our capabilities without having to repeat numerous times.

linkedin summary headlines article business initial professionals networking facebook website career

Creating a killer LinkedIn headline and an exceptional summary are half the battle as whether we are job seekers or seeking to build a business, the additional information on our profile that starts with the “blue box,” begins to play a stronger role. Your headline and summary are your searched terms but once appearing in search results, a connection is made after review of your basic information is reviewed.

The Linkedin “Blue Box”

The LinkedIn blue box is what is seen first when your profile is clicked. Your name, headline, location and industry are displayed at the top. Thereafter, the information displayed is what makes networkers want to connect with you or move on to someone else. The items displayed beneath this basic information is some of the most  important as people want to know what you bring to their network – whether that be an alumni connection, a job connection or shared information.

8 Tips to Enhance Your LinkedIn Profile

1. Status Updates. Your status update is displayed immediately beneath your basic information. Status updates have become increasingly popular with the LinkedIn integration with Twitter. Automating posts from twitter to post on LinkedIn has been used extensively but not widely accepted. Different audiences. Your LinkedIn status is business and not what you ate for dinner, where you went or how your children are destroying the house. Be selective on what you share in your status but be sure to update at least 1x per day to show that you are an active networker.

2. Current Employer. Your current employment is what stands out when people are looking for people within their industry to connect with, are looking for a referral to do business with OR want to cross check your resume. Your most recent experience needs to match your headline and summary. If you are job seeking your opening paragraph of your summary will reflect that however the body should match your career aspirations and your experience.

3. Past Employment. Your past employment is where some get queasy. A position that you only held for a few months or admitting that you worked for a company that was an “in-between” job is never pleasant however long gaps are almost worse. Adding your previous employment for 5 to 10 years (up to 10 years only if it relates to longevity in a field) not only shows that you are employable but that you are eager to work (also can show that you jump around). This is also a great way to connect with coworkers that you have lost touch with. Also, remember, beneath the blue box you can add information about each position you held and your role in the company. Suddenly that “in between” job may have a whole lot more meaning than just paying the rent.

4. Education. Your education in the blue box is not much more than where you attended. This is pretty much letting people know that you did further your education and also for an alumni connection. Beneath the blue box allows you to expand upon your your degree, years of attendance, additional information about the school and activities you participated in.

5. Recommendations. Your recommendations are highly regarded as people want to see that you are well liked, trusted and respected within your industry. When seeking employment or trying to build a business, your recommendations are taken into consideration as if you have performed well for others, then you will perform well for them. The question always arises as to whether ask for the recommendation or to wait for it to be provided. This is never an easy question as some do not think to give a recommendation as they are either not as active on LinkedIn or are unsure as to what to say. Best practice is to consider the person that you would be asking. Have they freely given out recommendations with out being asked or from your experience with them, do they need that nudge?

6. Websites. Websites is set to the default of my website, my company, my blog, my RSS, my portfolio and other. The option of other allows you to add your actual company name for the website and the name of your blog. A common mistake made by many is not changing the default. Changing the default to Other and customizing your links not only introduces the names but also provides a familiarity to them.

7. Twitter. Since the development of the app and the integration with Twitter, you can add your  Twitter account as a separate line item. Cross connecting is always encouraged however cross posting, as discussed above, is not always welcomed and generally warrants a “hide” of your profile. Why? People share items that are now always LinkedIn worthy. Best bet is to set your LinkedIn Twitter to “Share only tweets that contain #li”. This way you can hashtag your tweets of an article, a quote, etc to be posted on your status.

8. Public Profile. Your public profile is customizable to your name or something of the like should your name be a common one. This is another common mistake that people make by not creating a custom profile. Your custom profile does not contain a series of. For example, your custom profile would be: www.linkedin.com/in/yournamehere and not www.linkedin.com/pub/name/seriesofnumbers. To customize, simply click edit and create your profile name when prompted.

