There’s a reason they say…“Watch out Pinterest is addicting!” This is my 3rd post in a row where I am talking about the hottest new social network on the planet. (I need to get a life, haha.)

I totally agree that it can become very addicting. Just look at all the gorgeous pictures everyone is pinning there. Most people are visual people and like me respond to brilliant colors or funny and/or cute pictures. So when something gets “addicting” it means you spend a lot of time there. Or should I better say waste a lot of time?

I needed another social network to worry about like I needed a hole in the head. But, since I kept hearing how awesome Pinterest is for marketing I had to check it out. I really love what I see there, but I do not have much time to devote to it. So any tool that comes along to make my life easier and save me time is highly welcomed. Don’t you agree?

Here are some cutting edge Pinterest tools
to help you keep your sanity.

Pinerly

Pinerly ….was the first Pinterest tool I found and I can’t even remember where I heard about it. It is by invitation only and you need to have 5 friends before you receive an invite. Pinerly is a Pinterest friendly dashboard that lets you take control. You can follow people, find great pinners with the same interests and easily spot unfollowers.

PinReach

Pinreach …is a Pinterest tool for those of us who love analytics. It lets you find out how your boards are doing as far as followers, pins, likes, comments, etc. It also shows you which your most popular pins are and how many repins they have. And it also gives you an overall score. The higher your score the better of course. Kind of like in good ol’ Facebook fashion, Pinterest too is driven by engagement so repins carry more weight than pinning something new. However when others repin your stuff it carries much more relevance to your social influence than when you do it yourself. So the bottom line here is… pin awesome stuff that compels others to repin it!!

PinReach will show you how many pins a particular board has, how many followers,
how many people liked it and how many comments.

PinReach also shows you how many repins your favorite pins have.
And a whole lot more…

Pinstamatic

Another awesome Pinterest tool I came across is Pinstamatic. It lets you create sticky notes or quotes you can pin on your boards. It also lets you add locations, music, calendar dates, twitter profiles and more. It’s really easy to do and it took me less than five minutes to figure it out.

Cendrine Marrouat wrote a cool blog post loaded with more fantastic Pinterest tools and Google add-ons for Pinterest.  “10 tools to use Pinterest like a pro.” My favorite mentioned there is Pinvolve which I immediately installed on my Facebook Fan Pages. You can see it in action here and here.

So go visit Cendrine’s post and here is another one I would like to mention. This one is by my good friend Stacy Claflin ….”Pin Your Posts Automatically.”

This should keep you busy for a while. If you know of more terrific Pinterest tools it would be great if you could share them with us in the comments below. Thanks!

Don’t forget to “Follow Me on Pinterest”  ….and Happy Pinning!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

Related posts:

1. Powerful Reasons Why You Should Use Pinterest for Your Marketing – Part TWO
2. Powerful Reasons Why You Should Use Pinterest for Your Marketing – Part ONE
3. How Pinterest Can Help You Get More Blog Traffic

If you missed it, here is part one of “Powerful Reasons Why You Should Use Pinterest for Marketing.”

Success on Pinterest is about Strategy

So strategize! Strategize! Strategize! Just like Facebook with its EdgeRank it’s all about interaction on Pinterest as well.

Strategize and plan out your boards. Cute and funny always trumps. Infographics are eye-catching. (I love infographics.) Always think, what audiences do I want to reach and …how is this going to be viral so people want to share it? Use hashtags #.

Also, do a lot of looking around and checking out what other people are doing. Watch and learn and see what’s working. (I find myself doing that a lot.) You can learn quite a bit by following other people in your target niche, check out their strategies and then implementing them.)

Use different pin boards for different audiences.  One really cool thing about Pinterest is that you can have multiple pin boards. So if you have different audiences or target markets you can set up pin boards for each one. Pinterest users have the option of following individual boards or following a member as a whole. So if they don’t want to follow all of your boards they can just pick out the ones that are of interest to them. I think that’s a very cool feature, don’t you?

