Community Magazine - Is Having Multiple Twitter Accounts Beneficial?

Let’s get right to the point. Twitter can be a great way to drive traffic to your website if it is used correctly. This means providing quality content and links to your followers provided they are in your niche and their interests are not spread too thin.

The process is simple. Search for people in your niche using the Twitter search function. Follow them and about half will follow you back. Unfollow those who do not follow you back after a reasonable amount of time. Add more followers in your niche. Rinse. Repeat. Not bad. Hey, wait a second. What if I had two accounts?

Then that would automatically yield twice as many followers! Hold on a second. That is not quite true. Let’s think about this logically. There is something that we need to ask before pursuing this avenue. Are any of these Twitter accounts we are following duplicates? When I first jumped on the Twitter train, I opened up six accounts and started following people as fast as I could.

I soon realized that I was seeing the same followers under different accounts even when I searched using different keywords. Here is an important point. Unless you have special software that automatically inter-compares all of your twitter accounts, there is a decent chance that some or many of these accounts are following more than one of your accounts depending on just how you search for people to follow.

Could you be wasting your valuable time with duplicated efforts? This means that every time you tweet, that follower gets the same message from you twice, provided you are using software or a service which auto-posts to all of them at once or something similar, which is annoying. Can you say “Unfollow”?

When it comes to Twitter, it is best to stick to the basics. Provide quality. Interact. Unless you know for a fact that none of you followers are duplicates, it is probably best to have just one account. As a bonus, read this post on automating Twitter so that you do not waste a ton of time on it. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment. Related posts:

1. Marketing Tool Analysis – How Effective is Twitter?

Source: Is Having Multiple Twitter Accounts Beneficial? | TheBitBot Organic SEO Services Blog Community Magazine

Community Magazine - WordPress Themes and Popular Web Browsers

I have been sitting here for the past few days admiring the new WordPress theme I found in the WordPress theme directory. What do you think? Is it nice? Well, unfortunately, you will not be able to tell by looking at this current theme or skin. Why?

Because I was forced to change it!!!!!!! Yes, there it was in all it’s glory a beautiful skin with just the perfect colors and graphics that would help deliver a pleasant viewing experience to all of my readers (do I have readers?). Anyway, as I sat and wrote and reflected, I didn’t realize that a good chunck of my 1100 or so readers over the past two days were looking at a page (including my initial visit popup) that was only marginally functional at best. About 6-10% of my readers, according to Google Analytics still use good ol’ Internet Explorer as shown in red below.

So, out of curiosity I decided to check how my theme appeared in various browsers. I wasn’t worried because it was a new fresh theme and certainly with all of the competition between browsers these days, and all of the updates going on, certainly a large powerful software company wouldn’t allow the misinterpretation of HTML or PHP or the like, would they? WRONG! You better believe they would.

I haven’t checked all browsers yet, but Google Chrome could display it correctly. Mozilla Firefox could display it correctly. BUT, much to my dismay, over half of my visitors, which use Internet Explorer, couldn’t even see the page displayed correctly. All of the borders were out of whack. The graphics spilled over into neighboring zones. None of the links in the right column worked. Are you kidding me!?!?! So now, after much searching,

I have found a new theme that apparently meets Internet Explorer extremely strict standards of coding. Come again? I think sloppy standards would be a more accurate description. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and I hope it meets your standards for professionalism, because I’m stuck with it until I find something better. Odds are it will change again.

So let this be a warning to you. Not all browsers are friendly. Some cannot even display a functional page, and the fact that half of my internet traffic used this one browser in particular that should be taken out of the market sends chills down my spine. What if I am selling something such as an affiliate marketer? I shudder to think.

Do yourself a favor and check you website, directory, e-store, blog or whatever it is you have online in all of the popular browsers and make sure it is fully functional. Getting traffic takes a great deal of effort, especially if you are just starting out like me. Don’t let it slip away just because a dumb browser drops the ball. No related posts. Source: WordPress Themes and Popular Web Browsers | TheBitBot Organic SEO Services Blog

Community Magazine

Community Magazine - Marketing Tool Analysis – How Effective is Twitter?

