Hopefully, but probably not.

Why would I think that?

I'm a realist.

There are thousands of demands on our attention every day.

Are you seriously going to miss a week of my blog?

Probably not, but that's not the point.

If I didn't blog regularly, you'd RARELY or NEVER notice me.

Blogging regularly gives me an opportunity to have your attention for a moment. Perhaps a little longer if you choose to read the full post.

Apply this idea to your own business. Would people miss you if they didn't hear from you?

Why? Why not? And what are you going to do about it?

My advice: if you're in business for the long haul, then start and keep at a blog or a Twitter feed or an e-mail newsletter or at least SOMETHING that keeps you in touch with your audience.

Gain people's attention by providing value over the long term. When they're interested in your services, they'll know who to call first.

Just my $0.02 for this gorgeous March Monday.

Hey folks - remember the timeline switch for personal profiles in Facebook? Yeah. I know. Most of you probably didn't really notice. That's fine.

What you need to take notice of now is the switchover on March 30th to Timeline for Business Profiles in Facebook. There are some important changes happening and they will likely affect you. Here are some considerations.

Bigger Graphics!!!

As with the personal profile timeline, your business Page can now have a huge graphic at the top. There are a few things Facebook says can NOT be displayed:

• Pricing or purchase information
• Contact information
• References to "Liking" your Page
• Calls to action like "Tell your friends!"

So, what does that leave you with? The ability to post an image that showcases the benefits of your business, that conveys your personality, or just has a nice, friendly welcome message.

Just remember - the switch happens on the 30th so if you're not prepared, there will be NOTHING at the top of the page when the change happens.

No Default Landing Tabs?!

Nope. They're gone. All custom application tabs (apps) are now lined up under the header image. There are four spaces for apps but one is taken automatically by "Photos" so in reality you only have three.

This lack of default landing tabs means EVERYONE - fan or non-fan - hits your page and sees your timeline first and foremost. You can still create custom pages and direct people to them. It's just a little more difficult.

Apparently Facebook just wants us to become more creative in how we do things. Thanks. Grrr....

Build Audience (Share Is Back!!)

Okay - this is a good thing. Remember how you used to be allowed to share your business page with your friends? That got taken away a couple of years ago. The new Timeline has an "Invite Friends" in the new administration panel.

You can also invite people by email, share the page on your own personal profile or create an ad.

A Couple of Gripes

While I like some things about the update, there are a few other oddities that hopefully are getting worked out in the background.

• When you highlight a post, it looks great when you're logged in as the administrator. The post is the full width of the page. Lovely. Only problem - it doesn't look like that when you're a visitor to the page. A highlighted post displays as a regular post - at the moment. Hopefully this is something they're working on.
  
  
• If you set up your page as a "local business", your contact information is automatically set to show your address (with a link to a map), your business hours and your phone number. I'd prefer it to show my website and no business hours. To do that, I had to shut off the "business hours" function and check "no phone number" in my business profile settings.

I'm sure there will be more to discover about the new Timeline update. However, business owners who have business pages really need to be aware of the changes and perhaps revisit or re-think their Facebook marketing strategies.

Today's the last day to delete your Google Browsing History.

This only applies to people who have Gmail, YouTube or other Google services (like AdWords or Analytics)...which means it should probably apply to pretty much everybody : )

Okay - seriously though. If you don't have an account with Google, you can ignore this post.

For the rest of you, why does this matter?

I've had an account with Google since 2006. I have never given a thought to the Browsing History, which is activated whenever you do a search and visit webpages while you're logged into your Google account. I had a look at mine - which spanned all the way back to 2006.

Google keeps track of all that stuff and their new privacy policy (which takes effect tomorrow) will allow them to compile all that information into your profile.

So what?

Well, consider that where you've been online can give ideas about your interests, location, age, religion, health concerns yada yada and you get the idea. Specifically, why should Google know this information about you? Moreover, why should they be able to track everything you do online while signed in to your Google account?

If you are concerned, here's what you can do to limit Google's ability to collect information about you online.

1. Go to Google's homepage and sign into your account.
2. There's a dropdown menu next to your name in the upper right corner. Click on it and select "account settings"
3. Click on the "services" section.
4. Under services there is an option to "view, enable, disable web history". Click the link that reads "Go to web history"
5. Once there, click on "remove all web history".

This step will remove your entire web history in Google's records and will pause the web history function. This means that Google will still be collecting that information but it will now all be anonymous.

If you're concerned about your online privacy and have a Google account, this is probably an important step for you to take.

