• How should you develop — and deliver your brand message?
• How can you prove to your boss that social media is, indeed, a wise investment?
• How do you plan an effective social media strategy– without overdoing it?

The following four articles provide excellent ideas. Click the headline to access the full article.

No one ever bought anything in an elevator

The true meaning of “elevator pitch.” [Seth Godin]

How to Tell Your Business Story in 60 Seconds or Less

This short article provides an excellent method for quickly framing your “elevator pitch” or “brand message.” [Entrepreneur, by Carmine Gallo]

Dear Executive…

A brief letter to a corporate executive that addresses, “What’s the ROI” of social media marketing? [Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer]

The Dangers of Half-Assing Your Social Media Efforts

This article examines the pitfalls of doing TOO MUCH when planning your social media strategy. [Mitch O'Conner, DreamGrow]

Image: twobee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This is a guest post by Peter Claridge. If you would like to submit a guest article, please check out our guest post guidelines.

You can’t have failed to notice Fiverr.com in the last 12 months. But if you haven’t been to the site yet then I recommend you  check out whether you want to buy gigs to help you promote your blog or offer services and earn a few beer tokens.

While $5 doesn’t sound like much (actually it’s $4 after Fiverr takes their cut), if you can provide a service that doesn’t take long to do or can do a whole batch of them very quickly then it can add up sooner than you might think.

1.  Choose A Suitable Username

The jury is still out on the ranking algorithm used by Fiverr in the search results but recent changes seem to have placed a lot of emphasis on the username and you’ll find usernames which match the keywords you searched for ranking near the top.

Try to include keywords related to the services you plan to buy in your username. This could change in the future so consider other factors like number of completed gigs, ratings, freshness, etc.

Fiverr has said in the past that they try to give new gigs more exposure but that’s not apparent judging by the current search algorithm.

2.  Make Small But Interconnected Gigs

One of the ways the top sellers make their money is to provide a range of interconnected gigs for people to buy so once they’ve bought one they can buy a second and third gig from you.

One area where this works very well is if you are offering SEO-related gigs. For example, you might offer to write an article for $5, then you can offer to post that article as a guest post on your blog in another gig for $5. Then you can offer your social bookmarking service to get the new article indexed for another $5. Next, offer to spin any article for $5 and before you know it you have turned a $5 customer in a $20 one (well, $16 after those fees!).

When you have interconnecting gigs, don’t forget to mention them when you deliver your project.

3.  Make Gigs That Can Be Done Quickly In Batches

Remember, you are only being paid $4 to do the gig so don’t go giving yourself an ulcer spending 10 hours a day to earn $10. Make sure your gig is small enough to do in 10 minutes or can be done in batches.

There are plenty of “I will write anything you want in sand” kinds of gigs, but if you have to drive to the beach you’ll spend more on gas than what you earn!

If you batch them together in to 10 or more gigs then you can easily finish it off in an hour. (And on a side note, if you offer a “will write anything in sand” gig, why not take a video as well as a photo and reverse the video so that as the sea recedes the message is revealed?)

If you are a writer, work out how much you can write in 10 minutes on a topic you love and then quote that in the gig, If you can write 300 words in 10 minutes then offer a 300-word article on that topic for $5.

4.  Offer Bonuses On New Gigs

You are competing against thousands of other sellers on Fiverr so offer some kind of incentive to get people to buy your gig and generate reviews.

One way to do this is to offer a bonus to the first 10 buyers or so. The bonus needs to be so valuable that the buyer wants the bonus more than they want the actual gig.

If you are already an established seller then you might already have enough of a following so that when you launch a new gig you don’t need to offer such a valuable bonus.

5.  Ensure Your Gig Is Up To Date

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve not bought a gig because the last feedback date was from 6 months ago. I wasn’t sure if the user was still active or if I’m just wasting my time buying the gig.

If you have been out of Fiverr action for a while, update the gig descriptions with today’s date and say you are back and offering the gig again. This way people will know that you are available to deliver even though you were not on the site for several months.

Before I sign off I’ll leave you with one more piece of advice: Your job description page is your sales letter. Make the description appeal to what the person wants. Including a video can increase your conversions no end.

