Daily Freshed Squeezed eNews for Monday, December 7, 2009

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"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it." - Henry David Thoreau AROUND THE WEB Monday, December 7, 2009 The free downloadable ebook "Getting Started in Blogging" by Sharon Hurley Hall is now available on her website. At quick glance it looks like a solid, easy to read overview for the basics of blogging. She covers hosting, platform choices, free themes, customizations, stats, etc. Freelance Folder has posted an article featuring 50+ free resources for writers, bloggers and other freelancers. I've been a fan of onlinepreneur LaShanda Henry for some time. She's posted a free action guide for 2010, which is great timing as we are almost done with 2009. Free WordPress theme at Thrilling Heroics For the adventerous WordPress website owner, the new 2.9 beta is available for download. Before you promote someone else, have you considered selling your own product? Darren Rowse of Problogger talks about the importance of having your own product to sell. Most successful entrepreneurs push their own products. Why? Credibility/Authority. Consider adding this revenue stream into your to-do list for 2010. One of the concerns with a website is losing visitors. When you create an opportunity for them to leave your site, more often than not, they do. Something as harmless as posting your tweets and allowing readers to follow you takes them off your site and onto Twitter. With this new API, Twitter is offering a solution to this exodus problem. – Twitter Sign-Up API I'm partial to the Blackberry, as an entrepreneur, but in case you're still undecided or if you're trying to find the perfect gift for a small business owner then here's a how-to for choosing a smartphone. Bienvenidos al Internet. Elle y Tito: The Married Life are taking their relationship to SiTV. The 13 week show which premiered on Myspace has found its way to broadcast television. Hopefully Elle y Tito don't suffer the same fate as web-series-turned-legit-show "Quarterlife." Twitter taking a day off or are we all just so used to the fail whale that we just don't care anymore? As a website owner I find it fascinating how society feels "disrupted" when a site is down for more than 15 minutes. – Twitter's Day Off? As if Google Analytics weren't awesome enough now they're making it easier to integrate into your site. Users of WordPress MU or sites with multiple subdomains can now make better use of Google Analytics. FYI, take some time to really get into understanding how to use this. You're doing your website a disservice by not tapping into what your site is really telling you. The overkill buzz word of 2009 is "realtime." Surprisingly enough it's Myspace using it to better position their site among the other key players in the social networking space. Myspace to push updates to Google in realtime – I'm surprised Murdoch doesn't want to push their updates to Bing instead. Something's telling me though that when their search deal with Google expires next year, we'll be seeing a new digital marriage. It will be a match made in old media heaven. Is this the future of entertainment distribution? FYI: Be on the lookout later this month for a case study for how artists can take over their brand by doing it themselves. In the meantime let your imagination run wild as you listen to the elements of freedom for yourself. iStream, uStream, we all stream for live stream. As the digital 24/7 reality tv show platform prepares for another celebrity show, I can only imagine how this will shape future television programming. Sure Internet TV consumption won't trump traditional broadcast but with opportunities like this it's hard to imagine how it cannot. Some cable channels don't capture the same numbers that some live streams do. I admit I'm a fan of Foursquare because every geek is touting it as the next "Twitter." While it won't be "Twitter" for some time (remember Twitter came out in 2006 and JUST hit big in 2009), Foursquare definitely has the potential to be a leader in the geolocation market. I call it social participation networking and it's only a matter of time before it's regarded as a valuable resource beyond the "checking in at bars" stigma. Case in point: Check In For Charity Procrastinate at your leisure! If you spend as much time as I do just looking at ideas then you'll enjoy the next 10 minutes reading this list of free fonts. Potential trend alert: Hyperlocal Aggregators. Google tried to buy Twitter? Shocker. Ok so read 9 other things you didn't know about Google. There's a camera for that: Google Goggles – Say that 5 times fast! Be forewarned, the video is kind of reminiscent of Cloverfield. Resources Here are a list of resources which we have used and highly recommend. Let Us Know Do you have a blog that we might not be reading? If so, let us know about it. Email us and we'll add it to our daily feed reader.   Barter Listing Are you looking to barter services? Are you a writer in need of a website? Or a speaker in need of headshots? Let us know. We're compiling a list of potential barter'ers who are looking to exchange services. Times are tough and bartering can be a great solution that's both a win-win for all involved. Let us know what you're willing to barter and what you're looking for in return.   Twitter Followers is so last season. It's all about the Twitter lists. Avoid the Twitter void and start compartmentalizing your Tweet consumption. Listorious helps you do just that. Browse this directory and start following the thought leaders of your industry. -  Listorious Follow us on Twitter @lemonadestand20

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What Matters More – The Message Or The Messenger?

I learned in the past few weeks that sometimes who is saying something is more important than what is being said. It's caused me to reflect, for some time, on why this is the case? 

