I referenced this video in my social media presentation today. Seth Godin discusses using social media in business. http://ping.fm/uoL6s

just finished a presentation for Healthcare providers needing to learn Social Media.

finished editing my social media presentation for healthcare providers on Thursday.

Following up on my last post: Also analyze how you're subscribing people. Are you letting them opt-in or are you adding them to your list?

If you have the impression that very few of your subscribers are actually reading your email newsletters, work on creating better content.

I referred to this video last week at the monthly MORE meeting. Keith Ferrazzi makes some great points: http://ping.fm/cRwmy

My friend Dave Smith did a nice job today at the Eastside MORE meeting informing us how to get more from our networking efforts.

Do Not Give Readers Headaches

For at least a decade now every web usability expert has stated that you do not want web site visitors or anyone reading your email newsletters to have to read your content by following the text from one side of the screen to the other. It wears you out after reading a few paragraphs. Yet every day you can find web sites, blogs, newsletters, etc. that force readers to follow from one side of the screen to the other.

The reason you should center your pages is because we're all used to reading 8.5' by 11' pieces of paper. It's easier for our eyes to follow the text from one line to the next. Try this to test the theory. Take a lengthy word document and print two copies of it. One with the orientation as 'portrait' and the other as 'landscape'. Then see if it's easier to read one more than the other and if you can read one more quickly than the other. Newspapers don't publish stories going from one end of the paper to the other, so why would you subject your readers and web visitors to that?

Jakob Nielsen, an expert on web usability, conducted an experiment to test where visitor attention is drawn. Here is a link to the article. Check out the pictures in the article to see where most of us pay attention on web pages.

So please do your visitors and email subscribers a favor and not give them headaches attempting to follow your text.

I updated my portfolio and noticed some of the sites we've designed are down (they are hosted elsewhere). http://ping.fm/lMI6n

updated calendar of events at http://ping.fm/J1wEx

mentoring another AmSpirit Area Director later today, and also working on a new presentation 'Using Social Media to Promote Your Business'.

just updated my AmSpirit Blog...http://ping.fm/6FhHf

AmSpirit members: If you would like access to the forms from my MORE meeting presentation today, go here: http://ping.fm/ptl72

Thanks to all of you who braved the weather to come out to hear me speak at the February MORE meeting for AmSpirit Business Connections.

I have two presentations on Tuesday, rehearsed over and over tonight, and hope that Mother Nature lets me get to where I'm going on Tuesday.

My definition of 'knowing' another business: you would stake your reputation on that person/business delivering great service or products.

I would never ask someone to risk their reputation by 'becoming fans' of a business they knew nothing about or owners they don't know well.

I keep getting asked to 'become a fan' of businesses I do not know. I just sent invites only to clients and close friends for Excelleweb.

To become a 'fan' of another business, I really believe you have to already be a customer or know the leadership team of that business.

'Best of times and the worst of times'. Great meetings this morning and tragic news of a former colleague's passing this afternoon.