Peter Claridge is the Online Marketing Manager for Agriya and has a huge amount of experience helping fixed price job sites getting exposure. Agriya was the first company to release a Fiverr clone script which is now used by most of the top 10 Fiverr alternatives.

Related Article

• Buy and Sell Professional Services for $5 at Fiverr.com

They’ve teamed up with Facebook to create “Facebook Timeline Cards” –- a funky card that features the cover photos from your Facebook Timeline and makes a separate card with each image on it. A 50-card pack includes a certain number of cards with each image (You can easily remove designs you don’t want to have printed on cards).

The front of the card also includes:

• Your profile picture
• Your name
• Your workplace or university (if you’re currently attending college)
• Your current location

The back of the card features:

• Your favorite quotation
• Your Facebook profile URL
• Your phone number
• Your e-mail address

You can edit any of the written information on your card..

In this YouTube video, Product Manager George Grinsted talks you though how to create Facebook Cards.

Click here to view the embedded video.

MOO, Inc. is giving away the first 50,000 orders for free. They release 5,000 packs each day, and they recommend that you visit their site “around breakfast time in Rhode Island, USA (ET).”

Will You Go For It?

What uses can you think of for Facebook Cards? Will you attempt to get a free pack? If you don’t get there in time for the freebie, will you buy a pack?

More Details:

• Moo, Inc.
• Mashable

~Will Obama win a second term?

~Is Seinfeld the best sitcom of all time?

~Did you buy Call of Duty 4 on opening day?

Take the pulse of your online audience quickly with a free web-based social polling tool called Quipol. I’m guessing that’s short for “Quick Poll.”

It’s easy to use. Here’s how:

Step 1:

Go to Quipol.com and sign up for a free account.

Be sure to create a branded username for your account; I chose http://quipol.com/bloggingbistro, since “bloggingbistro” is the username for my Facebook Page, Twitter account, and LinkedIn Company Page.

Step 2:

As soon as your account is set up, Quipol will route you to a “create a poll” page.

• Type in a question.
• Upload an image that is 350 pixels wide by 260 pixels tall (I used a free stock photo).
• If you want, add a brief description of why you are asking the question or other explanatory info.

Step 3:

You can either “Save as draft” or click “Create this Quipol” if you’re ready to publish it. Quipol will generate both a direct link to your poll, as well as embed code you can copy and paste into your website or blog.

The code will look something like this:

<iframe src=”http://www.quipol.com/JbfuaUVY” width=”400″ height=”600″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” id=”qpl_JbfuaUVY”>Quipol</iframe><script src=”http://www.quipol.com/javascripts/embed_quipol.js?qpl_JbfuaUVY”></script>

To embed the poll on your blog, copy the code. Click the HTML tab in your blog’s text editor. Position your cursor where you want the poll to go. Paste the code.

Step 4:

You can edit, delete, or close your poll at any time. Just log in to your Quipol account.

How to Vote on a Poll

Voting can be as quick as clicking the “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” icon in the “What Say You?” area, or you can vote and then connect the poll to your Twitter and/or Facebook account and add a comment.

This is where the “social polling” aspect of Quipol comes into play. When you allow Quipol to access your Twitter and/or Facebook account, the poll has a better chance of going viral.

After you cast your vote, you can also read others’ comments and you can see live results. Simply hover your mouse over the large circular icon and the current results (total number of votes and percent of people who voted “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” will display, along with any comments voters posted to Twitter or Facebook.

Tabulating Results

The creator of the poll can see voting results and comments as well. Log in to your Quipol account and click “My Quipols” tab in the upper righthand area of your screen.

Give Quipol a Whirl

Here’s my live poll. To vote, click “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.”

Your Assignment

Create your own Quipol and share a link to it in the Comments so we can test this social tool together.

Source

Thanks to Social Media Examiner for alerting me to Quipol.

Some retailers would have us ignore that day altogether and just shop, shop, shop. Over the last few years, stores have been opening earlier and earlier for Black Friday. First it was 5 a.m. Then 4 a.m. Then midnight.

This year, rather than allowing their employees to celebrate Thanksgiving, some merchants are instituting what they call “Black Thursday.”

Kmart opens at 6 a.m. Thanksgiving Day.

Toys R Us opens Thursday at 9 p.m.