What to name your pin board? Now I admit I hadn’t given much thought to this in the past. Obviously you should pick a name that gets people’s attention, but at the same time you should keep keywords in mind as well.

Engaging on Pinterest. Engage with people by re-pinning their content, liking it or commenting on it. When you re-pin somebody’s content you are automatically following him or her. That’s kinda neat, don’t you think?

By the way, you can use hashtags (#) in the description of your images. They are also allowed in the comments. So you can use them just like you would use your keywords for search engine optimization.

Also, when you follow somebody they will receive an email letting them know and more often than not they will follow you back. That’s how you grow on Pinterest, by interacting with other people.

Linking your images. You probably already know this, but you can link your images back to your blog, website or sales funnel. (Believe it or not, I didn’t realize this and did it the hard way. There are always two ways of doing things…the hard way and the smart way.) While this is a very strategic way to get more targeted traffic, it can also be used to spam the boards. My advise….DON’T! You don’t want to mess up a good thing, so use self-promotion sparingly. There’s nothing wrong however with linking back to your valuable content on your blog.

So here is how you link your pin…..

Click the “Edit” button on your pin and then add the link to your website or blog. Don’t forget to save your changes.

Let’s recap right quick…Why should you use Pinterest for your marketing?….

• 80% of Pinterest users have it connected to Facebook. (You can also connect it to your Twitter account.)
• The average Pinterest user spends 89 minutes per month on the site, compared to 21 minutes for the average Twitter user.
• Pinterest can help you increase traffic back to your website, improve your social growth, increase sales as well as help with your search engine ranking.
• It’s visual and highly viral.

Be aware that Pinterest is in the beginning stages. It’s still the Wild Wild West out there and things will be constantly changing. But it is so much fun to be at the start of something BIG.

Oh, and since Pinterest is still in Beta you will have to request an invite to join the fun. You can ask your friends on Facebook who have a Pinterest account to send you an invitation. (If we are friends then let me know you would like an invite.)

So have fun on Pinterest and make sure you follow me!

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. All the credit goes to maximizesocialmedia.com for putting on an incredible webinar. I only shared what I learned.

Related posts:

1. Powerful Reasons Why You Should Use Pinterest for Your Marketing – Part ONE
2. How Pinterest Can Help You Get More Blog Traffic

You know you are being Googled by people, right? For example: Potential employers may Google you before deciding to hire you. Or if you are already employed your employer may Google you to find out more about you to decide if you are the right person for that promotion you have been hoping for. Your customers may Google you. Or if you are a network marketer prospects may Google you to see if you are the right sponsor for them.

The bottom line is you ARE being Googled period.

Now of course you would want for people to find the best, most positive and relevant Google search results about YOU and not something negative or irrelevant or maybe even being mistaken for a drug dealer.

Introducing:  BrandYourself

“Like it or not, you’re being Googled by employers, prospective clients and even dates. BrandYourself  is the only solution that makes it easy to control what they find.” -Fox News

So what exactly is BrandYourself?

BrandYourself, developed by founder and CEO Patrick Ambron, is the first DIY platform that makes it really easy for you to take control of your own Google search results. This amazing tool helps you fill your first page of Google with positive and relevant results about YOU. You are in charge what shows up when someone searches for you.

How does BrandYourself work?

1) You can submit any links you want to show up at the top of Google search results. This could be your blog, website, Facebook Page, LinkedIn or Twitter profile. Anything that says something positive about you and gives people more insight in who you are.

2) Then you use BrandYourself’s simple tools to boost your positive links to the top.

3) Get alerted whenever something important happens to your results. For example, if there is a sharp drop or a significant rise. These alerts help you take the appropriate action right away.

4) Build a high-ranking BrandYourself profile for extra control. Since BrandYourself profiles are automatically optimized to show up high in Google…80% show up on the first page within 2 weeks.

Watch this Fox News Live interview with
BrandYOurself CEO Patrick Ambron

This is very cool, don’t you think?

