North San Diego Business » Info Technoloy

Cross The Digital Divide, Syndicating Your Content

Debra Simpson — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:52:40 +0000

I just finished my online radio show on syndicating your content. Here is a list of the websites I refered to on the show.

Article Marketing
http://www.ezinearticles.com/

Directory of Articles
http://www.arcanaweb.com/resources/article-directories.html

Ultimate Article Directory
http://ultimatearticledirectory.com

Submit Your Articles
http://www.submityourarticles.com

Blogging – posting regularly – use your articles, or use your posts for articles
Free at – blogger.com and wordpress.com
even though Google owns Blogger, I haven’t found it to index any faster – free sites traffic belongs to them, can pull down your blog at a moments notice
Guest Blogging
FeedBurner
www.feedburner.com – has a feature, Buzz Boost, that allows you to import your content into a website
Social Networking – Facebook has notes that let you post to Facebook – other social sites have blogging features
MyBlogLog – allows you to import your blog feed
Blog Carnivals
http://blogcarnival.com/bc/

Skype Meets Mikogo – Desktop Sharing Just Got Easier

Debra Simpson — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:04:45 +0000

As many of you know I help solopreneurs utilize the internet to market their business. One of the most useful tools I have in my online arsenal is Skype and a valuable extra to Skype, Mikogo.

I’ve set it up for a non-profit organization so they can hold their physical, or as I like to refer to it, terra firma meeting along side a virtual meeting for the attendees that can’t make the terra firma meeting.

Skype, in my humble opinion, is a fantastic tool. You do need to let the other person finish speaking, but all in all, it’s a great tool. Mikogo only enhances Skpye and extends it one step further.

So, what can you do with Mikogo???

Share each others’ screens.
Switch presenter – let a meeting participant share their own screen. (awesome feature)
Access remote keyboard and mouse control – the current presenter may grant control of their screen to another user at any time.(great for tech support)
Transfer files – the organizer and guests can send files of up to 200MB to each other (whooo hoooo so easy)
Select applications – Got an open application which is not required for the meeting? Select to hide it.
Pause transmission – take a meeting break and suspend the transfer of screen data.

Now, Mikogo has gone one step further and created a fantastic tutorial to help you install and use Mikogo.

Once you have it installed, skype me at northsandiegobusiness so we can play!!

Introduction To Blogging Video

Debra Simpson — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:52:30 +0000

Last Friday I held the Free Friday webinar and introducted blogs to the participants. Blogs, and more particularly the RSS feeds are core to the social networking trend we are experiencing right now.

If you have a passionate message you feel compelled to share, blogging is the tool of choice. You’d be amazed at how you can syndicate your content across the web.

Let me know what you think of the video by commenting below.

Mikogo Shares Your Desktop

Debra Simpson — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:14:11 +0000

One step towards taking your business more into cyberspace is the ability to communicate over the web. I’m a Skype user, which allows me to IM my clients and associates, as well as make Skype to Skype calls. Skype also has what they call, extras. Extras extend the functionality of the software. One extra, Mikogo, which allows you to share your desktop with others. I put it to the test last night and will really thrash it tonight. So far, I’m impressed!

I had a total of four users join the meeting. We were able to easily watch the desktop being shared. We used a PowerPoint presentation and the lapse between clicking the slides and them visually changing was 3 seconds. One of the features I particularly liked was the ability for me, through a mouse click, to point to a part of the page that was being discussed. It’s hard to sit and watch someone else’s cursor on your screen, it’s nice to be able to interact to a degree with your cursor. It’s the ability to say, look at this!

Did I mention, it’s free? All you do is go to Mikogo, sign up for an account and download the Mikogo.exe software. You’ll also want to download the connect.exe found by tapping the "Join Meeting" in the header.

It’s an easy application to use and it will support 10 people in the meeting at one time.

As a blog coach, I find the ability to share my desktop to be essential, especially if I’m training my client on a program or task. If you have any need to share your desktop, and are a Skype user, this is one extra you don’t want to be without.

If you try it, or are working with Mikogo, let me know what you think by commenting.

Puzzled About The Internet

Debra Simpson — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:35:57 +0000

A Gourmet Dinner, Informative Seminar and Extraordinary Networking

July 30, 2008, 6:30pm to 8:30pm

Is the Internet overwhelming to you? Would you like to learn how to expand your business’ reach by using the Internet to generate leads and market your business globally?

In this two hour dinner seminar you’ll:

Find out what you need to do to get started
Discover how to market your business through e-mail
Learn how to easily get visitors names for your contact database
Start creating your first information product and find out why you want one
Learn the secrets to online networking and what communities would work for you
And, of course, the quality networking with other attendees will be outstanding!!!!!

Join me at Simply Ambrosia on July 30th for a gourmet dinner and workshop you’ll walk away from ready to start building your Internet empire.

This seminar is sponsored by

Online Marketer Shares Internet Freebies

Debra Simpson — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:22:15 +0000

Cyberspace Holds a World of Productivity Freebies for Businesses

Online Marketer Helps Entrepreneurs Tap Into Wealth of Web Tools

By LIZ WIEDEMANN
San Diego Business Journal Staff

Online resources offer small business owners access to “the free stuff,” according to Debra Simpson, and everybody likes free stuff, she says.