Walmart opens at 10 p.m. on Turkey Day.

A news release from Coupon Sherpa (ironically) asks:

Doesn’t anybody “Respect the Bird” anymore?

Are Kmart’s deals really so amazing that they have to open on Thanksgiving? I doubt that. Instead, they’re preying on American’s consumerism mentality and hoping that shopping will win out over family time. Which, unfortunately, it will for some of us.

More likely, these retailers are so desperate to turn a profit that they believe starting their “big sales” as early as possible will bring in masses of people who would otherwise shop online.

But are the “big sales” really all that big, I wonder? I’ve received so many e-mails and fliers and coupons from JCPenney during the last few weeks that I can hardly keep them all straight. Which is the best sale? And will a coupon for en even better discount arrive in the mail tomorrow? Who knows?

It’s all so confusing. It makes me just want to stay in my warm bed and sleep the day away.

But, as I am a realist, I know that Black Friday is the day many of us hate to love. With that in mind, here’s a list of 15 major merchants who will open early on Black Friday, along with a special deal each is offering.

Keep in mind that hours are subject to change and some states don’t allow stores to open on Thanksgiving Day. For a comprehensive guide to Black Friday store openings and hours, check out CouponSherpa.com.

Ace Hardware – Midnight Friday
Enter to win a Craftsman 5-drawer Tool Center.

A.C. Moore – 5 a.m. Friday
Free $10 gift card to the first 50 customers.

Bealls – Midnight Friday
First 100 customers per store have a chance to win an iPad2, $250 gift card or $5 Bealls Bucks.

Best Buy – Midnight Friday
Best Buy will distribute entry tickets up to two hours before midnight.

Half Price Books – 7 a.m. Friday
First 100 people per store receive a tote bag and $5 gift card.

JCPenney – 4 a.m. Friday
Free collectible Disney snow globe, while supplies last.

Kmart – 6 a.m. Thanksgiving
Earn 20 bonus points for every $1 spent (twice the normal amount).

Macy’s – 4 a.m. Friday
Shop online all day Thanksgiving.

Office Max – 6 a.m. Friday
Save $15 on a $100 VISA or MasterCard gift card.

Kohl’s – Midnight Friday
Receive $15 Kohl’s cash for every $50 you spend, through Nov. 27, with coupon from Black Friday flier.

Old Navy – 9 a.m. Thanksgiving and midnight Friday
Free Kodak Easyshare Sport waterproof digital camera bundle with $40 purchase (while supplies last).

Rite Aid – 7 a.m. Thanksgiving (at select stores) through 11:59 p.m. Friday
$10 reward when you buy a $50 Home Improvement gift card.

Sears – 4 a.m. Friday
Pick up a Real Deal Coupon Book with over $3,000 in savings that start Nov. 27 (while quantities last).

Sports Authority – 5 a.m. Friday
First 80 people in line at each Sports Authority receive Bonus Bucks valued between $10 and $500.

Target – Midnight to 11 p.m. Friday
Learn about unadvertised deals by texting “MORE TVs” to “Target.”

Well, now you can circumvent the U.S. Postal Service and send your missive directly to the North Pole by visiting Santa’s website, Santa.com (I wonder how much Santa paid for that domain?).

I received the following press release from Santa’s PR firm in my e-mail Inbox. The tone and wording of this release irked me on several levels. Maybe it’s just me and I’m feeling Grinchish, but I’d like you to read it and let me know if there’s anything about it that bothers you. After hearing from you, I’ll chime in with my own thoughts in the Comments area.

Santa Goes Digital

Santa.com Launches His Electronic Postal Service on the Web, iPhone and iPad

San Francisco, CA (November 15, 2011) – Santa has gone digital with his very own electronic postal service accessible on the web, iPhone and iPad. Santa.com is the online destination for kids to write letters, create wish lists, and even hear back from Santa. Launching today, Santa.com gives kids and gift givers alike a one-stop destination to start the season in true holiday spirit.

Ever wanted to play Santa?  Santa.com’s innovative use of “walled garden” technology enables parents to bring Santa to life for their children. By approving their children’s account on Santa.com, parents receive a copy of their children’s letter to Santa and can help Santa send a personalized letter back either digitally or through beautiful keep sake paper scrolls for under the tree.