You know first impressions are critical to your success. You want people to see you as the professional that you really are. And you also want people to find the right, up-to-date and relevant information about you in their Google search results so they can make an informed decision.

Hey, it’s a FREE product so go check out BrandYourself and make sure you come back and share your results.

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

Related posts:

1. 3 Powerful Strategies to Keep Visitors on Your Blog Longer and Get More Google Love
2. Unfriend Finder Lets You Know When Someone Unfriends You on Facebook

The first time I heard about Pinterest.com the newest social network on the block was when I visited the lovely Brankica Underwood’s blog. I invite you to pay her a visit and read her “Complete Pinterest Guide.”

Although I loved the idea of pinning pictures of what you are interested in to a virtual pin board, I was apprehensive to join because the last thing I needed was another distraction.

But then I saw articles and tweets about Pinterest popping up everywhere. And when even Mari Smith mentioned it in one of her recent webinars curiosity got the better of me and I joined. After all, if this was such a hot thing, I didn’t want to be left behind.

Right out of the gate I received notifications of people following me. Most of them I knew already and some where people I was looking up to as mentors so I went to check out their boards.

And that’s when it clicked.

Pinterest is a fantastic tool for business!

I hadn’t even thought about the immense potential Pinterest has as far as using it for business let alone increasing blog traffic.

Did you know it is already used by 100+ brands such as Blockbuster, Lowe’s, Gaps, Pillsbury, just to name a few. Check out this awesome Pinterest Infographic!

So why shouldn’t we online marketers get a piece of that cake too?

Hey, I thought, I can use Pinterest to build relationships with other online marketers and deepen the relationships with those I am already connected to. And, I can do it in a fun, easy-going, non-threatening way and at the same time increase traffic to my blog!

But I wasn’t quite sure how to go about it yet.

However, when I clicked around on some pinboards  I came accross some very interesting pictures and infographics that lead me right to the person’s article/blog post.

And that’s when the little wheels in my head started turning.

Why can’t I do that?

So yesterday afternoon I tried it out. I took one of my blog posts, an inspiring story about the Brooklyn Bridge and “pinned it” on to Pinterest using the “Pin It Button” on my blog. (Yes, I changed the image to a more appealing one than the one I had before.)

Funny thing though, I then found out that some of my peers (who are much smarter than me obviously) had already pinned some of my blog posts to Pinterest. (Now, why am I always the last to find out how to do things?) Thank you, guys!

But in any case, I’m really glad I found out how to do this.

So how can you get more blog traffic using Pinterest?

See, when you pin a picture on one of your boards that picture is linked to the original source with a dofollow link. So if someone clicks on your image they will then follow through to your blog to read your post. Pretty cool, isn’t it!?

People can repin your image to one of their own boards thus giving you even more exposure. They can also click the Facebook “like” button or tweet your image to Twitter. Therefore it is very important to include your keywords in your description of your image. It also helps with SEO, hint, hint.

Now, like everywhere else in social media the “Golden Rule” applies at Pinterest as well. Share other people’s content way more than your own. Give, give and then give again and don’t expect anything in return!

Can you see how Pinterest can help you build new relationships with other like-minded individuals and in the end get more blog traffic as well?

Action Steps to Take:

1) Start adding pictures to your blog posts if you haven’t done so yet.
2) Get an account at Pinterest. (Actually, I see it still by invite only, so just let me know and I will send you an invitation.)
3) Install the Pinterest “Pin It” Button  on your blog so people can pin your posts. (Check “About” and then “Pin It Button” when you are logged into your Pinterest account.)
4) Install the “Follow me on Pinterest” button on your blog.
5) Add the Pin It Bookmarklet in your browser for easy pinning.
6) Follow me on Pinterest

Happy Pinning!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. You know I always love your feedback so please share your thoughts in the comments below.

And if you liked this post … please 

Related posts:

1. Powerful Reasons Why You Should Use Pinterest for Your Marketing – Part TWO
2. Powerful Reasons Why You Should Use Pinterest for Your Marketing – Part ONE

So what is SendOutCards?