The LinkedIn blue box does pack a powerful punch as before connecting, this is the main exposure people have to you and base their decision to connect from this initial information. If your profile blue box snippet peaks their interest, they will scroll down to review your summary, expanded work history and education. If not, they move on. LinkedIn CEO’s contact information is one of the most sought after executives.

Posted in Linked In, Old Archives, Social Media, Twitter | Tagged , , | 34 Comments

How to Write a Killer LinkedIn Summary

Posted on 2010.07.8 by Extreme Information

LinkedIn, the professionals networking site, continues to connect professionals who are seeking to build a strong network. LinkedIn has come a long way from being just a job seekers platform and is now where connections are made and businesses are built. Your profile is no longer a copy-paste of your resume.

Your LinkedIn profile is your online voice as it describes your professional experience, tells why you are there and what you can offer to the community. This is the one platform where you as an individual are the focus and self promotion is expected. Two of the most important aspects of your profile are your photo as people want to see who they are connecting with and also your summary.

Writing a Killer Summary

Your summary is what is searched and also skimmed. Yes, skimmed. People take a quick once over and will continue on unless they find something in your summary that compels them to want to connect and learn more.

Tip: Write in the first person. It is you, your profile so avoid speaking in any other person than first.

1. Opening Paragraph. Your first is what is skimmed first. Make it powerful. Your first paragraph needs to tell why you are there. Are you seeking employment? Are you a  consultant who can help small businesses or are you there just to network and learn from others? Say that.

Ex: I am seeking a full time position in Social Media, specifically as a Social Media Manager or Director of Community, with a small to mid-sized company who is looking to increase their online presence through a comprehensive social media marketing strategy.

There is no question as to why you are active on LinkedIn. Connections and Employers will have a clear understanding what you are looking for and how they can help you.

2. Middle Paragraph(s).The middle paragraphs are where you delve into what you currently are doing as well as your previous positions and how they relate to your current skills and what you are seeking now. Be sure to use keywords and core industry phrases as these will appear in search results. If you education is relevant to what you are seeking, add that (if not, skip it as it is prominently placed above the summary in the blue box).

If you are a consultant here is where you would discuss what type of work you do most (ie SM consultant broken down further to blog consultant, community builder, etc), what types of clients you would be looking for (ie small businesses) and be clear as to where you want to go. Be precise and to the point and avoid long paragraphs. Break them up into smaller more inviting paragraphs.

Ex: As (position – president, consultant, etc) for (company name), my role is to build and execute strategies for companies seeking to engage their community via the social web. I focus primarily on four core areas: listening, content marketing, community management, and outreach.

I have worked in both the advertising and marketing industry for the past 12 years. During this time I worked closely with clients in various industries which afforded me the opportunity to learn about management, fostering successful client relationships, professionalism and team work. Through my experience I have learned that I am especially skilled at creating a winning strategy that set forth goals, objectives, strategies, tactics and the proper measurement tools.

I understand that social media is about building relationships with people through offering a unique and valuable experience. I have built a network that of influential people which has provided an opportunity to contribute on highly authoritative blogs as a guest.

3. Closing Paragraph. This is the where you have to shine. Your 3rd paragraph is all about the self promotion. Answer why you. Why should a potential employer consider picking up the phone or sending an email to discuss a position with you? Why should a potential client do the same? What makes you better than me?

Ex:I want to make the Marketing Communications industry with emphasis on driving user interaction and education my career. As a fast learner, I can grow beyond my current entry level experience quickly, offering your company a great asset as an employee. I thrive in both independent and team-oriented work environments and can effectively represent the company in professional settings.

4. Specialities. Your specialities are the industry specific buzz words. Be honest of course and do research on terms. Be sure that you are in-line with the terminology that is being used within the industry. These also appear in search results. The closer you match to search terms, the more your profile will appear in search queries.

