Do you subscribe to HARO (Help A Reporter Out)? If you’re a blogger, writer, business owner, PR professional, or an inquisitive snoop, you should. HARO is a free service; you receive an e-mail three times daily. Each e-mail includes 30 or so queries from writers looking for expert quotes to beef up their stories. The […]
[ Read more ]As we were finishing up breakfast, I commented to my 13-year-old, “Wow, you start 8th grade today. Last year of junior high. You’re going to be the BMOC.” He gave me a blank stare. “BMOC? What are you talking about?” “You know. The acronym. Like LOL, BRB, and all that. BMOC. Don’t you know what […]
[ Read more ]With back-to-school season is in full gear, educators and parents are on the lookout for safe, reliable, educational social media sites. Here are a few to investigate (click each headline to go directly to the site): Google News Timeline A handy tool for graphically skimming current events. You can customize newspapers, magazines, blogs, and more […]
[ Read more ]Do you have a child aged 0-5? If so, does the apple of your eye have his or her own social networking Web page? No? Well, you’d better get right on it before your infant or toddler labels you hopelessly old-fashioned and un-cool. Yes, it’s true. At TotSpot, your young ’un can have her own […]
[ Read more ]“Who is your target market?” When I ask my clients this question, most of them reply, “I market mainly to Baby Boomers and Seniors. But I want to reach a younger market — Gen Xers and younger.” In order to reach that younger audience, you must understand how they think; you must understand how their […]
[ Read more ]When the students at Middletown Area High School in Pennsylvania picked up their yearbooks, they were in for a surprise. On four of the yearbook’s 176 pages, last names of students were changed to creative new monikers: Max Zupanovic became “Max Supernova” Kathy Carbaugh became “Kathy Airbag” William Givler became “William Giver” Cameron Bendgen became […]
[ Read more ]My writer self loves nothing more than plunking down in front of my computer and spilling words onto the screen. I could write all day, every day. My business owner self knows that isolating myself in my office isn’t the best way to drum up business. So this morning at 7 a.m., I extricated myself […]
[ Read more ]My family and I have just returned from four days at Creation Northwest, a Christian rock concert festival held annually at the Columbia River Gorge Amphitheatre near George, Washington. Eight rock concerts in four days. Can you say, “ruptured eardrums”? Rock bands, like most business owners, know that a strong performance sells product. Christian […]
[ Read more ]What, exactly, is marketing? I was a panelist at a writers’ conference marketing seminar when someone tossed that question at me. I gazed at the sea of 300+ faces and my mind went utterly blank. “Uh…marketing is all the stuff you do to help you sell your product or services,” I stammered. Not an academy […]
[ Read more ]Enjoy these bloopers from book manuscripts I’ve edited: The buzzard sounded and the basketball game commenced. If the game gets out of hand, the buzzard can referee, too! Standing at her kitchen sink, Lisa’s idle hands rested in the warm sudsy water. Those hands just can’t decide whether to stand or sit. Scott noticed the […]
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