SendOutCards, an online real greeting card company, officially launched in 2005, but the idea started way before that. It started as a promise founder and CEO Kody Bateman made after he lost his older brother, Kris, in a tragic electrical accident.

When Kody left Salt Lake City, UT, many years ago to take on an internship in New York City he ignored a prompting to go over to Kris and say goodbye because he was running late that day. Instead he just waved and drove off.

Three and a half months later, in the middle of the night, Kody got a call that his brother, an electrician, had been killed on the job.

Can you imagine, what must have gone through his mind at that moment? That tremendous amount of pain and regret. That was the moment the idea of SendOutCards was born.

In a nutshell, the very basic idea behind this incredible system is to provide an easy solution to “help people act on their promptings.”

SendOutCards lets you send out real physical greeting cards, that you type out on your computer, even in your own handwriting and with your own signature. You can upload your own photos to add to your message and even include a gift with your card. Then with a push of the magical “SEND” button it is on its way.

You don’t have to go to the store anymore, nor do you need to stuff, address, stamp or mail your card. It’s all done for you automatically with this incredible system.

Since those early days in 2005 the company has grown immensely. With total cards sent so far numbering 67.4 million (7 February 2012) no wonder it is now the largest first class mailing company in the United States.

And since it is the only greeting card company of its kind, there is virtually no competition!

Some of the incredible features of SendOutCards include…

• Pick a card from the Catalog of thousands of cards (I think they’re up to 15,000 cards at the time I’m writing this) and any imaginable category. Or design your own from scratch with the PicturePlus 2.0 feature.
• Set up a fully Automated Follow-up Campaign. Just set your cards up in a sequence and tell the system how many days, weeks or months apart you want your cards to go out and the system will send them out totally automatically with your handwriting and signature and any photos you want to add. And remember, you can even include a gift.
• The Contact Manager lets you add new contacts manually or you can import up to 750 contacts at a time from any tab separated file. For business people this is really a great feature. It also lets you organize your contacts in different groups so you can easily keep track and send out your campaigns to either specific people in a group or the whole group altogether.
• Send out a BIG Card…yes, SendOutCards now has cards that are about 4 times the size of a regular greeting card. It’s perfect for those occasions when you really want to make a statement. (I just recently sent out a Big Card “Thank You” card to one of my newest customers.)
• Also one of the newest, (and IMO) coolest features is the Video Card. Yes, you read that right.  I LOVE sending out video cards for people’s birthdays. The way this works is, SendOutCards uses QR Codes that you can scan with your smart phone. So when I sent a video card for someone’s birthday they can scan that QR Code an up pops a video right on their screen. By the way, this is not only super cool for birthdays, but also great for marketing, hint, hint.

According to David Frey SendOutCards is …

“The Ultimate Marketing and Personal Relationship Management System!”

I totally happen to agree.

What can you use SendOutCards for?

The possibilities are endless but here are just some ideas you can use this great system for…

• Keep in touch with family, friends, customers and business associates.
• Send out birthday cards
• Send out thank you notes
• Follow up with people
• Use it for lead generation campaigns
• Introduce a new product or service
• Use it to get more referrals
• Send inspirational cards to your team
• Send out heartfelt cards to people you care about

How much does SendOutCards Cost?

Depending on what plan you go with you can send out a regular two panel greeting card for as low as 0.98 cents plus postage. (Within the U.S. if you add the postage of 0.45 cents you can send out a card for as low as $1.43. Wow! Remember, you didn’t have to go to the store; you didn’t have to go to the post office and buy stamps; you didn’t have to stuff the envelope or mail the card, it was all done for you automatically for just$1.43. (If you are sending a card overseas it currently would cost you 0.98 cents for the card and 0.98 postage, total = $1.96)

There are currently two retail plans available:

1) Pay As You Go Plan — it’s exactly like it says, you pay for your cards as you go with points ranging from 99 cents per point to 49 cents per point depending how many points you buy.

