While you were out Christmas shopping, traveling and trying to stab, cut and bite your way into your children’s new toys, content creators were pushing out new tips & resources. Today, you’re probably exhausted, possibly injured or in a food coma. While you recover, take some time to think about your plans for your business during 2010. Also take some time to read the top (IMHO) resources, found during the week of Dec 20. I believe that each provides valuable, accurate and timely information regarding enhancing your business, website, blog and/or social media presence.

TIP: Realizing that there are only 24 hours in a day and a significant portion of that is used for work, eating, sleeping and working off the 15 pounds you’ve gained since Thanksgiving, you may wish to create a “To Read” bookmark folder in your favorite internet browser, then save (bookmark) the following links into that folder. Once you’ve read the article, you can print & save your favorite articles, then delete the item from the “To Read” bookmark folder. This will help you manage your list of articles “To Read”.

On Personal & Business Development:

1. “5 Time Wasters related to Planning (and a Poll)” by Bob Bessette (TotallyUniqueLife)
2. “How To Create Measurable Objectives” by Amber Naslund (AltitudeBranding.com)
3. “5 Ways to Grow Your Local Business with Social Media” written by John Jantsch (American Express Open Forum)
4. “If Your Business Sucks, Don’t Blame the Market” by Jonathan Fields (JonathanFields.com)

On Website Development & Enhancement:

1. “6 Website Redesign SEO Secrets Your Developer May Not Know” by Jill Whalen (ISEdb)
2. “Interface Design Inspiration | 30 Impressive Ways to Design Sign-Up Page/Form” by Deep (dzineblog.com)
3. Resource: Use browsershots.org to see how your site looks on different browser versions and operating systems. (Quick Tip from Kishau)
4. “Why copywriting is like selling (part 7)” by Otis Maxwell (OtisMaxwell.com) * NOTE: Click here for Part 1 of the 7 part series *
5. “Annual Checkup: Who Owns Your Domain Name, Really?” by Kishau Rogers (Websmith Group) … Yes. I did.

On Social Media:

1. “100 Tips Essential to being a Smarter, Better Twitterer” by Jim Grygar (JimGrygar)
2. “Listening Posts: The Six Free Listening Tools You Cannot Do Without” by Debra Askanase (eJewishPhilanthropy.com)
3. “Adding Value with Online Community: Listen to the Webcast On-Demand” by Evan Cook (SocialMediaToday.com)
4. “10 Top New Web Services of 2009 (From My Perspective)” by Louis Gray (LouisGray)
5. “Social media marketing explained in 61 words” by David Meerman Scott (WebInkNow)

On Blogging:

1. On Dying, Mothers, and Fighting for Your Ideas by Jonathan Morrow (CopyBlogger)
2. “The ‘It Factor’ – How to Get It as a Blogger” by Darren Rowse (ProBlogger)
3. “If I Were a Realtor” by Chris Brogan (ChrisBrogan.com) * NOTE: if you’re in real estate, the tips provided in this post should be seriously considered. IMO. *

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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Here are a few resources that I believe provide valuable, accurate and timely information for developing your business, website, blog and/or social media presence. I’ve included resources from well known sources, as well as a few less popular sources. In 2010, be sure to diversify your online resource library by supporting your smaller, less known blogs & websites.

TIP: Realizing that there are only 24 hours in a day and a significant portion of that is used for work, eating, sleeping, drinking coffee, and Christmas shopping you may wish to create a “To Read” bookmark folder in your favorite internet browser, then save (bookmark) the following links into that folder. Once you’ve read the article, you can print & save your favorite articles, then delete the item from the “To Read” bookmark folder. This will help you manage your list of articles “To Read”.

On Web Development, Business Development, & Marketing:

1. “50 Ways to Foster a Culture of Innovation” by Mitch Ditkoff and Val Vadeboncoeur (Idea Champions)
2. “Be Your Own Publicist” by Tamara Monosoff (Entrepreneur.com)
3. “Interaction with Consumers is a Must for Businesses” by Scot Duke (MrBusinessGolf)
4. (eBook) “What Matter’s Now” Conceived by Seth Godin
5. “The Web’s Most Illogical Arguments” by Robert Strohmeyer (PC World)

On Blogging:

1. “13 Types of Posts that Always Get Lots of Comments” by Darren Rowse (ProBlogger)
2. “5 Reasons Why You Should Comment on Blog Posts” by Misty Belardo (BitRebels.com)
3. “The End Of Hand Crafted Content” by Michael Arrington (TechCrunch)
4. PODCAST: “CobWEBs Daily Edition: TechCrunch, content & retweets stacked like McDonald fries” (includes a response to the TechCrunch article above) by Sean P Aune (SeanPAune.com)

On Social Media:

1. “6 Ways Zappos Uses Twitter To Increase Sales” by Jeff Bullas (JeffBullas.com)
2. “Social Media Forces Businesses To Go Two Way” by Willis Wee (Penn Olson)
3. CONFERENCE NOTES: “Communities, Word of Mouth, Real Time at #leweb: what else!” by Patrick Attallah (Media’Zbiz)
4. “Get More Friends, Followers, Hits, and Readers Using Google Sidewiki” by Damond Nollan (DamondNollan.com)

On Graphic Design, Art & Photography (Inspiration):

1. “40 Inspiring 404 Error Pages” by WPSmash (WPSmash.com)
2. “100 Outstanding and Inspirational Infrared Photos” by WebDesignerDepot (WebDesignerDepot.com)
3. “Daily Inspiration #383″ – Inspiring Images provided by Fabio Sasso (Abduzeedo)
4. “50 Typography Logos With Letters (They’re Good, Too)” by Wes Wilson (BrandStack)

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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There’s so much valuable information and personal stories online that can help you in enhancing your website, business, and blog. I believe that business development and effective website development go hand in hand, so this week I’ve included a few business development, leadership and marketing resources.