5. Contact. This is one place where we see people leaving blank. If you are a job seeker how do you think the potential employer will get in touch with you? Send you a request to connect so that they can send you an email? Seriously? Be sure to have at least a direct email and/or phone number so that it is easy to contact you.

The examples above show how you can create a killer LinkedIn Summary. Whether you are a job seeker, someone who is looking to grow your business or just there to network, the key is to let people know. LinkedIn CEO’s contact information is one of the most sought after executives.

Does your summary need a bit of work?

Posted in Linked In | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments

How to Write Compelling LinkedIn Headlines

Posted on 2010.07.1 by Extreme Information

LinkedIn is a professional network where professionals connect with others who are valuable to their network. Whether this be an old friend, a previous co-worker, an employee at a company you are hoping someday to be employed by or a people that will help grow your business. The reasons may be different but the intent is the same. To grow a network of professionals that add value to the network. Finding the right people from 70 million users on LinkedIn is a challenge. Where do you start? How do you find them?

linkedin summary headlines article business initial professionals networking facebook website career

We have become accustomed to search via search engines so this is a natural place to start on LinkedIn. When we start our search, we think of core keywords that we would associate with the individual(s) that we are trying to connect with. This is of course if you do not have their name. The results are matched to the keywords in the the headline as well as the summary. However as this is an permission based connection platform, the headline is what will be featured in the search results along with y0ur name and photo and not your summary.

How to Write Compelling LinkedIn Headlines

1. What do you do? Start here and jot down terms as they relate to what your current position is. This will more than likely not be your headline however it is a starting point to see how you define yourself.

2. What do you have to offer? If you are an employee of a big company, what makes you irreplaceable? Why should a consultant connect with you? What do you have to offer to a connection other than a wave?

EX: Gardening Consultant. Finding the right vegetables to plant for your soil & climate.

3. What makes you unique? Thinking in these terms you are identifying what differentiates you from the rest of the field and why it is worth noting.

EX: Social Media Consulting. Free profile analysis to leverage brand maximize your exposure.

4. What value do you bring? Great you are a CEO but what does that mean to me? How does you being a CEO relate to where you would fit into my network?

EX: Forging business relationships internationally; supply chain management consulting.

5. What problem to you solve? A descriptive problem solving headline is beign there before they know they have a problem and when in panic and need the problem solved. We know that when we need something, we need it done right away and being able to be there already is the perfect position.

EX: Blog Consultant. Advising & educating new bloggers how to write and promote a blog to build an online community and generate sales.

We connect with people that we feel that we should get to know by either having been exposed to them in a group, exposed to their employer or find something that is unique about them whether it be from others that are connected to them or from what we read about them. What we read about them on LinkedIn is limited to their headline. You can see where the 120 character headline must be enticing and impressionable so that people will want to connect.

Looking at your current  headline, would you connect and do business with you? If not, take some time and create a headline that reflects the heart of what you are about and how you can be a strong member of a network. LinkedIn CEO’s contact information is one of the most sought after executives.

Posted in Linked In | Tagged , | 37 Comments

Building Relationships

Posted on 2010.05.29 by Extreme Information

During our #xtremesocial Twitter Chat on Thursday night, I asked a question about what you expect out of your social media efforts. It’s a simple question, but I think the response is more complicated. Most of you said you are “building relationships”. Personally, I think that is a bunch of bull!

Let me be clear, I am not here to say that “building relationships” is wrong, what I am asking is that you be honest and tell me what your real intentions are. When people respond like that, it almost sounds like they are using Twitter (or other SM sites) to make friends. I don’t believe that is true.

What I do believe, is that the “relationships” we are trying to build is more on a networking/sales level. Are you trying to build trust and authority? Are you trying to win eyeballs on your site? Are you trying to simply sell products/services?

Why is it so taboo to admit that you are trying to make sales? I just don’t understand that….

Response From Tee:

While I think Keith might be right on a portion of that, but building relationships, whether they are business or friendship is an integral part of using social media. That is why so many people have jumped on Facebook and Twitter.