(SendOutCards uses points instead of credits for the cards. So for example:  A postcard = 1 point; a regular 2-panel greeting card = 2 points; a 3-panel card = 3 points and so on.

2) Subscription Plan

For the tiny amount of $9.80 a month you can get a subscription and you can enjoy the full service of this incredible stay in touch system. Oh by the way, this subscription includes 10 greeting cards automatically. Don’t worry if you don’t use up those cards because they roll over from month to month.

What’s so cool about the Subscription Plan is that you automatically get the lowest price per point which is 49 cents a point!! [***If you choose the $31/month subscription plan you can even save MORE!]

SendOutCards has quickly become the most important marketing tool I use in my business! Actually, I call it my “Appreciation Marketing System.”  Oh, and my husband uses it in his mortgage business as well.

I made a short ANIMOTO video featuring
some of the cards I made …Check it out here!

SendOutCards – It’s not just cards anymore

There’s a lot more to SendOutCards than meets the eye. Recently the company added the SOC Photo Store where you can create your own photo books, calendars, posters, canvas prints, vision boards, business cards and coupon cards. You can get as creative as you want to.

What do you think? Would you like to test out the system for FREE?

I invite you to send out a greeting card to anyone you like today! My treat, I even pay for postage. Just CLICK HERE! Click around, play with the features, upload some pictures and let your creativity go wild. You’ll see why I have so much fun with this system.

If you want to find out more please watch this detailed Introduction to SendOutCards with my friend David Frey.

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

No related posts.

So, what did I learn today?

Well, I was watching a recorded webinar with Mari Smith (you know THE top authority when it comes to anything to do with Facebook) and Mari mentioned that having Networked Blogs installed on your Facebook Page is really beneficial for getting more SEO from Facebook.

That’s when my ears perked up. Really?

Well, it totally makes sense as Facebook has an Alexa ranking of 2 and is the second most trafficked website in the world after Google.  It is also ranked #1 in the world for site visits for the length of session time.

So why not piggy-back on Facebook to get some SEO juice?

I had” Networked Blogs” set up for a while, but if you haven’t yet definitely, definitely do install the app on your Facebook Page. You will be glad you did for several reasons as you are about to find out.

How to set up Networked Blogs on
your Facebook Page

Registering your blog at Networked Blogs is very easy. Just go to http://facebook.com/networkedblogs and click on “Go to App.” Then click on “Register a Blog” and follow the prompts.

Next click on “Syndication” and publish your blog posts to Facebook and Twitter.  This is really an excellent feature as it publishes your blog posts automatically* to your different Twitter accounts as well as your Facebook Profile, your Facebook Page (or multiple pages) and Facebook Groups.

When you click on the “Profile” tab you can add a little bio of yourself as well as links to other websites. You also have the option to invite your Facebook friends to follow you blog. Pretty cool, huh?

Last but not least you can add a “Widget” to your blog so people can follow you directly from there. It’s a bit tricky to find the widget on Networked Blogs. The easiest way I have found it is to click on the picture of my blog when I am in my “Profile.”

You can customize your widget any way you want to make it fit in with the layout of your blog. You can see mine in the sidebar to the right. ===>

What are the benefits of installing the Networked Blogs app on your Facebook Page?

Well, the obvious one is you will get more eyeballs to your blog. For one, directly from your Facebook Page as a link will show up in the sidebar underneath your profile picture. And two, directly from your blog if you have the widget installed.

But…as I mentioned above, it’s also fantastic for SEO because Facebook has such great indexing.

*One thing that Mari mentioned and I kind of had heard that before…As far as Facebook is concerned do not set up your Networked Blogs feed to post automatically to your wall. The reason being is that “manual” posts do receive a higher weight…which is great for your EdgeRank.

The way you can change the settings is by going to “Edit Page” (top right on your Facebook Page) and then to “Apps” in the left sidebar. Find Networked Blogs and then click on “Edit Settings” (underneath the description) and then “Additional Permission.” Just uncheck “Publish content to my Wall.”

