The slides and video (in a playlist) are below.

The next one (date, time, place: TBA) will be about Lead Generation and how you can increase your lead gen efforts using the web – from useful web sites to ideas that will bring visitors to your site (sometimes called linkbait).

You’ll leave with examples of great online campaigns, how to use systems to manage leads, ideas for your organization, and a link to an additional training video on this site. The video walks you through some common CRM and lead management systems and provides a checklist for updating contact info when someone changes their address, position, e-mail, and more. It’ll show how these systems link with common e-mail systems so your time involved managing all this data is minimized.

If you have any special requests for this presentation, send them in!

After the next session, we’ll hold other events. These are the target months (time and location TBA)

May: Building Your E-mail Newsletter

June: Building your Social Media Profiles and How to Manage Them

August: Building and Managing Your Online Advertising

Sept: Web Site Makeover

Oct: Using Online Videos to Promote Your Company

Nov: E-Commerce for your site: how to choose a system, configure it, and manage online sales

These are hands on “how to” events and I’ll lead the attendees through the set-up of tools online. You’ll will leave knowing you have started the process and a checklist of what to do next. The sessions could be up to two hours long. Other folks will be involved and the sessions are discussions and not lectures. So come ready to participate!

If you have other ideas for topics, let me know.

This guy is trying too hard..that’s a “B” for Bentley, new wheels, tires, tinted….

and a closer look

Yep, it’s not a Bentley…its a Chrysler/Dodge chop top. Probably has some self image issues…

Next one…I don’t even know what the image on the right means…it was on the 2010 Lexus in the showroom

and a strange Google Ad:

I don’t know that I want to see those.

And finally, a pic from yesterday at WebMedley…can you tell spring is almost here?

from : http://phodroid.com/09/03/8dy2ya

Here’s what we discussed:

1. Establish a web site that functions as a traditional site and a blog. I prefer WordPress and a designer to make it look nice. The designer/developer will need guidance. Send the person a list of the sites you like and do not like. Send the person a list of pages you want to have (site map). Your goal is to give the person a list he or she can use when building the site. As they build, you can check items off on the list as “complete”.
2. While the site is being designed, write content for the About Me, Contact, and main pages in the site. This is not as easy as it may sound. If you do not write much and/or do not normally write about yourself, get started early.
3. Create a profile at LinkedIn. It’s free and very easy. Then, upload your contacts into the system. I bet you are amazed at how many people you already know are using the system. Networks are everything. Make sure you get the custom URL like mine: http://www.linkedin.com/in/billdotson. You can use this in your e-mail signature if you do not want to list your own site. I highly recommend the LinkedIn Toolbar for Outlook. It’s invaluable for keeping up with your contacts’ changes and reminding you of people you have not talked to in a while.
4. If you believe you will use Facebook, then set-up an account there. It operates like LinkedIn, but its much more social. LinkedIn is for staying in touch with business colleagues. If you hire anyone under the age of 30, get a Facebook account and become their friend (a process in Facebook). This will show you quite a bit about the person’s non-work lifestyle and could play a role in the hiring decision.
5. By the time you finish 3 and 4, your site should be ready. Before you tell your colleagues about it, make sure you have Google Analytics inserted in the code. It’ll let you know about your site traffic and how people find your site. Then, submit your site to Google. If you host someplace major like GoDaddy, then you’ll get Google’s Webmaster tools included in your account. This will help you and your designer/developer.
6. Make sure your web site has a way for people to subscribe to it. Use both RSS (through FeedBurner) and e-mail notifications (FeedBurner, too). This way, you can publish updates through your site, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
7. You’ll need a reliable e-mail address that’s accessible anywhere. I’m a fan of Google Apps Premier or hosted Microsoft Exchange. Both of these systems work with smartphones, provide the ability to share calendars, and check mail on the web or through Outlook. 
8. Set a schedule to publish to your site about once per week. The more you publish, the easier it gets. Make sure the content is something valuable to your audience. For example, I could care less about what your cat ate for dinner, but if you have a thought on leadership skills, I’m all ears.