As with all of my posts, I promise this one will be short and to the point. How effective is Twitter as a marketing tool?

By now most of us, if not all, are very familiar with the micro-blogging tool Twitter. The term micro-blog simply means that the number of bits in any one post cannot exceed some preset limit. In Twitter’s case it is capped at 140. So basically, any tweet you tweet will be just a little longer than the subject line in an email.

That’s great! Who has time to read a bunch of wordy garbage? How does it work? Basically you are forced to sit in front of your computer and type small messages into a tiny comment box. You can simply make a comment, post a link or video or whatever. Almost like facebook on speed. Interestingly, you are forced to look at others tweets because they are on the same page where you type and run simultaneously with yours.

That is Twitter’s trick. If you write, you also read. So, technically, all of your followers should be reading your propaganda also, right? Marketing dream tool? Probably not. Why? Well, in my humble opinion and to put it bluntly, Twitter has allowed itself to be compromised. In what way, you ask? By allowing posts to be made by auto posting services, which means that some bot is “reading” (term used loosely) your posts on the other end and not a real person.

I will not name any of these services because I actually use some of them and they can serve an important function. But, how do you know if the person on the other end is real. Simply. Just scan the tweets sent to you and count how many state “via web” at the bottom of the tweet. Odds are a very small fraction of them are actual people…i.e. “customers”. Just to throw some simple numbers around.

After counting the number of “via web” tweets out of the last 100 on my Twitter homepage, a grand total of six tweets were “via web”. That means that only 6% (numbers will vary from account to account) of my followers were human or a piece of software tweeting from a PC. That is absolutely unacceptable! For an internet marketer, that traffic is almost completely valueless and completely diluted to the point of being ineffective.

Yes, it appears that Twitter has indeed been compromised! It’s spammers spamming spammers. Twitter should seriously consider discontinuing it’s allowance of these auto-posting services if it wants to survive the next wave of competition which is assuredly coming. I think it is time to start over from scratch with Twitter. That means unfollowing anyone who uses an auto-posting service. Why? Because I want people reading my tweets, not machines. As a bonus, read this post on automating Twitter so that you do not waste a ton of time on it. Related posts:

1. The Importance of Articles in Marketing

Source: Marketing Tool Analysis – How Effective is Twitter? | TheBitBot Organic SEO Services Blog

Community Magazine

Community Magazine - The Importance of Articles in Marketing

ARTICLES IN MARKETING – Article marketing, if done correctly, can be one of the most effective marketing avenues. The best way to use an article directory is to write a quality article, something that is actually informative and useful and ORIGINAL. Upload it to an e-Zine or Article Directory and in time, Google, YAHOO, Bing and other search engines will index it, people will link to it provided that it is informative, and that link muscle will translate to your website through the keyword link you place at the bottom.

Just because an article directory has high PR does not mean you will benefit from it. The PR of the page that contains your link is what counts. Your link could be on a website with a homepage PR-10, but if the page in that website that contains your link is 0, then the link is just a little better than useless.

The key is QUALITY CONTENT. Your article should be counted as an “authoritative document” by humans. A search engine algorithm is built around that and incoming links are what Google and others use as a voting system to tap human opinion. There is no fast method to building quality article links, but incoming links will follow a quality article. Sometimes it takes years, but, it is a very effective way to build links. Articles are excellent link baiters.

The truth of the matter is, individuals are more likely to link to an authoritative document faster than they are to a website of the same subject. Therefore, an ideal way to market your website is through articles. Write high quality articles and submit them to the article directory of your choice with a link to your website at the bottom. The link would, of course, be a text link containing your keywords of interest. Once the article is in place, market the article in the same fashion.

No related posts. Source: The Importance of Articles in Marketing | TheBitBot Organic SEO Services Blog

Community Magazine

Community Magazine - Volkswagen's Jetsons-like hover car

"The futurists of the 1950s and '60s promised us flying cars that have yet to arrive. Now, VW is at least steering us in the right direction".

While Google is getting a license for its self-driving Toyota Prius, Volkswagen is looking even further into the future, imagining a two-seat hover car, much like the vehicles that so many futuristic movies and TV shows disingenuously promised.

