No wonder they hold this conference every year in Colorado. Denver in June, snow still atop the mountains and hundreds of the coolest and most helpful people all at a hugely social business education affair. It attracts those that seek inspiration with just what they need and those that provide it with an amazing platform. Then the education kicks in!  Oh, and they have amazing social thanks to sponsors like ClickBank and PMG (Paulson Management Group).

Affcon is about affiliate marketing, the business of one person selling another’s product and getting a share of the profit. It’s big business and one that we are now getting into with our Rock The World Books and training videos.

This industry has its stars and two of the biggest were here, Joel Comm (@joelcomm) and Tim Ash (@Tim_Ash). WOW, these two can hold their weight with Jay Leno in terms of captivating an audience and are on par with Jim Cramer in terms of energy and “delivering the goods”. They have a cult following and deservedly so. Their personal brands scream “Rockstar“!

Both Joel and Tim know its about inspiring people first and embedding a specially crafted educational message in the “data stream” so the content they deliver is rich yet easy to absorb.

Joel has killer NEW books out:
Twitter Power 2.0 : How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time
KaChing : How to Run an Online Business that Pays and Pays

Joel even has an amazing WordPress theme named Socrates that looks to be all the rage.  It is #1 on ClickBank already!

Tim’s book is a runaway favorite:
Landing Page Optimization : The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions

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Special Thanks to Daron Babin for putting the show on and to Anita Edge and Kathryn Gorges for getting us involved and participating with Lori and I in the big social media Open Networking Debate.

The next Affcon Conference in Denver is June 10-13, 2011. Mark your calendars now.

After years of struggling on LinkedIn with check boxes (scrolling a list, checking box after box, scrolling some more, checking box after box, etc.) my business partner Lori Ruff  finally stepped in and showed me a shortcut. So, this is really HER post you might say.  Lori was a Microsoft Certified trainer previous to being a The LinkedIn Diva.

If you are staring on your LInkedIn screen at a list that has check boxes included in it, like when sending a message to a group of people, you can use a series of space bar (right hand) and tab key (left hand) that will let you go do 50 selections in almost no time.

You still must go one letter of the alphabet at a time in MOST cases. It doesn’t skip from the end of one letter to the beginning of the next. Still, it is heaven when you are doing sends on LinkedIn.  Thanks Lori!

Let me know if this helps you.

A Who Are You? Profile that ♫ Rocks Their World ♫.♫

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Enjoy a WAY Cool Profile & Network done by the Experts

Your Who Are You? “Rock The World” Profile could be developed in a matter of weeks by a team led by the team at IA Social Media, Mike O’Neil and Lori Ruff.

These heralded social media subject matter experts have trained thousands of individuals, businesses, groups and associations to utilize the power and reach of Social Media for 4 years.

They now speak and train on a variety of topics and in many formats leading to more training and professional services work. They have written a book entitled Rock The World with your Online Presence that integrates principals in Classic Rock with LinkedIn and Social Media.

This team provides the most important Social Media services for busy executives, teams or groups, and high net worth individuals enabling them to quickly benefit from participation in social media with minimal effort. Multiple programs are available to meet specific need of diverse individuals. There are business versions of these services as well – groups, teams, companies. Each program is customizable.

A Who Are You? WAY Cool Profile starts by knowing more about you, your goals, what inspires you, who you like to be around. We build your profiles AND your network and teach you to use it.

Quick, Simple and VERY Powerful!

Talk to Mike and Lori about your needs – click here

The Private Show – Customized Program

When standard programs just don’t fit, and this can often be the case, we can customize a program just for you. It may include other social media platforms, tools, sites and a variety of 3^rd party services. One advanced custom feature is where we provide in-person training for individuals, couples, teams, groups or other audiences. Your social media coach will come to your location to train, mentor, strategize, answer questions and even outsource.

“Mike turned my LinkedIn profile into a Rock Star profile and it is helping my on-line video business tremendously. Thanks Mike!”  Daisy Whitney, Web Host, Creator and Producer, The New Media Minute

You are on your WAY to a Multi-Platinum Online Presence – Send us a note

I received this question via LinkedIn today. My response follows.  After I hit Send, I realized how often I am asked this or similar questions and thought it prudent to add it as a blog post for people to refer to as they needed rather than waiting for my response. Please tell me if this helps you or someone you know. If we have a positive response, I will likely post similar posts more regularly.

*** message ***

Dear Lori,

I need some advice from you. A 1st contact in my network, who I have met in person, is linked to someone at a company I am interested in for my next career challenge. He has agreed to introduce us.

