Love it! It’s small, heavier than I expected, and very sleek. Once I powered it on the vibrant display walked me through a few simple steps to setting up my new device.

Ease of access is smooth and extremely user friendly. My daughter—who has a lot of iPhone and iPod experience under her belt—has no problem maneuvering her way around Kindle Fire.  The apps available for the Kindle are from the Android market, and just like the apps on your smart phone, there are plenty of free ones to choose from; some of our favorites are Facebook, AllRecipes, Amazon, Words with Friends, and Hangman. There’s also a Newsstand that brings you all the most popular magazines and Newspapers; there’s everything from Fashion and Entertainment to News, Finance, and Technology. I recommend National Geographic and Bon Appétit!

Of course the books! I’m an avid reader, I love my books, and I’m sure there will be times when I read an actual book again, but since having my Kindle, about a month, I’ve gone through  4 “books”! There’s SO MANY to choose from, ridiculously affordable, and a Lending Library for prime-members, in which you get a 30-day trial, and I’m leaning towards becoming a full-time member. The benefits of the Lending Library: Borrowing books rather than purchasing, discounted shipping and handling at Amazon, and more! The not so cool part: You can only “borrow” one book a month from the Library, so if you’re a fast reader like me it might get a little aggravating, but you can always purchase it from Amazon and it’s still cheaper than going out and buying a book.

Music apps like Pandora are also an option on the Kindle Fire, along with an earbud plugin. Although I don’t use it often, it is a very nice option.

Video such as TV shows, movies, etc. are also available. And of course I’m using the Netflix app which is handy on road trips or just something to keep the little one occupied.

You can view documents on the Kindle Fire, search the web, book mark web pages, check email, and SHOP! Seriously, what’s not to love?

There is not much I would change about the Kindle Fire. I love the look, the quality, the usability, and everything I can do with it!

Let’s tie your Facebook Page to your website.

Step 1: Choose which Facebook Badge best suites you.

As you can see there are four different types of badges to choose from: Profile Badge, Like Badge, Photo Badge, and Page Badge (only available to application and page admins). And each serves its own purpose. Profile Badges are great if you just want to share your personal profile page on another website of yours; A Like Badge will highlight your favorite Pages on Facebook; A Photo Badge shows off your Facebook photos; And a Page Badge is a way to let your website followers see your Facebook Fan Page so they can follow or “like” that as well.

Step 2: Follow the wizard to customize the badge.

Facebook gives you a couple of commonly used options (Blogger and TypePad) to add a badge to or you can choose “other” to add the badge to your website. If using Blogger or TypePad once you choose one it automatically takes you into a sign-in page to begin the badge process. When you choose “other” you’re given an html code to paste anywhere on your website. I don’t recommend going crazy with the badge, but a couple of places to add it would be your home page and then your contact page.

Voila!

As we dive deeper and deeper into the social media frenzy I’m finding that the different options for creating eye catching pages are becoming more and more available. I’ve tried a few different services for our pages and am quite pleased with the outcome. But of course there will come a day when I’m ready to change those up again too and like I said, the options are definitely out there!

Using Catchfree I found a list of top rated Facebook building sites, I’ve had a chance to only go through the first five:

Wix
Fanzila
Cool Mojito
Pagemodo
Stiqr

Again, I love Catchfree because they’re always keeping up to date on this stuff; if a better one comes along, they’ll tell you!

The Benefits of Having a Facebook Welcome Page

• Appearance
  • Clutter free
  • Easy to read (stay away from funky fonts)
• A friendly hello
  • Welcoming and Inviting
• Informative
  • About you and/or your business
  • Product/Services information
  • Contact information
• Call to action!
  • Words that urge the reader to take an immediate action, such as “Call Now” or “Like Us”.

When crawling through Facebook fan pages I find myself more drawn to the well thought out pages; the ones that flow smoothly, starting at the welcome page. In order to intrigue your audience you need to engage with them. Welcome readers to your page–introduce yourself; tell us about your company and the benefits of your services and/or products; and always put your contact information where it can be easily found. TIP: People generally do not want to read a short novel about your business—keep it short, simple, and straight to the point. If there’s anything else they want to know, they’ll ask. And last but not least, include a call to action. People are more likely to “like” your page or contact you if you tell them too!