Who says customers can’t still be your friends? Is there something wrong with being friends with someone that visits your blog, or buys your product?

I believe building a friendly relationship with your audience can be a key element to your social media and sales strategies. Sure, your end goal is to sell products and make money, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be approachable.

I say build lasting relationships using social media, build your audiences trust and you will find your business being more profitable. You will also meet some pretty darn interesting people, too!

Discussion:

What is your approach to building relationships using social media? Are you afraid to admit you are trying to sell something while building relationships? Let us know where you stand in the comments, and if you like the post please Re-Tweet and/or Share it on Facebook.

Posted in Social Media | Tagged , | 38 Comments

Will You Be Deleting Facebook?

Posted on 2010.05.21 by Extreme Information

With all the fuss going around about Facebook, I thought I would write a post here talking about why people are leaving Facebook behind, and what my thought are on it all.

First let me clarify, there is a difference between deactivating, and deleting your account. And Facebook doesn’t make it easy to delete the account. If you want all your personal info deleted, then you have to actually delete your account permanently. If you want to delete your account then click here. (warning, this cannot be undone!) Once you click that link, it will take you to your Facebook and ask you to “submit” or “cancel”.

Deleting an account removes it from the site permanently and you have to start from scratch if you decide later that you want to be on Facebook again. There is a 14-day delay before the data is completely deleted to give users time to change their mind. If you change your mind you can merely log into the account and the deletion request will be canceled. According to a Facebook representative:

When a photo or video is deleted, or when a person deletes his or her account, we quickly delete all of the metadata for the photo as well as any and all tagging and linking information. For all practical purposes, the photo no longer exists, and we wouldn’t be able find it if we were asked or even compelled to do so. This is similar to what happens when you delete information from the hard drive of your computer. Technically, the bits that make up the photo persist somewhere, but, again, the photo is impossible to find. It’s possible that someone who previously had access to a photo and saved the direct URL from our content delivery network partner (this is different from the Facebook URL) could still access the photo. However, again, the person would have to know the URL, and the photo only exists in the CDN’s (content delivery network’s) cache for a limited amount of time.

My Opinion:

I have talked to others about this, and there are more than one reason people want to leave Facebook behind, but the privacy issues seem to be the biggest. I haven’t completely researched all the issues, well, because I don’t really care that much about it. I look at it like this:

If you want your life to remain completely private, don’t make online profiles!

On the other side of that, I do understand the main issue about privacy, especially for those that thought their profiles were private. I suggest clicking that link at the top and deleting your account.

I, for one, will remain on Facebook. Why? Because these issues don’t really bother me, and I still get “some” enjoyment from using it. Facebook, right now at least, is the single largest social platform on the web with a reported 350 million active users.

What About You?

Will you be deleting your Facebook account? Why or Why not?

Posted in Social Media | Tagged , | 27 Comments

Why You Don’t Know Your REAL Email Open Rate

Posted on 2010.04.11 by Extreme Information

I’ve mentioned before that I need to work on the quality of our list and increasing our email open rate is at the top of the list. In fact, I was going to send out a few messages and then delete everyone that didn’t open any of them. I’m glad I didn’t. I found this thread on the Warrior Forum: Aweber Stats explained. It looks like I will have to find another way to get rid of inactive subscribers. Basically, the email open rate stats we get from any autoresponder should be used as a guide only. There are several reasons opens are not or can not be counted and other reasons some counted as opens may not have actually been opened.

The way we determine how many emails were opened is by embedding an tiny invisible image into your HTML message. Each time this image is ‘downloaded’ from the server another email open is counted.

So what about text emails? Not counted. What about email clients where the ‘images’ are turned off? Not counted. What about filters that prevent images from displaying? Not counted. Starting to see why our email open rate isn’t exactly a 100% accurate measure? On the other side of the table we have some emails shown as open because of the email client’s preview pane. The image is requested so the email is considered open even though the subscriber may simply delete it from there.