Now, I personally have it set to publish automatically which publishes my blog posts automatically to my Facebook Page wall but for some reason not to my Profile wall. I don’t really mind though because I would rather publish it there manually anyway. Once I get more fans, I will change my settings to manually publish there as well.

So, I hope this all is not too confusing as I know finding your way around Networked Blogs is not the easiest thing to do. But I hope the screenshots help.

Oh, before I forget it, Mari also mentioned that you can do the same thing with “Notes” at Facebook. Just pull in your blog feed into the Notes app. Mari has a tremendous world of knowledge where Facebook is concerned. No wonder she’s the #1 go to person. By the way, I’m signed up for her “Extreme Facebook Fan Growth” course that starts February 14th. Are you?

As always, please share your feedback in the comments below and if you have any questions I encourage you to share them as well.

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

Related posts:

1. Unfriend Finder Lets You Know When Someone Unfriends You on Facebook
2. Where to Get the Coolest Facebook Timeline Cover
3. Timeline for Facebook Pages – Love it or Hate it
4. Facebook Subscribe Pros and Cons
5. Facebook Influence – Why I Highly Recommend FBinfluence

Personally, I haven’t been too concerned about this, because I rarely use the Facebook unfriend option. But it seems to be a very popular question because it often shows up as a search query on my blog. Just today I had several people ask, …

“Will friend know if I unsubscribe them — unsubscribe facebook find out – does facebook tell friend if you unsubscribe – does someone know if I unsubscribe them”

And I get those queries on a regular basis.

So I went to Facebook and did a search for it in the “Help” section but couldn’t come up with an answer. Guess Facebook isn’t too eager to volunteer answers to questions about how to unfriend someone.

Then the funniest thing happened. As I was updating my Buffer app with more great information for my Twitter Followers the answer popped right up in form of a great article on Mashable.

There is actually a browser extension called “Unfriend Finder.” Wouldn’t you know?

How does “Unfriend Finder” work?

Unfriend Finder will alert you when people you have previously been friends with deactivated their account or have removed you from their friends lists.

But first of course, you need to install the script. You can find it at Userscripts.org. If you are using Google Chrome all you need to do is click the green “Install” button and you are ready to go. If you are using Firefox then you will have to install the Greasemonkey add-on first.

As you can see from the screenshots below I am using Google Chrome.

Step one: Get the “Unfriend Finder” extension and install it on your browser.

Step two: Go to Facebook and check it out.

As you can see from the image below, once you have the script installed your Facebook account will show these two changes immediately.

1) You will see an additional tab in the top right-hand corner called “Unfriends.”

2) You will also see and additional link in your “Favorites” right underneath your profile picture on your home page.

Oh, by the way, if you hover your mouse over the tab you will see more useful info. For example the total number of your friends, how many pending friend requests you have and the number of “Unfriends” the Unfriend Finder extension detected.

You will receive a notification when someone unfriends you and a red number appears above the “Unfriends” tab. (Since I just installed the add-on there are no red numbers yet.)

By the way, you will also be notified trough your main notifications. (You know the ones that appear next to your message notifications and friend requests in the top menu bar on Facebook.)

When you click on the “Unfriends” option in your “Favorites” list you will also be able to see who unfriended you, together with the date and time they decided they didn’t want to be friends with you any longer.

As I mentioned earlier above, not only will this script let you know when someone unfriends you, but it also tells you when someone you were friends with deactivates (or re-activates) their profile. I think that can be very helpful as two of my sons just deactivated and reactivated their profiles recently. (Of course they neglected to tell me about it and I was wondering why we were no longer friends, haha.)

Another Helpful Feature of Unfriend Finder:
Pending Friend Requests

This great feature helps you keep track of your “Pending Friend Requests” on Facebook. I don’t know about you, but I sometimes forget whom I sent a friend request to, because I just get so busy. So, now I can check what friends requests are still pending, who ignored them and who cancelled my friend requests. (Although I can’t think of anyone who would ever do such a thing.)