In order for companies, small businesses, and entrepreneurs to stay in the game we have to stay active in our marketing department. This is equally important for well established enterprises and/or individuals as well as those currently in the start-up process. Today not only are we being reached via the television, phone, and mail; but also the internet. And big or small, setting up fan pages via social networking pages is a must. Let’s face it—social media is here to stay! So why not embrace it?

At the top of the list of most popular social networking sites you’ll find Facebook. Throw in FREE, user friendly and accessible from anywhere (there’s a FB app for almost any mobile device you can think of) and you’ve found your first stop in launching your social media campaign.

But first let’s take a quick look at Fan Pages vs. Profiles.
This is from a section on Facebooks official policy (on difference between profile and pages)

Facebook profiles are meant to represent a single individual. Organizations of any type are not permitted to maintain an account under the name of their organization. We have created Facebook Pages to allow organizations to have a presence on Facebook. These Pages are distinct presences, separate from user profiles, and optimized for an organization’s needs to communicate, distribute information/content, engage their fans, and capture new audiences virally through their fan’s recommendations to their friends. Facebook Pages are designed to be a media rich, valuable presence for any artist, business or brand.

If you create a profile for your business, your account may be disabled for violating our Terms of Use. If you have questions about how to best leverage your Facebook Page, please check out our Insider’s Guide or FAQ.

Facebook’s policy in terms of how businesses can use their pages:

All personal site features, such as friending and messaging, are also for personal use only and may not be used for professional promotion. If you add a user as a friend, for example, this person will be invited to be a friend of your profile and not your Page. Using personal site features for professional promotion, or creating unauthorized Pages, may result in your account being warned or disabled.

Now, let’s get started…

1. Pick a category and name for your page. There are several categories to choose from; your businesses and/or interest may not fit perfectly into one of the categories but choosing one that matches closely is important because you won’t be able to change this again. The name of your page should be the exact same as the name of your business, organization, etc.
2.  Add a profile picture. Choose a picture or image that is clear and best represents you and your business. All of your fans and friends will see this picture.
3. Add information! This part is crucial. Underneath your profile picture is a box where you can add your company info; name, contact information and web address. Tell your audience who you are, what you do and where to find you. The more information you add the more successful you will be.
4. Make it rich & engaging. Just like profile pages there are tab options available to add content. A few are built in like a Wall tab, Info tab and Notes tab. Engage with your fans on your wall, post your businesses news, articles, etc and let your fans comment on them. Add information about your business-what you do-in the info tab. Add a note about upcoming promotions or events in your notes tab. And don’t be a stranger to your fans–add photos.
5. PUBLISH your page. Click the “publish this Page” link to share your page with the world!
6. Update regularly. Another crucial part of successful social media is updating on a regular basis. Don’t get lost in the newsfeeds by neglecting your status updates. Post fresh photos, events and promotions. Engage with your audience!

Here at YVA we’re always striving to be our best and keep up to date with all the new technology, gadgets, and resources to be able to provide our clients with the best possible assistance.

Without going in to too much detail quite yet (because I like to keep you guessing) I’ll just say that we’ve been brushing up on our techie services and are very excited about YVA’s future.

If you haven’t already checked out our services page, hop on over there and discover where our expertise lies and how YVA can assist in your everyday business needs.

Stay tuned to find out what we’ve been up to. And join our mailing list! (Blue box right here —->>>>)

So many free apps, add-ons, and plug-ins—OH MY!

I love the fact that there are so many options out there to help build your business or to assist in your day-to-day activities. I’ve seen everything from color picking tools to free design tools. But I’ve found myself a bit overwhelmed in trying to figure out what’s what and which ones are best for what I’m looking for. That was until yesterday! While reading another VA’s blog I came across one about catchfree. After doing a little bit of research I realized this was the answer to my questions about which free services are best.

Check out the screen shot of just a few of the popular searches out there and their ratings!

Definitely something to look into! I’m currently playing around with PageModo‘s services, I’ll let you know how it goes.

by Donna Gunter, The Internet Marketing Automation Coach (TM)

The notion of doing a business retreat for myself is very new, although not novel, as we used to conduct a retreat each year as a part of both the Student Affairs staff and the Residence Life staff at the college where I once worked. When I heard about this same concept for self-employed business owners from Business Coach Chris Barrow, I thought, “Why am I not doing that for myself?” Thus, my Annual Business Retreat was born.

Here’s how you can create this annual retreat experience for yourself:

1. Book 3 days for your retreat on your calendar. Ideally, you’ll want to be in a location where you’re not readily accessible at a time of the year when you can devote serious time to business planning and development. If you can’t find 3 days together, at a minimum book 3 half-day slots that you can devote to this activity.

