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DuctTapeMarketing.com In this issue: Resource #1 - Duct Tape Marketing Workbench Add your articles to the Duct Tape Marketing Article Directory Featured Resource #1 - Introducing the Workbench social business community I've completely overhauled the Duct Tape Marketing site and added something I call the Workbench - a business social networking community. The WorkBench, a true work in progress, allows small business owners and marketers of all kinds to build a profile, network with like-minded individuals, show off you stuff, upload, share and rate audio and videos and even create a blog on the fly. There is a small business forum that allows users to either ask a marketing question or give a marketing answer. We will be holding our very first contest shortly allowing members to compete for nifty prized like duct tape wallets and the like. I invite you to visit the WorkBench, become a member, build a profile and even blog, add audios and videos and connect with other members by commenting and rating content that get added. As Duct Tape Marketing readers you are some of the first to be invited so please, realize that communities take time to grow, and know that I am open to hearing your suggestions on ways to improve it. Featured Resource #2 - Coaching Excellence Series audio available 
As part of an ongoing monthly series sponsored by the Duct Tape Marketing Coach network I have been conducting some fascinating interviews. I started off with Guy Kawasaki talking about how and why he created Truemors, talked Search with John Battelle and Awakening the Entrepreneur Within recently with Michael Gerber. The interviews, each containing their own great stuff, can be found on the Coaching Excellence Series page. Go have a listen and enroll in the series so you will hear about future live sessions with the likes of Tim Ferriss, 4-hour Workweek and David Allen, Getting Things Done. Featured Resource #3 - A More User Friendly Duct Tape Marketing I’ve completely overhauled my web site. Not just the blog, the entire Duct Tape Marketing site.
So, if it’s been awhile since you kicked around the entire site, please be my guest. Especially those of you, and you know who you are, that have suggested politely, or otherwise, that my site needed an overhaul. This site now also holds together an article database script, WordPress blog, job database and social networking custom implementation of the KickApps tool capable of housing and streaming videos. Now that’s what I call a right proper use of duct tape. Featured Article Social Networking with Training Wheels Look, I don’t really think that the mySpaces and Facebooks of the world are that important for the typical small business as they stand today. There may be very practical business reasons for some to actually use these and other, what are called social networks, for business gain, but most people that have jumped on the social network bandwagon have found themselves left with a “is this all there is” kind of feeling. To those I say this, the value of the current public social networks for business folks is not what you can get out of them for gain today, but what you can learn by using them for practical gain tomorrow. That’s why SpacebookedIn makes sense for you now The Facebooks of the world are busy teaching millions and millions of business folks how social networks work, how social networking works, how shared applications can be viral and ever-present. The real payoff in my opinion is that the wave to come after the Facebook bubble bursts is the “personalized business network.” Once everyone of your customers and prospects knows how to use what are easily replicatable social networking tools, like building profiles, sharing video and connecting based on mutual interests, your job of building your own social business network around your own very specific community of niche will get a whole lot easier. 2008 will be the year of the personalized social business network. So, if you've decided to take a pass on the whole social networking trend, I would suggest that you use this handy list to start learning to ride this bike with the training wheels on. Ten ways to get started with Social Networking. 1) Read 10 blogs - sign-up for a Bloglines account and search for and subscribe to 10 blogs about social networking - you can return daily to your page on Bloglines to find and read all the new content on your 10. Of course you can add blogs about your industry and interests here too. 2) Comment on 10 blogs - posting relevant comments to blogs you read is a very simple form of social networking. It's also a good way to get some extra visitors your site or blog. 3) Join Facebook - Join and create a profile. Find and friend some of your existing contacts using tools on Facebook. You'll be surprised how many people you already know have Facebook accounts. Facebook has some real value for you because of the rich set of tools and large amount of active users. This is a great place to experiment with how people interact in social networks. Once you get your feet wet you may also find that Facebook is a great way to connect with business contacts you may never bump into otherwise. 4) Create a mySpace page - this service is really embraced primarily by musicians and the younger set. It also happens to have a large underbelly contingent so be warned, but it is a great tool for learning how to build a presence outside of your web site. 5) Join LinkedIn - this is a service that's been called Facebook for business. It is really about meeting and connecting with like-minded business folks. It is a great service for people looking for a job or to make connections with people who may be out of reach without an introduction. 6) Visit Ning - this is the largest custom social networking service that allows you to create your own community using a variety of tools that can be branded to match your current site. 7) Create a Workbench profile - this one's a little self-serving as this is my new social business networking site but it's a good example of the personalized business community that's the next wave for small business. 8) Create a Twitter account - this tool is pretty silly on the surface, it allows you to type in 160 characters or less what you are doing right now. It feels like a giant waste of time but a very large and active community has grown around this kind of micro-blogging and you should understand how people are using it. 9) Create a StumbledUpon profile - This is a social network built around discovering and recommending sites that you like. Active stumblers can send a lot of traffic your way 10) Create a Digg account - this site allows you to keep up to the minute with what's happening in the world of business. Users submit and vote on what is believed to be the most important content. You might also consider Mixx, Squidoo and Flikr as places to find and develop niche related communities when you're ready to really get out there. Think of mySpace, LinkedIn and Facebook as your labs - get in there and experiment for the future. then start planning your own personalized social business network. Related article - Essential small business tools John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide published by Thomas Nelson. He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. You can find more information by visiting www.ducttapemarketing.com You may reprint this article in its entirety if you attribute the article to John Jantsch and include the information about the author above. Featured Reading
"Balancing the principles of design, the tenets of Zen simplicity, multimedia and cognitive learning theory, along with practical advice from the field, the book is a visual and instructional tour d'force."
Featured Reading 2 Kindle - Wireless Reader Device from Amazon
On the surface it’s a way to store and read books, much like Sony’s Reader launched over a year ago. It uses a patented E-Ink technology that makes reading on the screen seem much like reading a book. The major difference between the Kindle and every other device that allows you to read books is that the Kindle is connected wirelessly to the web on a network that’s independent of hot spots. Now, let’s say you overhear some folks discussing a book during your commute home. A few clicks later the book is on your Kindle, for around $10 bucks, and you’re reading as you’re riding the train. That should do well with our “instant gratification isn’t fast enough” culture. |
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