Simpson is owner of Magic In Words, a Carlsbad-based Internet marketing business designed to help entrepreneurs increase traffic to their Web sites.

“I spend a lot of time with my clients teaching them online social networking and how to incorporate those Internet tools into their businesses,” said Simpson, who also produces North San Diego Business@Large, a blog dedicated to North San Diego County business news.

“Most people just need to be shown what the tools are and how to use them, and I think I fit that need,” she said.

In regular podcast interviews with local business professionals and as a guest speaker throughout Southern California, Simpson said she teaches low-cost and no-cost forms of marketing online, while creating passive income via sale of information products.

Read the entire article……

Microsoft’s Office Live, Small Business Event

Debra Simpson — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:34:51 +0000

On Tuesday, April 15th Microsoft held "Vision to Venture", an event bringing together women from all over San Diego County to share ideas about starting and growing your small business.

Microsoft introduced their Office Live Small Business service for budding entrepreneurs, or solopreneurs as I like to refer to us! There were four excellent speakers. The first speaker was Susan Wilson Solovic, SBTV.com, who spoke about building a million dollar business. She’s the author of "The Girls’ Guide To Building A Million Dollar Business." What an energetic woman and an inspiration to all.

Additionally, she moderated a panel of three entrepreneurs who shared their experiences while answering questions from the audience. The panel was made up of: Lisa Baker, Lisa Confetti; Holli Door, Hollister Construction Company; and Ramona Russell, Uptown Liz.

This is the interview I did with Susan about the conference and SBTV.com

The second speaker, Rich Sloan of Startupnation.com, spoke about the seven overlooked secrets to starting up a business. He’s incredibly knowledgeable about the small business community and the co-author of "StartupNation: America’s Leading Entrepreneurial Experts Reveal the Secrets to Building a Blockbuster Business." He was gracious enough to sit down with me for a few minutes to share information about Startupnation and being a solopreneur.

Karen Dayan, Microsoft’s Digital Media Expert, spoke about taking your business and promoting it online in an easy and affordable way using Microsoft’s Office Live Small Business service. She also served as the Master of Ceremony during the day.

Microsoft is also offering an "on demand webcast" of the Vision to Venture event and it will be available later in May. Visit the Vision to Venture page to sign up for an e-mail alert as to when the webcast will be available.

Here’s my interview with Karen.

John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing, wowed the audience with the 5-step conversational marketing plan. He share how to create an education-based, information-rich branding strategy. I’ve been following John for a couple of years now, as a subscriber to his blog and a fellow tweeter on twitter. I was delighted when he agreed to an interview. I hope you’ll enjoy all these interviews as much as I enjoyed speaking with these four delightful and insightful professionals. Here’s my interview with John.

Their Books
Girls Guide To Building A Million Dollar Business	Duct Tape Marketing

Vision to Venture Update

Debra Simpson — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:40:08 +0000

Microsoft Office Live Small Business is providing some great tools for the solorpreneur. Not only can you manage your projects, you can develop your contact database, email marketing, resource center, and you can host your site over there too.

Now you can set up your first site at Microsoft’s Office Live and when you’re ready, bring a designer/programmer in to enhance your site. The most important aspect though is YOU can easily update your site through the web. I’d really encourage you to go over an take a look at Microsoft’s Office Live Small Business.

Go there now and check it out!!

Women Business Owner Event

Debra Simpson — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:08:40 +0000

Did you know that women are starting up businesses at a much faster rate than men? However, many female entrepreneurs still struggle to succeed. Susan Solovic, author of "Girls’ Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business" and co-founder of SBTV, notices that many women are afraid to say "I want to make money" because they might be labeled as aggressive or greedy. She has found that women often do not think big enough or push their ambitions far enough and end up losing out on growth and opportunities.

San Diego, Tuesday, April 15, 2008, (Check Out The Line Up of Speakers) Westin Horton Plaza San Diego is the place to be. If you have plans, get out of them and join women business owners from around the county for an inspiring and educational day. Microsoft Office Live Small Business is hosting a five city tour across America that will allow women to learn smart and effective strategies for starting and developing a business.

Susan Solovic is one of the speakers at this event and she and the other speakers are available to speak with you if you would like to hear more. A collection of women entrepreneurs will be presenting at each local event as panelists and are available for a chat as well.

I’ve been talking to you about leveraging your business online and this panel of speakers will enhance everything I’ve ever said to you. I follow John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing, not only through is blog feed, but on Twitter as well.

Register Here For The Event, NOW!

Boosting Your Expertise With Information Products

Debra Simpson — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 22:28:26 +0000

Not Generating Income From Your Website?
Become an Information Product Money Machine

How to plan your products
How to produce them
How to market them

Friday, December 14, 2007 3:00pm PT

How would my business benefit from informational products?

Create passive income stream
Expand your brand
Enjoy benefits of being an author

What are you waiting for? Come and join us from the comfort of your home office!

Debra Simpson of Magic In Words, expert speaker, publisher and podcaster and Andrea Glass of WritersWay, expert copywriter, ghostwriter and copyeditor will present this hour long webinar to help you plan your first information product to sell off your website.

This free powerful workshop is held in a virtual conference room. All you need to participate is an internet connection and speakers.