Let Your Website Do The Work!

We're All A Twitter!

We were all a Twitter on Websites 2 Grow TV! I could talk about Twitter for hours. Yes, I'm a self proclaimed Twitter geek. I asked Danielle Miller, TheToolboxTeacher.com to join me as we chatted about why Twitter is such a powerful tool for relationship and business building.

Also, I announced the Grand Prize winner of my Websites 2 Grow contest, Scott Kapich. You can follow him on Twitter at @ScottK75. He won a free website desigined and built by me LIVE on my Ustream show.

Enjoy!

I'm having a party! A Twitter Party!

I'm having my first Twitter party and I would love it if you would join me! I'm so excited about my "Get Your Business On-line Contest" I just had to celebrate! I'll be starting the party at 9:00 pm CST on Friday April 24th.

Here’s what I’ll be up to:

• Cool Free Gifts: I'll be giving away free gifts from some of my friends! Just answer a few trivia questions and those gifts could be yours.
  
• Website Tips: Those of you who know me might realize by now I'm a bit of a geek. So of course I will be sharing some geeky website, seo, and social media tips.
  
• Spinning Tunes: I love Blip.fm and will spin some of my favorite tunes during the party. Hopefully you don't hate my choice in music!
  
• The Big Contest- Answering all your questions about my contest "Get Your Business On-line" and Websites 2 Grow

To win the prizes all you have to do is:

1. Contribute to the party on Twitter by “re-tweeting” (that’s repeating by copying and pasting something I say), adding a question, or useful comment AND using the hash tag #Web2Grow. I’ll be looking only through the #Web2Grow hash tags so you have to use that to win.  An easy way to keep up will be to visit TweetChat.com, enter your Twitter ID and password, then enter room Web2Grow.  (This is a great way to meet new friends and twitter followers)
   
   
2. Answer the trivia questions I throw out during the party. 

I've got tons of prizes to give away including gifts from my friends:

• Danielle Miller, The Toolbox Teacher, is donating a coaching session. I don't know all of the details right now, because she's on a cruise. But I'll tell you all about it Friday night.

• Angie Jones, Fit Business Woman, is excited to party with us and give away a free month membership to FitBusinessWoman.com and YourOnlineTrainer.com. I'm so excited about this, because I love how easy Angie makes working out even if you're a busy business woman, like I am.

• James Wedmore, Reality Mastermind, is giving away a mastermind session with him and maybe another Reality Masterminder! Have some on-line biz ideas you want some advice on or what about your videos do they need his creative touch?

• Kathy Balland, Lose The Diet, a Websites 2 Grow client has donated her new book, Lose The Diet. If you want to never diet again this is a must read!

• Aaron Foster,Business Owners Online, is donating a generous gift for one lucky winner and that’s a free pass to his 101 Traffic Tactics Teleseminar coming up at the beginning of May.
  

Make sure you're following me on Twitterand use the hashtag #Web2Grow. If you're wondering what all this talk is about hashtags check out this great video below by my friend Mari Smith. See ya at the party!

The Power of Twitter: Tweet-a-Thon Event

We all know just how powerful Twitter is to our businesses but can it have the power to raise money for the causes in this world that are truly worth it.  There are millions of us online daily tweeting 140 characters at a time.  Just imagine if we were all tweeting for a cause.  On February 19, 2008 Twitter will be put to use for just that purpose with a Tweetathon which will raise money for Waterislife.com 

Waterislife is a nonprofit organization that helps bring clean water to those who live in areas of the world thats water is full of waterborne disesases.  These can be caused by protozoa, viruses, bacteria, and intestinal parasites.  6,500 die each day due to this, 4500 of which are children.

This Tweetathon is hoping to make a difference.  The live event will feature celebrities, and will  put together Ustream.com and Twitter.com to make it a huge 12 hour online event.  This is the power of social media at its best. 

So, while it is true that we can use Twitter for our businesses and even our own personal interaction for fun conversations with others, we can also use it to make a difference.  Combining social media sites like Twitter with the power of fundraising can truly help us to make a difference in this world. 

To learn more check out Tweetathon 2009. 

Twitter Phishing Scam- How To Stay Safe

Twitter has been very busy with lots of talk of phishing scams. I received one of the messages and wanted to pass along some tips to anyone who might have received a weird direct message via Twitter. The message I received said "Check out this funny blog post".

1) For now I recommend not to click on any links sent to you via Direct Message- This is just a safety precaution, because just clicking on a link does not seem to cause any problems. But why not just not take a risk and not click on any links until this scam goes away. I know this may seem controversial, because a lot people send out direct messages with links to their blogs or websites. But it just makes it easier for right now.

2) If you do click on any links make sure to not enter any logins or passwords- The link takes you to a website that asks for either twitter or sometimes facebook login and password. Do not enter this information. I would recommend not entering your twitter login and password into any website other than twitter. I know there are other applications that work with twitter that require your login and password, but again this scam has changed things. If you did click on this link don't panic, just clicking on the link does not seem to affect your computer.

3) If you did enter your login and password into website change your password- I recommend changing your password if your account was compromised. I don't know if it will help, but it can't hurt.

4) If you receive a direct message with scam message notify twitter user who sent it to you- Keep in mind they are only a victim of the scam. But it would be nice to send them an @ message letting them know their twitter account may have been compromised and recommending they change their password.

If I receive any more information as to how to protect yourself against this scam I will update this blog post.