You’ve done it. You have a site, online social media profiles, and a publishing schedule. From here, the path you take and tools you use online are really determined by the purpose for establishing your online presence. Let me know if you have questions or add them in the comments (below).

Your results:
You are Iron Man

Iron Man 80% Green Lantern 60% Superman 55% Spider-Man 55% Hulk 55% The Flash 55% Catwoman 55% Robin 47% Supergirl 45% Wonder Woman 40% Batman 30%

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

To look up more on your superhero, visit Wikipedia.

Hi everyone:

This is a partial list of the blogs and podcasts I read regularly. You may want to review these regularly to stay on top of trends, improve your sales activity, and focus your mind on what you’re doing.

These are all RSS feeds. Copy and paste them in your feed reader. (If you do not know what one is, just let me know.)

With all of this info – there is good and bad – take what you feel is most important for your profession.

Sales

http://feeds.feedburner.com/caskey

http://feeds.feedburner.com/JimLogan

http://www.crmmastery.com/weblog/rss.xml — he focuses on CRM, but it has good clips from other places on business development

http://feeds.feedburner.com/2-speed – some management items, but good sales thoughts

Sales / Marketing

http://decker.typepad.com/welcome/rss.xml

http://feeds.feedburner.com/guykawasaki/Gypm

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/atom.xml

Services

http://feeds.feedburner.com/DavidMaistersPassionPeopleAndPrinciples — he wrote the book ‘The Trusted Advisor and has a podcast in a different RSS feed.

IT / online specific, but relevant to what’s going on:

http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/atom.xml

http://feeds.feedburner.com/Techcrunch

Small business

http://iqcontent.syndicateiq.net/parsers/feedParser?feedId=220&uuid=d7b34d6a856abb9405ad6c4358fed462/index.xml

Podcasts – all can be found through iTunes or on their individual web sites.

The Advanced Selling podcast – http://www.billcaskey.com/the_advanced_selling_podcast/index.html (yes, the picture looks cheesy, but the show is good)

The Cold Calling Podcast – subscribe at http://coldcallingpodcast.com/

The Sales Roundup Podcast – http://www.salesroundup.com/

The Great Salesperson podcast – http://www.parisse.com/podcasts/index.shtml

Let me know of more you use.

The new blog addresses are:

http://billdotson.typepad.com/bizdev/ and

http://billdotson.typepad.com/the_it_workbook/

The subscription feeds are active on both sites, too.

Hugh’s method of writing is great — its a conversation he could have with you.

This post is great for anyone in the corporate world and for those college students about to enter it.

Mauro Cardarelli points out an article in CIO Insight about Robert Scoble‘s views on corporate blogging. Scoble happens to be a former Microsoft employee and one of the most prolific bloggers in the world.

Scoble’s comments about blogging are important since he points out a few great ideas for internal blogs. The first is an example how all sales people could publish their own blog — keeping their manager(s) informed of activities and leaving the e-mail Inbox free for client communication.

I think this is a wonderful idea. All employees could have an internal “What I did today” blog, but limiting it to daily activities would not make sense. Many Japanese firms have a kaizen policy — employees are encouraged to submit ideas to make their processes better. These firms could seek out blog posts with the tag (keyword) “kaizen” for employees’ ideas.

Depending on applications in use at your company, you may want to do this. Blogging software is free.

Scoble’s second idea links the knowledge (data) stored in employee message stores (those gigabyte-plus e-mail files on your computer) to blogs. I have experience with this situation since one of my former employers contacts me monthly asking, “Where are the notes on…?” I let them know where the files are, but wouldn’t it be easier for someone to go to a web site and type “Bill Dotson Acme Notes” and see all the results?

You can link to blog posts from internal documents (e-mails and MS Office files, for example). Posts can contain images, video, etc.

Remeber when I said the blogging software is free? Losing corporate knowledge is not. Are blogs worth investigation now?