. . . are you neglecting the "old"?

I'm not talking about the elderly here. I'm referring to your online marketing methods.

Is social media now the focus of your marketing efforts?

Great - but how's traffic to your website? Have you updated it recently?

Are you still thinking about your SEO?

Have you blogged lately?

How's your email list growing?

Social media is the latest way to get the word out about your business, but it's not the only way. Are you so busy trying to understand the newest platform (Pinster, at the moment, judging from the inquiries we're getting about it) that you're ignoring what you've been building elsewhere?

If every social media platform went offline tomorrow, how would your brand be positioned online? Would it have a robust online presence with good search engine positioning and quality content that attracts and converts qualified visitors to leads?

My suggestion: build your online assets first and foremost on platforms you control. That means your website, blog and email list. Once those are in tip-top shape, take those strengths and build on them with social media. You'll create a stronger online presence all-round.

What did you choose to do online today?

What was the purpose of your actions?

How will you measure their success?

The work day is almost done. You have 1.5 hours left.

It only takes a few minutes to inform, inspire, or lead by example.

I'm hoping you spent a few minutes today to be special.

It's Monday. How you live it is your choice.

Choose well : )

No, I'm not talking about bodily functions. Well, maybe not directly : )

Regularity online helps improve the health of your online presence. Makes it more effective. Makes it stand out. You become special by being regular when those around you are not.

Seth Godin's blog had its 4000th post back in November 2011. Seth posts every day. Now THAT'S regular. His blog has been rated the #1 blog in the world written by a single individual.

How's that for building credibility?

The better part of it - his ideas often go viral. That's probably because he has great ideas. Do you have great ideas to share? Then get them out there! That's what blogs are for!

Regular doesn't have to mean daily. It can be once a week or once a month. Whatever your schedule, define it and stick to it. I'm working on a schedule of posting on weekdays.

The nice thing about blog software is you can queue up posts and have them released on a regular basis. You could theoretically have a year or two's worth of posts ready to roll.

Whatever you do, be regular.

Have a happy Friday!

P.S. If you didn't know, I teach Kendo (Japanese Fencing). I'm doing a fundraiser tomorrow and I would appreciate your support. Here's the link with information. http://kendoniagara.com/1000-cut-challenge.asp

...here's something to think about: a shopping cart does not process credit cards.

In much the same way a real-life shopping cart doesn't accept payment, neither does an online one.

There are actually two separate services: the shopping cart software and the payment processor.

Just to confuse things, some payment processors have their own built-in shopping cart functionality. PayPal does this. That's great, but it's not always the best solution for people's needs.

If you're interested in selling things online, you'll need to think about both of these items.

Happy Wednesday!

. . . about people who misuse common words like "your" and "you're", or "their", "there" and "they're"?

What message does it convey?

Here are a few thoughts from around the web.

• Poor spellers look stupid, foolish, incompetent or careless.
• Bad spelling damages credibility.
• Typographical errors make you look lazy or undisciplined.
• You won't be taken as seriously if you can't spell properly.
• A BBC news article outlined how some e-commerce sites had sales reduced by 50% because of typos.
• Google's Matt Cutts recently said "...if you look at the PageRank of a page . . . the ability to spell correlates relatively well with that. So, the reputable sites tend to spell better and the sites that are lower PageRank, or very low PageRank, tend not to spell as well."
• Misspelled words and bad grammar are common indicators a message is spam.

Don't think for a moment that built-in spell checkers will save you. The following made it past the spelling and grammar check in Word 2007.

"Good buy my deer hairy. I to will look to the see in hopes of your too ships appearing awn the horizon. But for the grace of dog, wood I go they’re."

Just some thoughts on spelling for this beautiful Tuesday.

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the title of this post . . . yes, the misspelled word is there on purpose : )

. . . to start moving in the right direction.

What could you do today to start moving in the right direction?

More importantly, are you certain you're doing the right things right now?

It's Monday. The start of a new week. A chance to start again.

A chance to change. To grow. To improve.

How will you choose to spend this day?

. . . is not always under your control.

Do you know what people say about your business online?

You should.

Do a search in Google under your company name. You could be surprised.

You shouldn't be, but it's possible.

Maybe someone doesn't like you and posted a negative review about your business.

It behooves you to know about it.

There's a new industry called "Online Reputation Management". Bigger companies have budgets devoted to this. If you're a small company, you just need to devote some time to the job.

I'm working on a video explaining how to manage your online reputation.

In the meantime, keep thinking!