Check out my favorite articles, found during the week of Dec 6. I believe that each provide valuable, accurate and timely information regarding enhancing your business, blog and/or social media presence.

TIP: Realizing that there are only 24 hours in a day and a significant portion of that is used for work, eating, sleeping and drinking coffee, you may wish to create a “To Read” bookmark folder in your favorite internet browser, then save (bookmark) the following links into that folder. Once you’ve read the article, you can print & save your favorite articles, then delete the item from the “To Read” bookmark folder. This will help you manage your list of articles “To Read”.

On Business Development, Leadership & Marketing:

1. “Three Ways to Keep Your Ego in Check” by John Baldoni (Harvard Business Publishing)
2. “We Should All Get It Wrong Like Apple” By Jonathan Weber (The Big Money … from Slate)
3. “Why Free Trial Offers Aren’t Always the Best Choice” by Howard J. Sewell (Connect Direct Inc.)

On Blogging:

1. “Ghost blogging: Just don’t do it” by Neville Hobson (NevilleHobson.com)
2. Panel Notes: “Ghost Blogging, Tweeting, Content Production – Ethical? Does It Matter?” Posted by Susan Esparza (Bruce Clay, Inc)
3. “A Screamingly Effective Blog Disclosure Policy: How (and Why) To Get One” by Kelly Diels (Problogger)

On Social Media:

1. “5 Ways to Get More from LinkedIn in 2010″ written by Kristin Burnham (CIO)
2. “Are Your Facebook Fans Truly Engaged?” By Valeria Maltoni (Conversation Agent)
3. “10 Ways Social Media Will Change In 2010″ by Ravit Lichtenberg from Ustrategy.com (ReadWriteWeb)

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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There are a plethora of web development articles & tips available on the internet (by plethora I mean an overwhelming amount). Here are a few resources that I believe provide valuable, accurate and timely information regarding enhancing your web site, blog and/or social media presence.

TIP: Realizing that there are only 24 hours in a day and a significant portion of that is used for work, eating and sleeping, you may wish to create a “To Read” bookmark folder in your favorite internet browser, then save (bookmark) the following links into that folder. Once you’ve read the article, you can print & save your favorite articles, then delete the item from the “To Read” bookmark folder. This will help you manage your list of articles “To Read”.

On Website Development & Enhancement:

1. “What Aristotle tells us about writing for the web” by Architela (Architela Blog)
2. “What makes a website successful? It might not be what you expect!” by Paul Boag (24 Ways)
3. “Social Shopping: Putting the Emotion Back in E-Commerce” by Brynn Evans (ReadWriteWeb)

On Blogging:

1. “7 Questions to Ask On Your Blog to Get More Reader Engagement” by Darren Rowse (ProBlogger) *Note: If you have a blog, you should be subscribed to Problogger already. That is all. *
2. “Top 5 Blogging Misconceptions” by Bob Bessette (Daily Blog Tips)
3. “WordPress 2.9 – 5 Features that takes your Blog to Next Level” by Ashish Sinha (Pluggd)

On Social Media:

1. “Here’s Hard Data for Headlines that Spread on Twitter” written by Dan Zarrella (Copyblogger)
2. “10 Video Tips For Making Better Facebook Fan Pages” written by Niall Harbison (Simply Zesty)
3. “A List of Social Media Marketing Examples” by Peter Kim (Being Peter Kim)

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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Understanding what makes your website work

All website owners should have a plan for getting their site back online in case of an emergency. To develop an effective emergency plan, you must first understand what services are required to ensure that your website works properly. The resource provided below provides a template for reviewing your website service providers. For each area of service there is a check box to indicate if this service or product is “mission critical”. By mission critical, I mean that without the service or product your website is useless. This is step 1 in developing a plan. For each area of service, you will want to note the vendor or person providing (supporting) the service or product. This will be helpful later as you assess your level of vulnerability and as you develop a backup plan for each.

The Resource

Step 1: Developing a Website Emergency Plan
The Website Information Worksheet

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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The Content Planning Guide contains an organized list of the areas of content featured on most small business websites. Feel free to use the guide to check the content items most important to your business. This content guide is helpful in the initial status of planning a website. Once you’ve decided on the content areas, you will need to identify and provide the content for those areas.

Download: Content Planning Guide for Small Businesses

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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This Content Planning Guide contains an organized list of the areas of content featured on most church or religious institution websites. Feel free to use the guide to check the content items most important to your organization. This content guide is helpful in the initial status of planning a website. Once you’ve decided on the content areas, you will need to identify and provide the content for those areas.

Download: Content Planning Guide for Churches and Religious Institutions

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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This Content Planning Guide contains an organized list of the areas of content featured on most community or civic association websites. Feel free to use the guide to check the content items most important to your organization. This content guide is helpful in the initial status of planning a website. Once you’ve decided on the content areas, you will need to identify and provide the content for those areas.

Download: Content Planning Guide for Community/Civic Associations

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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