Procrastination and impulsivity are genetically linked, suggesting that the two traits stem from similar evolutionary origins, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research indicates that the traits are related to our ability to successfully pursue and juggle goals. Read article here on ScienceDaily website “Everyone procrastinates at least sometimes, but we wanted to explore why some people procrastinate more than others and why procrastinators seem more likely to make rash actions and act without thinking,” explains psychological scientist and study author Daniel Gustavson of the University of Colorado Boulder. “Answering
More please! →Small Business Resources
The internet is awesome…sometimes not so great, but it has some pretty amazing stuff on it. I’ve just activated a couple of pages in my Free Resources area. I like to offer things that have helped, inspired or made me say “woah,” in the spirit of helping others succeed and grow, so the following two pages are new. I’ve included fun stuff and, most importantly, opportunities to “give back.” Service ought to be part of your business plan. The rewards are practical and tangible…you’ll see. Check out these new pages on my website – Edward The Best of the Internet – Stuff
More please! →WordPress makes it easy to add great content to your website. Creating the content still needs doing, so here’s a great article and ideas from Brick Marketing…enjoy & implement! – Edward A. Sanchez, Brass Ring Multimedia You can read this article on the Brick Marketing Blog here. Tips to Ensure that Content Marketing Gets Done Writing by Nick Stamoulis in Content Marketing The most crucial component of marketing your business online today, and more specifically with SEO, is the content that is being created and published on behalf of your business or organization. Content is at the foundation of all online
More please! →What Makes Your Business Special or Unique? An incredibly critical question for every business. By asking this one basic question, we are well on our way to the consultation which is an integral part of every Brass Ring Multimedia project. The first part of the Brass Ring Process, our consultation thorough marketing and needs analysis helps us start to put together a solution that will best convey our clients and their businesses. Our Process – The Brass Ring Difference Over and over, I’ve asked my clients that question, “what makes YOUR business special?” Based on that answer, we make sure
More please! →Facebook still holds big potential for small business marketers. A study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project shows that Facebook remains the most dominant social networking platform and is a place small businesses should still be devoting their online marketing efforts toward. Specifically, 71 percent percent of online adults are now Facebook users, a slight increase from the 67 percent who used Facebook as of late 2012. Besides being the most commonly used social network, Facebook also has high levels of engagement among its users. More than 60 percent of Facebook users visit the site at least once a
More please! →You’re invited San Diego! Let’s Jumpstart Your Business for 2014! Visit Event Registration Page Here, or read on… Contact Constant Contact SoCal gtavasti@constantcontact.com When Thursday January 9, 2014 from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM PST Add to Calendar Where Jacobs Center (Market Creek Event Venue) 404 Euclid Avenue San Diego, CA 92114 Driving Directions ____________________________________ Chance to Win: Office 2013 Professional Windows 8 Engagement Marketing: How Small Business Wins in a Social Connected World ____________________________________ John Walker and Jared Smith, Talent Evolution www.TalentEvolution.com Stu Atkins, Atkins Marketing Solutions www.AtkinsMarketingSolutions.com Merri Jill Finstrom and Dave Finstrom, HUTdogs www.hutdogs.com Victoria Byrne, Creative Marketing
More please! →(Read article HERE on The Guardian Small Business Network or continue) Market research will help you understand your customers, familiarise yourself with the competition and get to know what people are prepared to pay for your product or service by Emily Wight, Guardian Professional, Friday 23 August 2013 05.21 EDT Whatever sector you’re in, understanding the cultural, social and economic context in which you’re trading is crucial. You’ll need to know about the local area, what your competition is, and what people will be prepared to pay for your product or service. Starting your market research as soon as possible will
More please! →This project features a WordPress website, logo (re)design and business cards for an exceptionally exciting new travel service based in La Jolla, California. I owe a debt to the Bird Rock Community Council in my hometown of La Jolla. Some months back, their IT specialist referred me to Doug Wheeler’s wife Jane for a project (which eventually went a different direction). Thankfully, enough of an impression was left that when it came time for husband Doug to launch his latest undertaking, Jane suggested a conversation with me and Brass Ring Multimedia was one of his first calls. We hit it
More please! →Kevin Tavares, partner in iPay Consulting, San Diego Division, is a longtime friend. His company, iPay Consulting, a leading San Diego credit card processing consulting firm, specializes in saving people money and simplifying their business efforts by analyzing and streamlining their payment processing (credit cards, etc.) using the latest technology. Kevin wanted to take advantage of the power of WordPress and he turned to me to help him hit the ground running with his (first) WordPress site. There’ll be more, I’m certain. We’ve just launched the result of a great collaboration (see below) and, having just trained Kevin in WordPress,
More please! →(If you’re already a client, we’ve probably already talked about this. People DON’T read everything we put on a website, which is why it is critically important that we present content in scannable form. This doesn’t mean we omit details, but it does mean that we need to format and layout our content in such a way as to cater to their reading styles. The following article, by one, if not THE internet usability expert gives excellent insight which will help you present your content effectively. – Edward) Read article on Nielsen Norman Group website or continue here. Summary: When web content