I want to make the most of this connection. Should I ask for a simple networking meeting or send her a direct application or simply be direct and inform her that I believe I would be a good fit for her company?

Any advice you can share will be most helpful since my experience in job searching has been limited to 1 job in 25 years!

Please contact me at anytime if I may assist you in some way.

Thank you for your time and interest.

 *** response ***

I am happy to help. My first inclination would be to ask for an introduction request through LinkedIn and be honest about asking for an Informational Interview. Let her know you are looking for work at a company like hers and ask if she would be open to an interview to assist you in preparing for the process.

I am confident that she will agree. Most people will. Then, if she has something available, the contact will have been made. And if she knows anyone else you should speak to, she will be more likely to be able to provide a solid introduction having done an intial interview herself.

Be sure to thank each party for their time and consideration. You might send a handwritten note if you have their address. Ask who would be a good referral for them so that you will be aware of potential introductions you can make in your networking travels. And let them know that their efforts on your behalf paid off. People need good news!

Best regards,

Lori Ruff
Lead Social Media Coach
Integrated Alliances

There have recently been rumblings of a new user interface for LinkedIn. I’ve been waiting for more information along with everyone else, trying to find time to read the relevant blogs. Getting Mike’s book off to the publisher and getting through a very busy week were my highest priorities however, so I was surprised to see the new interface when I logged on this evening.

I had intended to accept pending invitations quickly before heading out to some networking events. My plans for the evening changed. We immediately sat down to start working through the changes to see what changed, what worked and what questions might come up because our clients, friends, and fans couldn’t find familiar features on new screens.

What a pleasant environment to navigate! The screens are cleaner, the important information I want is easier to find, the profiles more readable. It is as if a three column blog site morphed instantly into two wider columns with easier navigation at the top instead of taking up so much real estate on the left. The home page is less cluttered and the screens more intuitive to navigate.

If you don’t see the new interface yet, be patient. I am sure this will roll out systematically. There are no “Beta” comments and with the rumors of the new styling, I am fairly confident it is here to stay.

With the recent addition of intelligent Twitter integration, the addition of the SAP application, and the reinstatement of being able to sort by number of connections, it is possible that LinkedIn designers and management are listening to users. This could be heralding a shift in the relationship of LinkedIn with its user community. Way cool guys… way cool.

LinkedIn’s new Twitter connection has been long in the works; but it was worth the wait! Not only can you now update your LinkedIn status with Twitter, which you DO NOT want to do, but you can target specific Twitter updates to populate your LinkedIn status by including the hastag #in in the Tweets.  Now, that’s insightful.

To add this new feature, updating your status will initiate a pop up box, or you can go to your Account and Settings tab and select “Twitter Settings” under “Profile Settings”.

Now, if we could only get the Tweeters at LinkedIn to understand that followers cannot send them a direct message unless they follow them back… but that’s another story.

You may be asking yourself, “What is the connection between music & social media?”

Music is the universal language that unites us in the world regardless of our many differences.

Music raises our social consciousness.  It helps us reflect on happy or sad times.

Music empowers us.

Thanks to social media platforms like: Photobucket, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Blip.fm and others that help us achieve this.

Two examples are from Twitter and other media that allowed a response and reaction to the shocking news of the death of “King of Pop” icon Michael Jackson or the recent B.E.P performance in Chicago kicking off Oprah’s 24^th TV season.

~Liz Isaacs, Writing & Marketing Communications, Lotus Writing & Communications
liz@lotuswommunications.net
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lotuswritngcommunications
http://www.twitter.com/lizisaacslwc or @lizisaacslwc

A few weeks ago, I was nominated for being one of many in the #rocktheworld Best LinkedIn Profile Contest held by LinkedIn/Social Media Experts, Mike O’Neill and Lori Ruff, of Integrated Alliances of Denver. The top five LinkedIn profiles with the most votes will be featured in Mike’s book, “Rock the World With Your Online Presence,” to be released later next month.

A few days ago, I was nominated in the #rocktheworld Best LinkedIn Profile Contest held by LinkedIn/Social Media Experts, Mike O’Neil and Lori Ruff, of Integrated Alliances of Denver. The top five LinkedIn profiles including the top vote-getter will be featured in Mike’s book, “Rock the World With Your Online Presence,” to be released late November.

Of course, I am thrilled to be considered for such an honor (as anyone would be) and to be included with such an esteemed group of colleagues. I have to admit that I kind of felt like a kid in high school again, especially, to be nominated in a contest with a Robert Plant reference.