So, there you have it. Check it out for yourself!

Unfriend Finder is compatible with Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Internet Explorer and translated into 65 languages.

If you already have this great add-on installed on your browser go ahead and share your experience with us in the comments below.

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. Please also read the original article about Unfriend Finder on Mashable. Thanks!

P.P.S For more Facebook Insider Tips I invite you to check out Amy Porterfield’s incredible Facebook Influence Course

Related posts:

1. How to Add Networked Blogs to Your Facebook Page for More SEO
2. Facebook Subscribe Pros and Cons
3. Where to Get the Coolest Facebook Timeline Cover
4. Facebook Influence – Why I Highly Recommend FBinfluence
5. Timeline for Facebook Pages – Love it or Hate it

While I am genuinely flattered that somebody values my opinion about them enough to ask me for a recommendation and I love giving them, sometimes that request leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Such was the case just this past week and this particular one was a double no-no.

Out of the blue a person I don’t even know send me a “recommendation request”.  Unfortunately, this has happened before and it really makes me very uncomfortable. What made this request even worse was the fact that this person included a shameless promotion for his business.

What was he thinking?

Was he expecting me to just make something up and write a fake recommendation?

Ehm, sorry, but I don’t do that. I don’t make things up. If I don’t know you I won’t recommend you.  I have too much to lose. I am not going to put my credibility and my good name on the line just to make you look good. Uhuh!

Yes, recommendations are extremely powerful because they add credibility and social proof and they give you a lot more validity in what you do. So the more you have the better, right?

Well yes probably. But wouldn’t you rather have someone recommending you who really knows you and can give their honest opinion about you than getting a bunch of generic recommendations that could fit just about anybody?

Before you ask for a recommendation on LinkedIn (or any other place) consider this…

• Use the system within LinkedIn to send your recommendation request rather than sending your own email.
• Only ask people who know you well enough to recommend you. Maybe you’ve done some work for them, been to company events together or helped them out in some way. You don’t want to make someone feel uncomfortable. Or, and that may be just as bad or worse, receive a recommendation that totally misrepresents you.
• If you have never worked together and only know each other online, make sure the person you ask to recommend you knows your personality, your character, your work ethics, what makes you different and stand out. You want to have had some kind of interaction with them where they remember you from so they can genuinely endorse you.
• The best way to get a recommendation is to give one first. Lewis Howes recommends doing just that in his Linked Influence course.  But be genuine and sincere. People can “smell” if your intentions are honorable or if you “just want something in return.”
• Apropos, talking about “return.” Be kind, return the favor and reciprocate!

You kind of get my drift, don’t you? What I am getting at is….

Don’t ask a complete stranger out of the blue…
”Can You Recommend Me?”

That makes that person very uncomfortable and quite frankly, doesn’t say very much about you either.

By the way, getting a recommendation request from a complete stranger really makes me think twice about adding just anyone who sends me a request to join their network on LinkedIn. I will be much more selective in the future as to whom I will add to my network and whom I’m just going to ignore.

Especially on a professional social network like LinkedIn it is more about quality than quantity. With more than 101 million members LinkedIn is the 3^rd largest social network and growing at a steady pace. You want to make sure you conduct yourself in a professional manner.

So, what has been your experience with getting a recommendation request? I always love your feedback so make sure you share it in the comment section below.

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

No related posts.

So now that you have all that space available  just what in the world are you going to choose as your Facebook Timeline Cover?

Well, by default, Facebook will choose a photo you have already uploaded.  But if you don’t want that, you can get really creative and make your own.

For example, I love quotes, so I created a cover sharing one of my favorites. (That was before I knew of the places I will share with you below.) I also created some others that I had a blast making and I probably continue just for fun and giggles. If you want to make your own using PhotoShop or Gimp the specs are 851 wide by 315 high.

But, if you have better things to do with your time (unlike some people on this planet, haha) then you can get really cool looking Facebook Timeline Covers from these places….