The vehicle concept, unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show, is a product of VW's innovative "People's Car Project," a 2011 Chinese crowdsourcing design contest that drew 119,000 submissions. More... Community Magazine

Community Magazine - Garment Printing Solutions

"Here at GPS we specialise in quality short run digital Garment Printing". Direct to garment printing is a modern clothing printing method which works very much like an inkjet printer.

Instead of first printing your photo or design onto transfer paper and then applying it to the garment with a heat press, DTG printing machines print directly onto the garment.

We pride ourselves on a fast and efficient service, from artwork to garment printing we have got a full colour solution for you. GPS can supply garments for your printing or you can provide your own.

Direct2GarmentPrinting

• *Great for replicating photographs, illustrations or full colour designs on to both light and dark colours.
• *No set up costs, meaning it’s a cheaper alternative to screen printing on short runs (Minimum Order: 10 items).
• *Printing onto dark colours will feel slightly ‘thicker’ than printing onto whites because a white underbase layer is required to ensure the print is bright and vibrant.
• *We’ll take a look at your artwork and if necessary will print a sample for you to approve.
• *Digital printing is applied manually so allow for some slight variation in exact positional location (5-10mm).
• *We are Unable to match PANTONE colours, therefore on occassions there can be a slight difference from the colours in the original artwork and on screen to the final print.

Community Magazine

Community Magazine - Inaura from Hulme - Open Mic Uk

"Local talent shines on the Mic".

Inaura from Hulme, Manchester has been given the big thumbs up by judges at the Open Mic UK auditions. Along with other impressive acts, Inaura has made it through to the Regional Finals and will now be performing at the live stages of Open Mic UK 2012.

Open Mic UK 2012 is the exciting national talent competition which searches for the UK’s best singers, singer/songwriters, rappers and vocalists of all genres who perform either covers or original material. One contestant who has evidently caught the judge’s eye is local talent Inaura, now in the running to compete for a place in the National Final within The O2 in London.

Thousands of hopefuls entered nationwide and hundreds of auditionees queued patiently on the day for their turn to impress the judges. Those who made it through the audition stage will now take part in a live Regional head to head battle alongside the best talent in their area. They’ll be performing in front of hundreds of audience members and a professional judging panel to win a place at the National Grand Final.

Chris Grayston, Events Coordinator for Open Mic UK comments “We are looking to find an act that has something unique to offer, another Birdy that can go all the way, with both the ability to deliver a strong live performance but also potential to become a professional recording artist. There is so much talent out there I’m sure we can find that star again!

The competition is divided into age categories; 16 and under, 17-22 and 23 and over; all types of singers, vocal performers, groups and acoustic singer/songwriters are invited to enter Open Mic UK. The acts are all aiming to make it to that prestigious Final at The O2 where the spotlight will be on all the acts with a chance to be signed.

The latter stages of the competition will also provide acts with the opportunity to impress many guests from record labels, agencies and the entertainment industry as well as judges from BBC Introducing, national radio and regional press with judges being more prestigious in the later rounds.

Past judges include Radio 1 DJs Ras Kwame and Annie Nightingale MBE with Ivor Novello award winner Mark Hill and KISS FM’s Charlie Hedges already confirmed to join this year’s Grand Final panel for 2012. Former winner Hatty Keane has been signed to BGM Music. Hatty has been featured in a variety of local, regional and national press, performed live sets alongside Ed Sheeran, Tinchy Stryder and Roll Deep and is currently working on new material.

Previous winners also include Birdy who is signed to Warner has in the last 12 months has hits all over Europe and is set to conquer the US with a collaboration with Mumford & sons. For more information go to the website www.openmicuk.co.uk or better still come down and support your local talent performing! You can purchase tickets from the website www.openmicuk.co.uk or on the door subject to availability or from Inaura.

Community Magazine

Community Magazine - Manchester Students To Benefit From Job Ready Programme

Two week courses offered to Manchester school and college leavers free of charge In response to valuable feedback from employers, local training provider, Kaplan, has launched its Job Ready Programme in Manchester to ensure school and college leavers are fully geared up for apprenticeships when they make the transition to professional life.