Santa.com’s Santa Express for the iPad and the iPhone allows kid’s to craft, decorate and send letters to Santa right from their digital devices. Kids will be able to check-in with Santa and his Elves through their very own digital Mailroom.

Letters to Santa can be sent and received all year long, not just during the Christmas season.  So, kids who would like to tell Santa what they wish for or send him a thank you note can correspond with him in July just as easily as in December.

“We’re very excited about the launch of Santa.com,” said Santa.com Founder Will Weisman. “Our goal is to make the holidays even more magical, enjoyable and rewarding by leveraging today’s technology.

Santa.com celebrates the Season’s most treasured traditions, while helping busy parents and gift givers stay on top of holiday wish lists.”

With the launch of its digital letters to Santa, Santa.com gives the entire family fun and convenient access to Santa Claus and his whole gang up in the North Pole. The company will unveil additional features of the site throughout this holiday season.

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/santa.com

Follow us on Twitter: @santadotcom

Called a “Santa Tag,” these QR codes allow you to record a personalized voice message to the person you’ve giving a Christmas gift to. The gift’s recipient can listen to your message as many times as they want.

Here’s how it works:

1. When you purchase a gift for someone (at JC Penney, of course), and pick up a jcp gift box, the box will include a special Santa Tag. Peel off the front tab to reveal the QR code.
2. Scan the code with your smartphone, using any free QR reader (I use QR Droid).
3. A browser will open and direct you to the Santa Tag website.
4. Record a personal message by doing the following:
1. Enter a phone number to promptly receive a call from jcp on your phone.
2. You’ll be prompted to leave a short message for the recipient.
3. Confirm your message by approving or re-recording your message.
5. Stick the label with the QR code on it to your wrapped gift.
6. The recipient, in turn, scans the QR code with their smartphone and listens to your message.

**If you don’t have a smartphone, you can still record a message by calling 1-888-881-6577. Follow the audio prompts to leave a short message for the person you’re giving the gift to.

Here’s a video example:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The program begins Tuesday, November 15, 2011 and continues while supplies last. No minimum purchase is required.

What do you think?

• Will you take advantage of this service?

For additional details, check out the FAQ at http://www.jcpsanta.com/faq

Source: http://mashable.com/2011/11/10/j-c-penney-qr-codes/

Other than the article’s title, it’s probably the image (or images) that accompany the post.

Readers’ eyes are drawn to images, so it’s important to place a visual that illustrates your point into every blog post.

Readers are also creatures of habit, so place images in a consistent location, such as the upper left or upper right area of each post. Wrap text around the image to create a clean, packaged look.

I’m forever on the hunt for free and inexpensive stock photos and illustrations to use on websites, blogs, marketing materials, and PowerPoint presentations. You can find oodles of high-quality, royalty-free stock photos and illustrations online.

Here are several of the sites I haunt that offer free images:

Stock.XCHNG – Even though it’s saddled with the most unusual of URLs – http://www.sxc.hu/  - Stock.XCHNG, owned by Getty Images, is my number one source for free stock images. I’ve used it for years and can almost always find what I’m looking for there.

FreeDigitalPhotos.net – Members of the Blogging Bistro team rely on FreeDigitalPhotos.net to find the perfect images to accompany blog articles we ghostwrite for our clients.

Everystockphoto – Touting itself as a “portal for the stock photo community,” everystock photo is a clearinghouse of free stock images from several sources

Flickr Creative Commons – You can’t use just any Flickr photo on your blog, but you can use images from users who offer their work under the Creative Commons license. Be sure to check out the license before using an image from the Creative Commons.

Google Creative Commons – Use Google’s Advanced Image Search to find images, videos, and text you can reuse, share, or modify. Keep in mind that you can’t use just any old photo you find in a Google search on your site – it HAS to be one that is labeled for reuse, commercial reuse, and/or modification. Google says, “In addition to images labeled as being under the Creative Commons license or in the public domain, the usage rights filter on this page also shows you images labeled with the GNU Free Documentation license.”