More please! →Read Nick’s article on IncomeDiary.com here or read on… We’ve written in the past about some of most awesome company offices in the world. But is it possible that the ultimate office is right in your own home? Working from home can be a dream come true: convenience, comfort, and complete control. Today, more people are working from home than ever before – whether they’re telecommuting to their job or just using the Internet to make their own income like me. I’ve been working from a home office for two years now and in that time I’ve learned that working from home
More please! →Read article on Copyblogger Media website In many ways, this century has mostly been a dark time for online writers. Huh? You mean the Internet — the most significant publishing revolution since Gutenberg — hasn’t been good for writers?! Yes. And no. Here’s the thing, good content writers got squeezed out during the early days of Google’s PageRank algorithm. As I’ll explain later, the importance was placed on the page, which created a nasty race to the bottom as far as writer’s value was concerned. Thankfully, Google has recently changed its tune, and the web writer is about to profit from that change
More please! →Fri, Jan 4, 2013 — 10:00 AM Download audio (MP3) Getty Images Are you one of nearly 9 million self-employed Americans? Are you a freelancer and find your own clients? Or do you have a full or part-time job to pay the bills, and a gig you love on the side? Sara Horowitz is the founder of the Freelancers Union, which has 170,000 members nationwide, from writers to web designers to nannies. She joins us to discuss her new book, “The Freelancer’s Bible,” the pros and cons of life as an independent worker and tips for success in today’s economy.
More please! →Click this link: Tips From Marketing Rebel John Carlton to download and listen. John Carlton, marketing expert of Marketing Rebel will discuss how to record your sales pitch and turn it into an ad as well as how to avoid rip-off scamsters. Click here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/podcast/index.html for the same podcast on their website.
More please! →Writing by Brick Marketing in SEO Search engine optimization, if implemented properly, can do many wonderful things for your business. It can help improve your brand visibility in the search engines and online overall in order to bring more targeted traffic to your site. An increase in visitors to the site will generate more conversions including sales, leads, calls, etc. However, one thing that SEO can’t do is solve your business problems. If your business is struggling, SEO isn’t going to be a magic fix. SEO works best for the companies that have their “stuff” together. SEO won’t change any
More please! →Hot Mix 106 listeners who tune in to his twice-weekly internet broadcast, already know my buddy Steve Kramer, better known to his fans and listeners as “Dr. Dimension.” Based in San Diego, computer repair and service specialist Steve is whom I, among many others, turn to when my computers and other devices need care. (To get hold of Steve, contact him here.) Steve’s “old site” needed to go and this was a perfect opportunity to get Steve into a website design that he could control. The power of WordPress is what Steve needed and his new website gives Steve the
More please! →Something I’ve been subscribing to for some time now is Website Magazine. I get a FREE subscription (and so can you). Both print and online versions are available and I still get the print, because I have an old school heart. You’ll find useful articles, content and resources that will help raise your game online. One page I’d like to direct you to is their Website Resource Center. On it you’ll find links to a number of useful white papers, webinars and videos which you, as an online marketer will find useful in growing your internet presence and practicing effective design.
More please! →September 5, 2012 By Jill Whalen If you’ve been reading much of what I’ve written over the years, you’ll know that I’m not a fan of using search engine rankings as a measure of success for SEO. Thankfully, we have much better ways to measure SEO success today, thanks to tools like Google Analytics. While presenting an all-day SEO training class at the University of San Diego last week, I realized that many people who do SEO as part of their job don’t always know what information in Google Analytics they should be looking at, nor how to find it. In
More please! →One of the most amazing books I’ve had the privilege to read was The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey. Once again, I have my good friend and voracious reader Johnny Y. to thank for pointing me (once again) at one of the truly remarkable paradigm-changing reads I’ve had the good fortune to encounter. Click here to read important excerpts from this truly significant book. I recommend this book without reservation and offer it as a great resource to my small business clients who wish to grow their business and themselves with integrity and intelligence, two of the cornerstones
More please! →(Link to original article HERE) Your company has invested a lot of time in building what you think is a great website. It’s not only pretty, it’s chock full of all the information about your products and services. Then reality sets in: attention spans are short and as great as your website is on paper, it just doesn’t hold attention long enough to convey all of the important information those customers and potential customers need to make the decisions that will boost your bottom line. What can you do? Here are six ways to optimize your website for short attention
More please! →June 13, 2012 By Jill Whalen I recently did a site audit for a client who was wondering why they were having a hard time showing up in Google. When I read through the information they sent me and took a quick look at their website, it was obvious to me what the problem was: They simply didn’t deserve to be there. Let me explain… They have a fairly small local company that sells some common but specific types of office furniture. While they have a niche for the type of furniture they sell, for the most part it’s nothing
More please! →Facebook Tests Timeline Redesign | PCWorld. Facebook’s Timeline profiles may be getting a redesign, but this one probably won’t trigger a backlash. New Facebook Timeline being testedThe new Timeline design, spotted by TPM Livewire, condenses the biographical information at the top of the page, so it’s nested within the user’s banner image instead of appearing below. Links to the user’s friends list, photos, locations, and Likes are tucked neatly underneath the banner, next the user’s profile picture. Alongside those links, a new button called “Summary” leads to a list of major life events.