Creating your own Killer “Facebook Timeline Cover”
is as easy as 1-2-3…

…using these great resources…

1. Pic Scatter
2. Timeline Cover Banner
3. Face It Pages
4. Cover Canvas
5. FirstCovers
   
6. Cover Junction

This last one is my favorite. So when the day comes and I get tired of making my own Facebook Timeline Cover that’s probably what I will use.

So, there you have them 5 incredible easy to use resources to get creative with your Facebook Timeline image.

Please also read the original article on this:
“Facebook Timeline Customization: 5 Tools for Killer Cover Photos”

The possibilities are endless. You can be as creative as you want to be. Just take a look at these jaw-dropping designs from very talented people: “10 Facebook Timeline Designs That Will Blow You Away.”

Let your imagination go wild, make sure your Facebook Timeline Cover reflects your personality,  but most of all…have fun!

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

Related posts:

1. Timeline for Facebook Pages – Love it or Hate it
2. How to Add Networked Blogs to Your Facebook Page for More SEO
3. Unfriend Finder Lets You Know When Someone Unfriends You on Facebook
4. Facebook Subscribe Pros and Cons
5. Facebook Influence – Why I Highly Recommend FBinfluence

It would have been nice if we had a couple of extra days to spread the job out a bit more, but unfortunately that wasn’t an option because the deck had to be finished before our first major snow stormed arrived. It started snowing last night and it’s still going strong.

So we were putting in eight hour days, getting up and down that ladder, standing on footstools or just crouching down. Oh our achy bones! This morning, admiring the fine work we had done, my husband and I looked at each other and agreed, “We will never do this again.”

Why did we not hire someone else
to do the job for us?

Good question! Well, a couple of things, 1) we thought we probably could do a more thorough job if we did it ourselves and 2) contracting it out would have cost us about $1,000 dollars.

In hindsight, which is always 20/20 we are asking ourselves  if spending 4 days painting our deck ourselves was really a good use of our time.

Truth be told, no, not really! Yes, we did save a lot of money, but at what cost? We both walk around the house like we are 80 years old, achy and sore, and we basically lost 4 days of work.  I’m behind in everything. Since I had not even turned on my computer while we were painting – and I must say, enjoying beautiful Colorado weather and temperatures in the high 70s and 80s – I came back to a mountain of emails which I’m slowly getting a handle on.

Why am I telling you this story?

Because outsourcing is sometimes the better option and not only for home improvements. Internet/Network Marketing has a lot of different parts to it. Yes, we can take care of a lot of them ourselves, but sometimes it is just not good use of our time. Or maybe we are lacking the skills to do something.  So outsourcing is a great solution.

Here are 3 fantastic resources for outsourcing.

1)  Odesk – it’s free to post a job and hire contractors. Pay only for the time worked. Contractors log in when they are working and work is verified by screenshots.

2)  Elance – Over 500,000 rated and tested professionals to choose from.  Sign up for a free account to post your job, or to sign up for work. Have some great skills? Set up a portfolio and get paid for your talents.

3)  Guru – Hire top quality Freelancers with confidence.  Check profiles, locations, reviews, work history or portfolios to find the right person for your job.

While doing my research on these outsourcing sites I found a variety of jobs offered, like link building, article writing, writing blog posts, programming, creating videos for marketing or graphics for your site and much more.

There’s no need to do it all yourself. As a matter of fact trying to be a “Jack of all Trades” might be contradictory and very frustrating. Besides outsourcing some of the tasks you need to do to build your business frees up time for the more important stuff….like spending time with your family.

By the way, I came across this fantastic video by Kim Klaver where she talks more in detail about the sites above. Enjoy!

I am seriously considering outsourcing some of the tasks I need to do on a regular basis. (Especially painting jobs, haha.)

Have you outsourced jobs before or been using the sites mentioned above? I would love to hear your feedback so please make sure you leave your comments below. Thanks!

To Your Success,

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

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