So what’s a marketer to do? Continue on I guess. It’s just statistics. Get a great email auto-responder, build your list, promote your products and build relationships. As for the Extreme Ezine, I’ll work on increasing our open rates as well as the click throughs. Eventually I may still think of a tactic to dump the dead weight but in the mean time we’re pushing forward. Any thoughts on the matter? Do you have a list?

No disclaimer required: You will find my affiliate link in the article above for AWeber. I’ve been using AWeber exclusively and it’s one of my top recommended products. Even though I can gain financially should you use my affiliate link, the truth is I would recommend AWeber without a financial incentive.

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Joining Google’s PageRank N/A Club

Posted on 2010.04.4 by Extreme Information

I wasn’t going to post about Google’s recent toolbar pagerank update because there are about a million other posts about it already. But I just noticed that while all of my pages, other than the index page, went to a N/A, the about page on DennisEdell.com has a Google page rank of three. Don’t misunderstand, I’m not jealous, I just want more Pagerank than Dennis.

Seriously, I need to get those pages back up and the way I see it I have about 45 days before the next update. I think I’m going to make another test of it because that’s what us geeks do. I’m going to use blog commenting to bring my Friend’s Page up and other link strategies to bring up the page rank on our photo gallery. I’m not sure about the other pages yet. Now I’m talking about pages her, no blog posts. Any ideas?

I left over thirty blog comments so far today using http://extremeezine.com/friends/ as the URL. The first blogs I commented on was everyone on that page. Are you listed there? See Are You A Blogging Friend To The Extreme Ezine? Get On The List!

Any suggestions other than the linking that I’m already doing to get out of the nasty Google PageRank n/a club?

One more thing that has bothered me for a while. Sheryl from the Blog Co-Op brought it to my attention. My pages and older posts, INCLUDING my index page are not cached by Google. I have no idea why, how to fix it or if it’s even important. Do you?

Speaking about the Blog Co-op they also joined the n/a club. Brad and Sheryl are the very best of people and they go WAY out of their way to help others. I’m going to link to their forum, The Internet Marketers Guild, and the Blog Co-op from my front page and it would be great if some of you would too. The entire reason for the Co-op is to help bloggers like us. I think giving back a little is the least we can do.

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Google Alert Shows Blog Comments Are Indexed

Posted on 2010.03.28 by Extreme Information

image - never knoe googleThe do-follow issue has been discussed to death lately. It also seems to be driving a wedge between a few bloggers in our community. And the fact is: We are all just guessing unless we are on Google’s payroll. Even so, bloggers can be a passionate group and we can get pretty vocal. Because of this, I am reluctant to post this but, in the traditional blogger way, I can’t help myself.

So here we go… For what it’s worth, I’m going to prove that Google does index some blog comments. It doesn’t show that any weight or authority is being attributed to blog comments but they are often indexed. I suspect many of you, if not most of you, already know this but it seems to be a recent debate. This doesn’t show that any weight or authority is attributed to the content or links attached.

My scientific experiment is flawless and precise NOT. I have a Google alert setup for my name, of course, and I see my comments showing up in the alerts all of the time. Yesterday I commented on John Sullivan’s blog. Below you can see a print screen of the Google alert from my comment on his post My Real Agenda.

image - google alert screen print

Now lets take a unique string from that Google Alert and blog comment:
“The funnest statement I’ve heard in a long time:”

I also used that exact sentence when I Tweeted the post and sent it to Facebook. If you take that sentence, put it in “quotes” and Google it, you get one result (at the time of this post). Can you guess what Google indexed? Facebook, Twitter or my comment on John’s Blog?

image - facebook update screenprint

I thought it interesting enough to share. Now let me have it. I’m a big boy, I can take it lol I wonder if this post will eventually come up in that same search? Fingers are crossed.

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