But I had to grin, because it wasn’t until returning from the U.S. Small Business Conference™ held in St. Louis this past September, that I was able to utilize the many of the tips mentioned in a presentation by LinkedIn expert Lewis Howes, co-author of “LinkedWorking: Generating Success on LinkedIn, the Worlds Largest Professional Networking Website.”  Lewis mentions Mike O’Neil, founder of Integrated Alliances, as a LinkedIn Profile expert in his book.

I had attended other LinkedIn workshops, which all were beneficial. Lewis’s presentation put the icing on the cake that I needed to focus on in my profile to help me get noticed as an expert in my field.

As a result, many of my connections and others have been finding and reading my profile and inquiring about my professional services offered through Lotus Writing & Communications as well as my personal writing goals. Regardless of the outcome of the contest, and whether or not I am featured in Mike’s book, I am honored to be considered. It validates the work I am passionate about….connecting with others…helping them blossom and flourish and achieve their fullest potential…and my writing.

~Liz Isaacs, Writing & Marketing Communications Strategist, Lotus Writing & Communications

P.S. If you haven’t voted in the contest here’s the info: #rocktheworld http://bit.ly/4CIMHC

liz@lotuswommunications.net

http://www.linkedin.com/in/lotuswritngcommunications

http://www.twitter.com/lizisaacslwc or @lizisaacslwc

The oh so popular Flip Video camera line just got a little bit better.  The newest model fixes a few shortcomings and it sure looks great in brushed aluminum.

Newspaper reporters will be hitting the stores to get this latest model.  It has become a must-have for reporters, storm chasers, anyone that needs to capture something quick and easy.

Key features (coming from someone who owns 2 of these) are:

- Brushed aluminum case
- Larger 2′ screen
- 120 minutes of high definition recording (8Gb storage)
- Rechargeable battery now with power adapter (optional)
- Silent mode where it will not record sound
- Just 3 seconds to start-up
- Back-lit buttons
- Child safe mode to avoid accidental deletions

What is still missing:

- External microphone jack (gotta’ have it)
- wireless connectivity (a nice thing to have)

At Integrated Alliances we use these types of camera’s to film much of our videos.  Check them out at www.integratedalliances.TV.  Can you tell which are Flip videos and which are done on a traditional video camera?

She and Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton and John McCain are all LinkedIn members and have been since before the campaign.  I actually connected to  Obama and McCain mid-year last year.  Hilary and Sarah Palin did not respond.

Take a closer look LinkedIn people.  I see 4 profiles, although only 2 really look like they are her own doing (and on purpose).  This puts her in direct violation of the LinkedIn End User License Agreement that permits only 1 LinkedIn profile per individual.  Barack has 1, McCain has 1, Hilary has 1, we all can have only 1.

Rather than change the old one, why not just start a new one?  Do you think she understands this stuff (or do you think her publicist understands this “LinkedIn stuff”?  Apparently not.

She is still a nominee according to one profile as you can see.  Her entire Summary – “My fellow Americans, come join our cause. Join our cause and help our country to elect a great man the next president of the United States. And I thank you, and I — God bless you, I say, and God bless America. Thank you.”  She list this as her current position – Vice Presidential Nominee at John McCain 2008.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahpalin

Now for the Other Sarah Palin.  She is listed as having no job – true I suppose, although her NEW custom URL implies she is still governor.  Her Headline is simply a repeat of her name.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/governorsarahpalin

I cover all these IMPORTANT nuances in my upcoming book entitled Rock the World with your online presence that dives very deep (150 pages) into LinkedIn profiles.  Our clients do not have these problems.  Want to be one?

Will this “exception” slip through unnoticed?  Not with this post.

Now for the REST of the story (the original story that caused my investigation).

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive – Sarah Palin joins LinkedIn « – Blogs from CNN.com

I broke down and got a Mac.  Yep.  Needed it for all the video work we have going on.  That is all a different sytory (and an interesting one).  This post series is about that PC to Mac experience.

In this video, I talk about shopping for it and the hardware itself. Afterall, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Youtuibe, WordPress all run pretty well on a Mac.  That is the power of Software as a Service (SaaS) for you.

I am interested in your comments.  Up next – Apple software!

I have been following this voyage (play on words – yes) and some related news areas and they are getting really interesting.  Voice Over IP (VOIP) on a PDA Phone?  What  have we come to?

If it gives me better calling on my iPhone than AT&T, then I will try it.  Heck, I will try it anyhow and report back to you all here.

Skype is playing in this space as well.  Lot’s of regulatory issues in this.  I bet on Skype.

Vonage Releases Calling Apps for iPhone and BlackBerry – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com