More please! →Google Sucks All the Way to the Bank! January 19, 2011 By Jill Whalen Most of the time when I have a bit of a rant in the newsletter or elsewhere it’s because I’ve seen or heard things that bug me or are just plain wrong. Writing about it gets it off my chest and that’s usually the end of it. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case with the Dear Google rant I had back in Sept. It’s not out of my system in the least. In fact, the feelings I had in that “letter” are growing stronger every day.
More please! →A while back, my buddy Steve Kramer, computer tech & laptop specialist, told me about his new radio show (not so new anymore…he’s been doing it for some time now). He’s on HotMix106.com (an online radio station offering a variety of content) and goes by the moniker “Dr. Dimension.” Steve features useful news on the tech scene as well as providing answers to listeners’ emails. He provides help to his fan’s needs running the gamut from security issues to extracting discs stuck in their laptop drives. He also plays some pretty cool and diverse music to break up his tech-talk. It’s a pretty good blend of
More please! →On March 15, 2012, Google officially announced (via the Wall Street Journal), what hardcore SEOs have been expecting since at least 2008. Google is introducing semantic search into its algorithm. What exactly is semantic search? It’s a technology that lets the search engine “understand” what each search query means. So, rather than simply matching the keywords typed into the search box to the keywords on a web page and in links pointed to the page, semantic search also will return results based on related ideas and concepts… I suggest you read the rest of this article on Karon Thackston’s blog…
More please! →Some months back, I wrote about a website I built for a small business called De Chiel Firearms, owned by retired Navy pilot Mitch Dashiell. I received a very nice letter from him a few days ago and thought I’d share it here. Over the years, people have said and written many very nice things about me and the work I’ve done for them. I wish I could say I’d done a great job of blowing my own horn. (Important for effective self-marketing. “Physician, heal thyself…”) I’m going to try to do a better job of this (and so should
More please! →Business Card Options 1000 Full-color 2-sided Business Cards (w/website) $95.00 USD1000 Full-color 2-sided Business Cards ( no website order) $115.00 USD BUSINESS CARD DESIGN So…Brass Ring Multimedia does business cards now?! (Actually, have for years.) The business card remains a powerful tool (especially so when used properly and creatively) to make an impression, convey professionalism, drive traffic to our websites, serve as “mini-billboards” to advertise us, our products and services. If you ever get a chance, in fact, pick up a copy of Bob Popyk’s book: Here’s My Card: How to Network Using Your Business Card to Actually Create More Business, an excellent
More please! →Written by Nick Scheidies Posted in Entrepreneurship | There’s nothing wrong with being a little selfish. When you own your own business, you have complete responsibility for all of its operations. You have to look after their own best interest first and foremost. But the more generous you are with your time, energy, and expertise the easier it will be to accomplish your personal goals. The more you give, the more you get. Don’t believe me? Keep reading and I’ll explain. Helping People is the Key to Success “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no
More please! →Written by Nicholas Tart I see this time and time again. As people get started with blogging, they think it’s as simple as clicking, “Add New Post,” typing up a few paragraphs, and clicking, “Publish.” Then they hopelessly wait for views, comments, and tweets. No one comes. No one comments. No one tweets. They do this three or four times and eventually write off blogging as, “not it’s all hyped up to be.” After writing for Michael for a few months now, I can tell you that there are dozens of small blogging nuances that we work into nearly every
More please! →Excellent book…just finished reading it. Buy this book. Read this book…highlight and mark it up. Then RE-read this book. Finally, USE this book. I assure you, I don’t make a dime off of it, but you will! (Don’t worry I’ll be making my dimes from using it myself!) This book can be key to taking your website design from the realm of the common and ignored to effective website design which will attract visitors and provide them with useful information and lead them down the path you wish them to follow. I’ve been a website designer for a lot of
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