When you look at individuals such as President Obama versus former President Bush, when they both say the same thing who would you tend to believe? Over the past 8 years, Bush has proven to be untrustworthy whereas Obama has built a level of credibilty and authority that helps him connect with people in an authentic way. 

In this case the messenger is key. 

However in the case of quotations, we tend to value the message more than the person saying it. How many people believe in "be the change you want to see in the world" because Ghandi said it? It's a quote that resonates with people because there's a connection in the message. You take away from the message what hits true to you, despite who's said it. 

In this case the message is key.

So looking at how we communicate now and taking into consideration the nuances that play a factor into our decision making process, I ask the question: What matters more: "the message or the messenger?"

Posted via email from Vicky Ayala

Understanding the Value of Social Media – Part 1

Social media is not new but it’s the hot topic this year. Why? Because now everyone is an expert in social media. Having a Facebook or Twitter account qualifies an individual to become a social media expert. Sorry, for a minute there I drank the Koolaid.

Keeping A Competitive Edge

There's a value in maintaining a competitive edge. As someone who straddles the competitive/altruistic world, I can see a clear value in keeping an equal balance of both. I was never one for hording information. I've been pretty open about what I do and sometimes how I do it. Lately though I am starting to re-evaluate the notion of maintaining a competitive spirit.

Proprietary information. This phrase was brought to my attention last week as I started wondering when sharing too much info becomes sharing too much. I used to be the paranoid entrepreneur until I realized the value in executing ideas in the way you see fit. Sure someone maybe do what you do, before or after you do it, but it doesn't take away the competitive edge that you give the project by doing it your way.

Finding the right balance is never easy. If it were everyone would be doing it.

Posted via email from Vicky Ayala

I’m at the NY Video Sept ’09 Meetup and I can’t help but wonder “are women not into the web video” field? For every 1 woman there’s about 50 men. And I haven’t even touched on the “other” disproportionate ratio.

NY Video September Meetup with Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire

Be careful with what you ask for

The universe has a funny way of giving you what you need when you
don’t think you want it and then giving you what you want after you
realize that you don’t need it.

Posted via email from Vicky Ayala

Potential: For What It's Worth

Potential? What's it worth? Can you see it? Measure it? Quantify it?

I'm becoming more unimpressed with the idea of potential. Everything has potential. My sister's pint size yorkies have the potential to be bloody thirsty killers. I'll be convinced when I see them tear off the head of the bluejay here with their teeth. But that about sums up potential. If its' not realized then does it matter?

In business you take calculated risk based on projections of what may or may not happen. Even those who take a leap of faith peek into the well before jumping in. Few jump without looking and luck out. Its like russian roulette. I'm starting to see the correlation between potential and russian roulette. Yea every shot has the potential to knock you out but it usually just takes that one from the bunch that does the job and does it well.

So if life is like a game of russian roulette, what role do you care to assume? Which role do you have the most potential in?

Posted via email from Vicky Ayala

What's With The Cranky Energy?

Cranky seems to be the theme for today. As I take some time to debrief
myself from the realities of launching an empire, I reflect on the
energy that seems to be resonating from everyone around me –
crankyness.

I know where mines is coming from, and in my defense I find it
absolutely justified. Launching a website is not an easy task. To roll
out one with the complexities of LIE and TL, at the same time is
beyond ambitious. I pride myself on being a soldier of the Internet
and even when I feel out of my league I find a way to get it done. A
few courses in advanced php wouldn’t have hurt either but whatever.

Deep down though I understand my crankiness comes from various
frustrations which when not expressed only build and build. I’ve
learned a lot these past few months. Lessons in compromise, as in when
its not in your best interest, continue to test my limits and in a
weird twist of fate also provided me with a level of confidence I
didn’t have before.

Its been a long journey which is far from over. I can only hope that
the cranky energy I’m projecting is only my way of keeping myself in
tune with who I am in case I forget.

Posted via email from Vicky Ayala

There's A New Game In Town And It's Name Is Synergy

The keyword of the day is synergy. It seems to be a theme as of lates.
Myspace sync’ing with Twitter. Blackberry improving their sync’ing
with Gmail. The only ones who don’t seem to get is Apple, but in their
defense they’re well within their rights for regecting Google Voice.

But synegry means more than collaborating to share resources. It means
shaking the hands of your would-be competitor and saying “there’s room
enough for us both.” I won’t speak too much on the notion of scarcity.
Alisa Valdes has discussed it well and should my partner in
LatinosInEntertainment.com ever decide to blog I’m sure she’ll talk
about how scarcity cripples any community that falls prey to their
insecurities, which is what really fuels it.

Synergy is needed for the business lanscape to evolve as a whole. Fox
and NBC realized that when they joined forces to create Hulu. And in
doing so they are trying to help pioneer a new culture of online
television consumers. And if anyone should be having the scarcity
mindset its the television networks.

Posted via email from Vicky Ayala