Although the period of April to June 2012 saw North West unemployment figures drop by 3% (according to the Office for National Statistics), it is an unsettling fact that 319,000 people in the region are unemployed. The number of people aged between 16 and 24 claiming job seeker’s allowance in Greater Manchester stands at 24,400.

The programme, which launched at the company’s Oxford Street training centre in Manchester, will give young people seeking apprenticeships in business and administration and customer service the chance to learn essential skills to prepare them for the workplace. These include time management, communications, team working, business awareness and office protocol – all cited as ‘must have’ skills by employers.

The programme includes a series of free two week courses running through the autumn, each accommodating up to 30 young people. Those successfully completing the two week course will receive a certified employability skills qualification. Part of Kaplan’s wider Apprenticeship Programme, this initiative has been launched at a time when the Government has proposed apprenticeships should be made more accessible, particularly to SMEs.

The research carried out under the Government’s Holt Review also suggests there should be greater awareness of the value of apprenticeships given that less than 10% of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK employ apprentices – less than half the rate of larger companies. Commenting on the launch of the Job Ready Programme, Louise Timperley, head of apprenticeships at Kaplan, said: “We work closely with employers to ensure the training we provide not only meets but surpasses their requirements.

The Job Ready Programme addresses the issue of bridging the gap between education and employment by offering structured support to school and college leavers over a two week period. “We have designed the course to be constructive, informative and highly relevant and, with no cost incurred to attendees, it’s extremely accessible.

Places are limited so we advise students to book promptly in order to benefit from the expert guidance.” The courses at Kaplan training centre in Manchester take place from 9.30am to 3.30pm each day on: 1st – 12th October 5th-16th November For more information or to book a place on the Manchester courses visit www.kaplanapprenticeships.co.uk/page/job-ready-programme, email steponup@kaplan.co.uk or call 0845 873 6315.

Note to editors

1. Kaplan is one of the world’s leading providers of lifelong education and training. Programmes include Apprenticeships, vocational training, professional qualifications, online learning and degrees.

2. Kaplan offers government-funded Apprenticeships in Accountancy (AAT), Tax & Audit, Providing Financial Services, Business & Administration, Customer Service, Team Leading and Management in the North West

3. Overview of Kaplan’s Job Ready Programme: • Developed to help improve school leavers employability skills and increase their chances of getting a job

• Free 2 week Programme held at Kaplan’s training centres in Liverpool and Manchester city centre

• The courses start on the 3rd September and run through until December 2012 • Young people receive a certified employability skills qualification which you can add to their CV and talk about the skills developed in an interview environment

• Young people who have left school are invited to attend this free programme by signing up via www.kaplanapprenticeships.co.uk

4. Kaplan works with local businesses to find appropriate employment to carry out an Apprenticeship through providing a free recruitment service designed to help young people find an Apprenticeship vacancy.

5. Employers who are looking to take on an Apprentice to benefit their business can find out more by visiting: www.kaplanvocational.co.uk/talent For media enquiries contact natalie@yourvibe.co.uk / 01625 869 854

Community Magazine

Community Magazine - 13 Lessons From A Great Social Entrepreneur, Pamela Atkinson

Pamela Atkinson, an advisor to the last three governors in Utah, an Elder in the First Presbyterian Church and a tireless advocate for the homeless and refugees in Utah, still volunteers her time actively and personally among Utah’s poorest people and counts them as her friends. She sat down with me recently to share her insights from her more than twenty years of humanitarian service. The following are the lessons I drew from her:

1. Ego has no role in service: Pamela describes herself as “an ordinary person” despite the fact that almost no one who knows her would describe her that way. Years ago, she helped rally the town of Logan, Utah to create a health clinic for the uninsured poor there. Although she was the driving force for the project, she focused on getting the community to own the project, which meant that she had to move quietly to the background as the community rallied to build their own clinic.
2. Collaboration: There are three important “Cs” in relation to service: coordinate, cooperate, and collaborate. Of these, “collaborate” is the greatest, she says. After she launched her homeless outreach program in 1991, visiting homeless in their camps each week, she welcomed the Utah Chapter of the Volunteers of America who wanted to run and expand the program. She continues to participate in the expanded program more than twenty years later.
3. Don’t “be afraid to speak out”: Serving as an advisor to three governors, she has learned not to be afraid to speak out. “If I feel strongly about an injustice, an issue that is not being addressed in a collaborative and focused way, then I need to speak out,” she says. She’s learned that even when everyone in the room openly opposes her, she’ll often get private indications of support from people who are grateful for her leadership.
4. Never let issues interfere with relationships: While lobbying Utah’s legislators for support for her programs over the years, she’s learned never to let disagreements interfere with relationships. She notes, “By not destroying relationships, I can go back again on other issues.” She does this by truly listening to opposing points of you, often with the invitation, “I never thought of it that way—tell me more.”
5. Transparency is the key to success: For social entrepreneurs, transparency is critical. “The more transparent [the organization] the more people will want to get involved,” she explains. People want to see and understand the impact that an organization is having.
6. Treat Volunteers with Respect: “Ask the volunteers, how are things going? Are you enjoying this? Ask volunteers for ideas to improve service,” she says, emphasizing that too many organizations fail to appreciate the value of their volunteers.
7. Don’t give up on someone when fundraising: When she hears “no,” she asks, “What can I do to help change your mind?” She offers to provide tours, introductions, whatever it will take to change a mind. Her approach has made her one of the most successful fundraisers in Utah. More...

Community Magazine

Community Magazine - How to motivate yourself in your weight loss endeavor?

How to motivate yourself in your weight loss endeavor?

Weight loss attempts can be quite frustrating. It is important to stay focused and continuously motivate yourself to follow the weight loss regimen. Only then you ultimately taste success and enjoy the health and figure you always wanted. For any effort to culminate in victory, setting goals, planning, tracking and measuring results are essential. Your weight loss program too can do with all this so that you know where you want to be, where you are now and how you need to proceed. Setting goals - When you make a plan with long term as well as short term goals, it tends to win through quite easily. Moreover, you can measure the tangible improvements you are experiencing at every stage. This can help you to stick to your weight loss plan without losing momentum. You could set long term goals say “weighing and measuring so much in so many weeks”. You could make your short term goals as smaller versions of your long term goals. This means you could work on the final goal say for 54 weeks later and you could also have weekly goals in the meantime. Maintaining a diary – Your special weight loss diary could be hand written or digital and have all your goals neatly filled in. You can have spaces for every day where you can enter what and how much you ate that day and the duration and details of the workouts you completed. You can even have a column to vent your feelings of annoyance or irritation arising from forced exercise and staying away from several favorite foods. A diary certainly helps release any stress relating to your weight loss plus it gives you an idea of how you are faring. It also provides an opportunity to correct any slackness quickly and consistently.

Paste an ideal body picture within sight – You could paste a picture of someone’s well toned body on the wall or your own light weight version, to look at every day and keep your weight loss dreams alive.

Measure waist periodically –

At the end of every short term goal period, say weekly, you can weigh and measure yourself and fill that data into your diary or a diet chart pasted in your room. You could even have a cheerfully colored graph to show the decrease in weight and waistline! Using the same weighing scales and measuring yourself at the same spot every time is necessary to keep the measurements realistic and precise. Change workouts – Ideally, you should change workouts to have a mix of exercises that can target your entire body and not just specific portions. Else, there is the risk of getting unsightly muscle plateaus which is a concentration of muscles in disjointed parts of the body. Resting is A must – You can give yourself little treats when you meet or exceed your goals, like having a favourite dish at lunch or taking complete rest from vigorous workouts in a day. You should ideally never over exert or starve yourself if you want an effective weight loss.

Following some or all of the tips above can give your motivation a constant boost and propel you to reach your weight loss destination very soon. Image credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net Author Bio: Marguerite being a fitness enthusiast loves to blog on fitness and topics related to fitness. You can check out her latest post on How To Lose Belly Fat on her website. Community Magazine