Bills-Blog

Twitter Follow Friday

bill@billsweb.biz (Bill Watkins) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:03:28 GMT

Well, its Friday and in Twitter land, we like pass on other Tweeters to others so they can follow too. The common term for this is Follow Friday (hash word is #FF). Rather then send out multiple Tweeters, I'm going to start listing them here (thanks to Chris Brogan's Blog on this recommendation) and you can click to their profile then follow them. This will be a weekly thing for me and I will be making changes or at least adding more so come back weekly!

@poetpecky: So, for starters, I start with my Mom. She has always been an inspiration to me. In fact, she does a weekly blog & newsletter called "Inspiration from the Mountains" via her web site at www.bearwallowblessings.com.

@chrisbrogan: He's a savvy social networking and marketing blogger and informer. He wrote the article on doing this, rather then clogging up the Twitterverse. I think its a great idea!

@SolutionCoach: I've recently been spending some time with Sean and he truly wants to help people big time. He's also on the verge of some great tools and training for business leaders and entrepreneurs. Stay tuned there.

#NoCo List: I've got a great list of Tweeters from Northern Colorado. Its growing and currently has at least a couple hundred. Feel free to follow it if you like. And, if you want to refer more to me, please direct message (DM) me.

Social Networking - Taking advantage of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

bill@billsweb.biz (Bill Watkins) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 21:29:58 GMT

Social Networking: Taking advantage of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for your Church, Ministry, Organization or Business.

April, 2010: This started as an online Webinar in November, 2009, for a Christian organization called Christian Media Assocation (CMA), at www.christianmedia.org. Since then a lot has changed and been added (like Google Buzz) but I decided to add this to my blog and I've updated and added much more to make it more relevant. I will follow this up with more details about each of these awesome tools to increase your presence on the Web and hopefully to "connect" with people. Isn't that your ultimate goal? More will come in shorter spurts. After several months of research and working within these social networks I've garnered a lot of information. So, stay tuned. Also, please feel free to sign up on my Newsletter as that is becoming active again. ~ Bill

With all that is available on the Internet for your use, you can get overwhelmed with all of the articles, tutorials, books and even the paid-for advice that can bombard you with social networking. "Social Networking" is being talked about at an unbelievable buzz rate and the speed at which folks are signing up to do both Facebook and Twitter is amazing! In fact, the word "buzz" has become the new social networking answer from Google. More about that in another article.

Brand Name Your Twitter Posts with Your Brand!

bill@billsweb.biz (Bill Watkins) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:20:28 GMT

Hi Everyone!

(Quick note: Its been a very rough few months for me and my family. I apologize for not getting my blog site updated. I do have materials and particularly some training I did recently for churches, ministries and non-profit orgs that I think you will like. It will also apply to any business or person. I will finish that up soon after I've finished the video portions of that.)

I have found a really cool Twitter tool that I stumbled on while searching for a different tool. It's called TweetBrand and allows you to create your own application interface to have your brand at the bottom instead of those like TweetDeck or HootSuite (and many, many more).

Whenever you send a tweet that is not directly from the twitter.com web page (which shows "from web" below the tweet) using another application or web site, they have the right to show a link to their web site. For examples, see the image below. This means, they get free advertising (or you may even pay someone for your application) because you are using their application. This is only fair, in my eyes, since there are so many great applications and tools for Twitter that don't charge a thing for their use.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="537" caption="Twitter Example on Bill Watkins Blog Site"][/caption]

To get started with TweetBrand, just go to MarketMeTweet's Website. There you can watch an introductory video. Enter your first name and your email address. Once that is done, you will have to confirm your email address by checking your email that TweetBrand send you. If you don't see the email, be sure to check your junkmail folder.

Next, be sure to watch the short training video that explains how to setup your new TweetBrand application. Click the link to setup your application with Twitter.com (opens a popup window). That is where you will enter your information like the name you want to use for your application (I used "Bill Watkins) and the web site of your business, blog or organization. You will have the opportunity to make changes later if needed.

Once this is done on the Twitter, you will be assigned two number/letter strings called Consumer key and Consumer secret that you will have to copy and paste into your TweetBrand setup. Then you will be able to download your new application. Once its setup per the instructions, you will have your own application that will allow you to post your tweets to as many Twitter accounts as you want to add to your application.