2. Isolate yourself from the distractions of life. My initial retreat experience involved staying with a friend in her guest home about 10 miles out of town. She lives in the mountains, so my cell phone didn’t work, and the house wasn’t wired for phone service, so that meant no phone calls and no Internet surfing. My friend and her husband worked all week and drove their cars to work, so I had no way to escape, as my friend’s house is very rural and there’s nothing to escape to within walking distance. Forcing myself into isolation left me with little choice than to work on my retreat materials.

3. Do your work in a serene environment. I have fond memories of last year’s retreat experience — sitting out on the back deck with a moderate temperature and low humidity, and the breeze was gently blowing the trees of the woodsy area I faced. There were no people passing by, no cars on the road — just me and nature and my computer. It was perfect. I took breaks as I needed them during the day.

4. Be willing to go in an unexpected direction. At the beginning of the process, ask yourself some hard questions during your retreat. My favorite is, “What kind of business do you truly want?” Answer this question as though money is no object, using your best assets and skills with none of your perceived weaknesses or liabilities, incorporating the best of what you also want in your personal life. The answer you receive may surprise you, and will serve as a great jumping off point to begin writing your business vision.

5. Write your three-year vision. This statement shouldn’t be a vision in which you expect to accomplish everything in the next 36 months. Instead, think of it as a rolling vision, or something you’ll continue to work on and revise at a minimum each year at your retreat. Expect it to evolve and change, as most visions do, but at least you’ll have some idea of what direction you’re headed.

6. Be willing to acknowledge all that was good, bad, and ugly about your business and your life in the past year. Hiding from the truth, even if you’re only hiding it from yourself, won’t do you or your business any good. It was my experience in writing about what I didn’t like during the past year and what didn’t work so well for me that led me to the place of creating my ideal day/week/year and gave me the information about how to structure that new vision for myself.

7. Create your 90-Day Goals List. After you’ve mapped out a 3-year vision for yourself, you now need to translate the upcoming year’s vision into a set of measurable goals. The easiest and most manageable way of doing this is to create a 90 Day Goals List. On this list, you take 7 categories: Business, Financial, Family, Social, Physical, Intellectual, and Spiritual, and create 3 goals for each category. Do this every quarter, and put the task on your calendar on the first day of every quarter (Jan. 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1) so that it becomes a habit.

8. Plan your finances for the upcoming year. On your retreat take your financial records — your Excel spreadsheets or Quickbooks or Quicken files — so that you know your financial standing. Note your expected personal and business expenditures for the upcoming year, along with things you’d like to do and items you’d like to purchase, and then plan your income, or how you’re planning on paying for your expenses.

9. Map out your entire year on your calendar. Based on your vision and financial goals, you’ll craft your upcoming year’s calendar in terms of vacation time, travel, other kinds of rest days, profit-generating days with clients, and business development days. I did this for the first time for 2004, and it’s made all the difference in keeping me focused!

10. Be patient. As I began this process last year, my thoughts and my direction and my work on this vision were just not “wowing” me–I was having a hard time dredging up any enthusiasm about where I had been in my business and where I was going. I continued to plod along regardless, doing my writing and completing my tasks, hoping that at some point I’d have a breakthrough that I could get really excited about. Everything finally jelled with me late in the third day, when I resurrected an idea I’d had several years ago but wasn’t quite sure what to do with it, yet it seemed to match perfectly and pull together all of these disjointed ideas I had. Had I not remained patient and vowed to continue to move forward with the process, I wouldn’t have found the direction and motivation that I needed.

An annual business retreat is the most powerful thing I’ve ever done for my business and it gave me clarity of intention for my life and business like nothing else I’ve ever done. Knowing where I’m going and how I’m going to get there and developing the financial picture of that plan was extraordinarily empowering. Don’t delay in creating this this process for your business!

Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time by teaching them how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise, and get found online.  Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

If you’re looking for a fantastic way to boost revenue selling your products or services, you should highly consider setting up an affiliate program. A lot of people have amazing success doing this. An affiliate program is designed to help others to sell your products for you. They earn a commission each time they make a sale.

What’s in it for you? You gain exposure to potential sales that you might never have on your own. Your affiliates advertise your products on their websites, blogs, and newsletters.

What’s in it for them? A commission check of course. There are thousands of people out there that make more than a decent living selling other peoples products. This works well for the affiliate because they don’t have to spend time developing their own product or service to make money. They can dedicate their time to selling yours.

If you’re not sure how to do this, there are many resources available online that will help you set up your affiliate program. You can do it in just one day. I use 1shoppingcart.com for my affiliate program. They pretty much do everything for you except develop your product. They’ll help you with banner and URL codes as well as track your affiliates and make it easy to pay them.

After setting up your program, you’ll need to spend a little bit of time promoting it to affiliates. You will need a page dedicated to your affiliates. Some sample text ads as well as text they can use in an email message. Provide them with banners. You may want to offer several articles that they can incorporate their affiliate code into. Affiliate also benefit from regular messages from you reminding them to promote your service (these could be in the form of an autoresponder); they will also want to know about any sales or promotions you have upcoming.

The more successful they are, the more successful you are!

A conversation between two amazing VAs prompted this post. It was about what a virtual assistant can do to help ease the stress of the holiday season. The answer – a VA can help or even take over some of the things you don’t have the time to do.

• Gifts – Researching and purchasing gifts for family, friends, and business associates.
• Holiday Cards – Hand sign, address, and mail your holiday cards. Send a holiday email to your contact list.
• Holiday Party - I can help in selecting the menu, providing the recipes and the grocery list. Or, find you a caterer.  Going bigger? I can research and secure a banquet room and food service.
• Holiday Travel – Are you planning to travel this holiday season? Let me handle the flight and accommodation details for you and your family.

If you have holiday needs that are not listed above, contact me to discuss them.

I’m in the process of completely rethinking my business model, and that will be my primary focus as I plan this year’s business retreat for myself.  Your business model doesn’t have to be at all complex, but should provide the guiding force for all that you do, like guiding you to the opportunities to accept (and those to decline), the joint ventures and strategic alliances to pursue, and the new ideas you should retain and develop, as well as those to let go of.

Here’s are the 4 steps I’m following as I create the blueprint for my business model:

1.  Make clients pay well for your most valuable commodity — your time.  I see many service business owners tying themselves up with (and tying themselves down to) far too many 1:1 clients.  You have only so many hours in the day, and at some point you’ll hit the wall and not be able to expand the number of 1:1 clients you see.  Sure, you can hire and train additional staff to handle the overflow, but in many cases, you make less money in this model while tripling your headaches.  Make your 1:1 time with clients your highest-fee service, charging a premium fee to dispense your expertise.

2.  Ongoing recurring revenue is key.  Feast or famine seems to shape the life of the service business owner, regardless of industry.  Wouldn’t your life be much more sane if you knew that you could count on recurring revenue each and every month, rather than having to  constantly go out and find new clients?  This was one of the models I adopted early on in my virtual assistant practice, i.e. working exclusively with clients on retainer rather than a “pay as you go” model.  What is it that your clients need from you that you could provide on an ongoing basis with them that isn’t time-intensive for you?

3.  Always have an upgrade.  Never offer a stand-alone product or program that doesn’t have a natural tie-in to the next level of program or service that you offer. If there’s no way to leverage what you’re offering into some type of upgrade, don’t offer it! For example, a free teleclass can lead participants to enroll in a paid short-term group program.  From that program, plan to enroll a certain percentage of those participants into a recurring revenue continuity program. You can then upgrade a percentage of these participants into a live event or small ongoing mentoring program, and from there make an upgrade offer to your premium 1:1 time.

4.  Design the blueprint.  Brainstorm all of the types of programs, products, and services you might offer in your business.  Your list might look like the one below:
 

• Consulting

• 1:1 Service Provision

• Group Coaching/Mentoring/Continuity Programs

• Sale of Info Products

• Private Retreats

• Strategy Sessions

• Live Events

• Speaking

• Information Products or Books

• Licensing/Certification Training

• Teleseminars/Webinars

• Subscription Membership Website

Pick 3-5 of these items that will make up your business model, and then determine what percentage of income you want to derive from each.  Your total needs to equal 100%. Then, determine the order in which you offer the components of your program over the next 1-2 years.  This becomes your blueprint for action.

How do you determine your success? If your business still suffers from feast and famine, take a long, hard look at your business model for the solution. Every offer you make in your business should flow seamlessly into the next, which will result in a steady, predictable income that you can increase over time as you become more expert at designing and following your blueprint.

Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at == > http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com