Low-Cost Stock Images

Dreamstime - On the recommendation of Blogging Bistro’s graphic designer, I’ve recently begun using dreamstime and I love it. They carry many of the same photos as istockphoto, only at a lower cost and with better royalty agreements. A few select “featured” images are free.

iStockphoto – I’m constantly buying “credit packs” from iStock, so that must be a good sign that they have loads of great images. Which they do. iStock claims that their library of high-resolution stock photography, clip art, vector illustrations, video footage and music is almost 10 million strong.

Fotolia – They offer both pay-as-you-go plans for as little as 75 cents per image, and subscription plans for as low as 16 cents per image.

123rf.com – Credits for as low as 68 cents per credit, and subscription plans for as low as 21 cents per image.

5 Hints for using Stock images on your blog

1. Set up an account with one or more stock photo services (it’s free) and login to your account.
2. Search images by keyword. When you find one you like, carefully read the licensing agreement before purchasing and/or downloading the image.
3. Before downloading, choose which size image you need for your project. Most stock photo services give you the option of choosing from among several different sizes. If you’re using the image in a blog post, the Extra Small or Small size should do just fine.
4. Even if you download the extra small version, you will likely need to reduce the resolution of the image before you add it to your website or blog. Computer monitors recognize only 72 dpi (dots per inch), and images from stock photo services are usually 300 dpi (also called ppi). Plan on reducing both the image’s resolution and its size before uploading it to your blog. That way, you’re not uploading huge images to your blog, which can slow down your blog’s load time.
5. After inserting a visual into your post, preview it before publishing to ensure that the graphic isn’t too large or too small. Images shouldn’t be so large that they dominate the post (unless, of course, the post features the image, a slideshow, or a video). On the other hand, images shouldn’t be postage-stamp small. If people have to use a magnifying glass (or reading glasses) to see your photo, it’s too small. Better to use no image at all than one that is too small.

Invest the time to carefully select and edit an image that will enhance your story. Images will help visitors to your site remember you longer and connect with you more deeply.

Please share links to stock photo sites you like so we can try them out!

So it was with great delight that I accepted an invitation to teach a workshop on social media marketing at the Focus on Farming Conference Thursday, November 3 at Everett’s Comcast Arena.

My breakout session starts at 3:30 p.m., when conferees are likely to be worn out and experiencing severe information overload.

Instead of forcing you to listen to me talk for an hour, we’re going to do a couple of hands-on exercises that will help you formulate a social networking strategy you can begin using immediately.

Here’s a PDF with descriptions of all the breakout workshops.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Harvesting Opportunity.” According to an article in The Herald of Everett:

“Speakers include attorney Bill Marler, an advocate of strong food-safety policies; award-winning Seattle chef Tamara Murphy; and Graham Kerr, the chef, author and TV personality known as the “Galloping Gourmet.”

New this year is a 17,000-square-foot trade show with tractors, feed, fertilizers and other wares for the agriculture community.”

Click here for more info about the Focus on Farming Conference.

Photo Credit: Patrick Hajzler

Head on over to Fiverr.com and hire a cute young woman – for only $5 – to be your Facebook girlfriend for one whole week. She advertises:

“I’ll leave you cute comments and all of those other things a girlfriend does! This offer is not just for the guys, ladies are welcomed too!”

This is just one of the many bizarre and entertaining services offered at fiverr, a website where you can buy and sell things you’re willing to do for $5.

Other examples in the “Social Marketing” category:

I will create a video testimony positively reviewing your business, website, or product.

Seriously? Buying a fake testimony?

I will send your tweet, URL, message to my 2000 loyal twitter followers.

Most people will re-tweet for free, but hey, if you’re desperate…

I will setup The New Facebook Timeline On Your Facebook Profile.

That actually does sound like a good deal!

In the “Graphics” category:

I will make you the best ebook cover.

As I say to my son when he asks, “Will you make me a milkshake?”

“Poof, you’re a milkshake!”

I will touch up your photo in Photoshop Cs5.

I’m in!

In the “Fun and Bizarre” category:

I will dance to an entire song of your choice in a hot dog costume.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lots of people are actually buying this one!

I will record my voice saying your message in Greek.

…So your listeners can say with confidence, “It’s Greek to me.”

What would YOU buy or sell on Fiverr.com?

‘Fess up in the Comments area.

Thanks

…to Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, for providing the inspiration for this post (and the link to fiverr.com).