Have fun with this and if you need any help, don't forget that I am for hire... (shameless plug).

~ Bill

Templates - Joomla has a ton of them!

bill@billsweb.biz (Bill Watkins) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:46:34 GMT

Hi Everyone.

Just a quick blog to share with you one of the greatest things about the Content Management System (CMS) that I use, Joomla!, is that you can change the templates pretty quickly. It took me about 30 minutes to do this, with most of that time spent on a Logo at the top. I also had to rearrange the modules (things like the search, twitter info, newsletter sign up, etc.) to set in the correct position of the web site. All the graphics was already done for me. With Joomla, you I set you up with templates, pre-made or custom, as well as modules to better communicate with your clients.

I hope you like this template and if any of you ever need a blog site (using Wordpress or Joomla!) for personal or business, I can help you out. If you need a business site, I've got some pretty reasonable options for you so don't be afraid to contact me. If you find me on Google, you'll see there is a coupon out there. You just have to find it!

And, thanks to Joomlabear.com for the free template. These guys and many other developers out there do an awesome job of creating these types of templates and other things for your Joomla and Wordpress web sites.

God Bless!

Bill

3 Free and Easy Ways to Increase Your Web Presence!

bill@billsweb.biz (Bill Watkins) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:03:21 GMT

Many of you have enough web savvy to know you need to have a presence on the Internet if you want to compete or be found.

To increase your web presence for your business, organization or group for a location, particularly in a town, city or region, here are 3 Free & Easy ways to do this.

Why use a Content Management System (CMS) for my Web Site?

bill@billsweb.biz (Bill Watkins) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:49:43 GMT

Hi everyone. I've been asked this a few times and more often then, I generally tell my new clients that I use a CMS for their web sites before they even ask this question. Almost all of the sites I host, design, develop and/or setup I use Joomla! as the CMS for their sites. Joomla! is usually number 1 or 2 of the top open source content management systems that are available.

Can your Facebook get hacked?

bill@billsweb.biz (Bill Watkins) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:21:58 GMT

Answer: Yes it can!

I recently received a wall post from my brother saying something like: "Check out this hot new site I found..." followed by a short link, which led me to what looked like a facebook (FB) page asking for my password. Without even thinking, I typed in my password and hit enter. Then I immediately realized what I had done so I went to my FB profile and changed my password. I then contacted my brother who reported it to FB and changed his password.

Facebook Page, Group and Advertising

bill@billsweb.biz (Bill Watkins) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:04:23 GMT

Hey Everyone,

Why should my business have a Facebook Business Page, Group Page or do advertising on Facebook?

Answer: There are many people using Facebook and because Facebook Ads can target based on geographic location as well as keywords, what a great way to target those running businesses or people groups! Using a business page or group page, allows more interaction with clients, potential clients and people groups.

Blogging from the PC or MAC?

bill@billsweb.biz (Bill Watkins) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 02:09:02 GMT

Why not journal what you want to have on your blog site using an application on your PC or MAC?

I've been using a journal program on my computer to keep notes and various information like conversations, phone numbers, etc., for about 2-3 years now. The program I use, and highly recommend is called The Journal, provided by David Michael. This has been, without a doubt, one of the coolest programs I've ever used! (I understand there is a decent Mac program for journaling called MacJurnal - check it out here.)

The nice thing is, if your using a WordPress blogging application on a web site, as I do here, you can then upload your journal to a blog. Also, The Journal will provide multiple categories and pages.

Why A Slow Computer?

bill@billsweb.biz (Bill Watkins) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 08:39:39 GMT

Why is my computer so slow?

If you find your PC has slowed down a lot, it may not always be a virus or some kind of malware. It could be one of several reasons and here are some self-help steps to show you the way.

Here are some likely reasons and suggestions to help you if your computer has slowed down a lot.

First, if your computer is more then 4 years old, it likely can't keep up with all that is required to browse the web, check your email, download and upload your pictures as well as videos. You should consider replacing it with a new one.

If your computer is newer and you find it is a lot slower then it was when you first bought it, try these things to help speed it back up: