Written by Lesa Seibert | 26 December 2011
Posted in Internet Marketing Tip of the Week

You can use Applications on LinkedIn to enhance your profile.  Some of the most popular ones are to pull in your blog feed or Twitter stream, a list of your favorite books, recent presentations, community/charitable involvement and much more.  Adding these features keeps your profile fresh and interesting along with being full of information that sets you up as a leader in your industry.  The nice thing is with the blog and Twitter feeds, they update automatically, so once you set them they take care of themselves.

So now you have your LinkedIn profile optimized but how do you know it's working?  Here are some performance indicators to look for:

1. Is your profile 100 percent complete (look at the top right side of your Profile page to find this status)?  If not, keep working until it is complete then keep going.
2. When typing your keyword phrase selected from your optimized profile, does your profile appear in search results?
3. Are you getting an increase in recommendations?  Keep soliciting recommendations from current and new clients.  In time, you will receive a notice of an unsolicited recommendation in your inbox.  That is a nice feeling.
4. You should see an increase in personal messages in your LinkedIn Inbox.  The more conversations you create, the more people will want to connect with you.
5. Watch for your profile in the search engines.  If you choose the right keyword that is not too highly competitive, you will show up quickly.

Feel free to check out my profile on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/lesaseibert and see how mine is optimized.  Good luck in increasing your visibility and connections on LinkedIn.

Written by Lesa Seibert | 26 December 2011
Posted in Internet Marketing Tip of the Week

When setting up a LinkedIn profile, there are mutliple things to consider to ensure your profile is optimized.  First, you need to decide what keywords you want to be found under.  To help you in this process, think about what prospective clients would search for to find you and put that in your Professional Headline on your profile. 

Next, you need to optimize the main parts of your profile as follows:

1. Profile Photo - make sure to use a professional headshot in your profile photo.  People want to see your face, not a logo or a blank image.
2. Last Name - Your name is your headline, so try to include a keyword.  To do this, keep your first name as it is - mine is Lesa.  For your last name field, include a keyword or keyprhase.  Mine is "Seibert - Web Designer/Marketing Speaker".  By doing this you are findable under your name and your expertise.
3. Keywords - Keywords optimization techniques apply to LinkedIn as well.  Make sure you include keywords throughout your profile, including your professional experience, specialties, job description and company title.  Don't spam with keywords, but include them where they fit. 
4. Website Links - Make sure to put your company or blog name in for your website and not use My Website.  To do this, when you are setting the link(s) to your website(s), DO NOT select and of the pre-defined options (Company Website, Blog, etc.) as that is what they put for the title.  Instead, select Other at the bottom of the list and put in your own link title (Website & Software Design, Social Media Marketing, etc.) and then the link to that site. 
5. Recommendations - Make sure to get recommendations.  When you reach out to clients or colleagues,  ask them to use specific keywords in their recommendation (ex. website design, graphic design, etc.).  Make sure to give recommendations to people you support.

Written by Lesa Seibert | 26 December 2011
Posted in Internet Marketing Tip of the Week

The free LinkedIn account will allow you to join up to 50 Groups.  In LinkedIN Groups, you can network, join conversations, and show prospects that you have the solutions to their problems.  Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs do not utilize Groups to reach prospective clients.

When most people join Groups they often make these two common mistakes:

1. They join the group but never participate.  You can't expect prospects to come to you for a solution when you don't take the time to make yourself heard.
2. They join groups where there are similar members.  Does it make more sense to join a group that is full of your competition or full of prospective clients?  You should be in the same place as your prospects, sharing your knowledge of your industry so they can see you are a useful resource.  

To take the most advantage of Groups, create a group for your company and post all of your articles/discussions there.  This creates a community of followers for your company.  Then using the LinkedIn share tool, share that article with all of your other Groups with one click.  To explain the power of groups, I belong to 32 Groups that I post in regularly.  Those 32 Groups contain over 188,000 members.  If you figure that some Groups have some of the same members, you can easily say that you are reaching at least 130,000+ people every time you make a post to these groups.  You do the math - in a few minutes you can post content that will be read by over 130,000 people either daily or weekly (depending on how often they get group updates).  When I started this for our company, our site traffic went up 1200% in 4 weeks, because my posts were links to our company blog, which drove the readers back to our company website.

LinkedIn can be a powerful marketing & networking tool if you use it properly.

Written by Lesa Seibert | 30 October 2011
Posted in Data & Telecom Trends

by, Lesa Seibert, President, Xstreme Media

For those looking for a Windows 7 phone that offers an easy to use interface with good Office integration, the Verizon HTC Trophy will work for you. The trophy is 4.67 inches tall by 2.42 inches wide and .47 inches thick weighing in at 4.95 ounces with a 3.8 inch touch screen. It has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and 568MB RAM, which makes it very responsive. Its slim profile makes it comfortable to hold and easy to slip into a pant or jacket pocket.

This is Verizon’s first Window’s phone device, which provides ease of use for the owner. The onscreen keyboard is simple and very accurate. It stacks up against the iPhone keyboard. The display is sharp and bright, although it is harder to see in the sun. The touch screen does respond well, but is prone to smudges and fingerprints. The blocked home screen makes it easy to find the most popular items (messages, missed calls, calendar, etc. ), with one touch. It also has some cool apps that you can install.

Some highlights of the system are integration with Zune and Xbox Live, coupled with a user-friendly interface. The phone is international capable and will automatically detect and switch to a GSM network, an important feature for those who travel internationally. The HTC Trophy also features a speakerphone, call forwarding, conference calling, voice dialing, and text/multimedia messaging along with Bluetooth Stereo support and a 5.0 Megapixel camera, which is average at best.   For business people, it supports Gmail, Exchange, Yahoo!, Windows Live, POP3 and IMAP email accounts along with a GPS. The call quality was good, but in areas outside of the city, I had a hard time getting a connection.

All in all, the Verizon HTC Trophy is a good, moderately priced phone at around $149 before rebates.

Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network now covers more than 186 million Americans coast to coast. With additional markets planned before year-end, Verizon’s 4G LTE network build-out is ahead of schedule and has already exceeded the company’s 2011 target of covering a population of 185 million.

Verizon launches 4G in Lexington Nov. 17. At the same time, the Louisville 4G footprint will grow along I-65 to the south toward Lebanon Junction, and I-71 toward Carroll County.

Written by Lesa Seibert | 15 August 2011
Posted in Data & Telecom Trends

by, Lesa Seibert, President, Xstreme Media

If you are looking for a tablet to use for your business and an Android option to the Apple iPad, then the Motorola Xoom from Verizon is worth a look. Powered by Android™ 3.0 (Honeycomb) with a 10.1–inch HD widescreen display, front and rear cameras and the power of a 1GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of PC grade RAM, it can handle most anything you throw at it. It also boasts 32GB of storage with a micro-SD slot that will support another 32GB, to give you 64GB of storage. It is a little heavier than the iPad II, but it would not be a deterrent. I also liked the fact that the unit sports Gorilla Glass, so there is no need for a screen protector, which can be cumbersome to apply and effect sensitivity.

The intuitive interface is easy to get around and has lots of great options out of the box. The voice recognition performs well and is great when you are mapping a location. Just tell it where you want to go and Google Maps does the rest. With both 3G (in the model I tested and upgradeable to 4G for free, but the downside is you have to send it in to upgrade) and Wi-Fi, I was never without a connection, although there were a couple of times that it was slow to switch from 3G to Wi-Fi (the new version of the Xoom comes with 4G). The dual connectivity proved very important when using the device for meeting presentations, as I could always connect to the Internet to show samples of work. The on-screen keyboard was a nice size and the keys were spaced well to allow for easy typing. I also found the "Home" and "Back" buttons very useful.

The Android marketplace offered a great variety of apps, some of which I used from the beginning. Apps were easy to install and use. The email setup was also intuitive and worked like a charm. The processor never seemed to have a problem, even with multiple applications running and email open. For those of us who are multi-taskers, this is a big plus.

On the gaming side, the Xoom's HD display, made gaming fun. The unit performed flawlessly on all games and provided a functional user interface. So if you like taking your gaming with you, you won't be disappointed.

As far as accessories, you can get a Bluetooth keyboard for around $35 or take it a step further and get a Leather case that features a Bluetooth keyboard for added functionality and protection for about $75. For the price of $499 with a 2-year contract through Verizon, the Motorola Xoom is well worth the money.