Craigslist has gained considerable notoriety over the years as being a great, free service that people can use to do things such as: find jobs, post jobs, sell goods, meet people as well as find out what activities are going on in the area.  However, there are some pretty annoying things about Craigslist, which I have broken down as follows:

5 Pet Peeves About Craigslist

1. Flagging- On Craigslist, you have the ability to “flag” someone’s post if you feel that it is either offensive or if it looks spammy.  This is fine until someone flags something that you put, which was legit.  I haven’t quite figured out if there is a way around the flagging situation so that you can appeal it.
2. Scams-There is nothing more annoying than applying for a job only to realize that the job is a sham.  In a lot of cases, the job posts will look legit until you receive a follow up email from the post indicating that it is really nothing more than some scam artist trying to make cash off of unsuspecting people.
3. No Contact Info-Whether you are posting job information or are trying to sell an item, you need to remember to put ample contact information.  In some cases, people will forget to even put an e-mail address, which leaves the other person who is looking at the ad with no way to get in touch with the host.
4. Linking Out-This deals mostly with job applications on Craigslist.  When you are applying for a job and are reading through a job posting, often times, companies will put a link in the job ad, directing you to go to their website and apply.  However, many job applicants never make it to that step because it seems suspicious or requires more effort.  As a note to employers who are looking to post information on Craigslist, it may be worth it to consider leaving that link out for the time being.
5. Not Enough Info- When you are trying to sell something or are posting information about pretty much anything on Craigslist, you need to give people enough information to go off of.  For example, if you are trying to sell a car, make sure that you include a picture and the specs of the vehicle.  Additionally, make sure that you SPELLCHECK what you are posting.  There is nothing more annoying than a post that is littered with spelling mistakes!

Tweets about this post:
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Here are the noteworthy blogs and sites for this week!

1. Keith N. Hampton- Hampton is an Assistant Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.  His blog mainly deals with social networking, social media, community and societal issues.  A great read! You can also follow Keith on Twitter.
2. A Friend in Every City- This blog discusses global social networking and its effect in the workforce.  It is based on the book A Friend in Every City, which was written by Penny Power, Thomas Power and Andy Coote.  Feel free to pick up a copy!
3. Apophenia- Managed by Danah Boyd, an Internet scholar, social media researcher and Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society, this blog deals with computing, technology, social networking and youth culture.  Extremely well-written and worth checking out.  You can also follow Danah on Twitter.
4. Writer in Residence- Cornwall- Written by Andy Coote, this blog deals with business networking, marketing and communications.  Stop by and have a look!
5. Ecademy- This is a really neat site that helps business people connect to one another- sort of similar to LinkedIn

At Hummingbird Creative Group, we use the acronym SOAR to represent helping our clients to “Strategically Orient their companies to Achieve marketing Results.” In an economy like this, each of us should step back and brainstorm about new products and services we might offer based on insight gathering from clients and prospects to position our companies for success. Insight gathering is simply doing market research including competitive analysis, brand analysis and interviews to establish core facts, values, character and the market’s perception of your offerings, opportunities, targets and referring audiences. Interviewing customers and prospects through the use of case studies and surveys can help you understand what you are doing right, or wrong and how you could change what you are doing to better meet needs in the marketplace. Other things you might want to do to help you Strategically Orient your company to Achieve marketing Results include:

1. Take time away from your everyday business activities and analyze what you can do differently, such as pricing services differently to meet client needs or developing a new product or service that can help your customers get through this tough economy.

2. Write down your strategy before its implementation. By having a road map of what to do and how to achieve it, you are more likely to make it happen.

3. Explore and learn new media, such as Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media outlets. These are inexpensive ways to spread the word about your company, and they can compliment traditional media efforts such as TV, radio and print media.

4. Make sure that your website is positioned correctly to reflect your competitive advantages and other branding messages. You might want to add a client area to your website, increase search engine optimization, or even redesign your site to reflect what you now offer.

5. Join organizations where you can be seen and heard by other businesses and develop positive one-on-one relationships to grow and nurture what you’re building through other mass media activities.

6. Consider outsourcing your branding efforts by hiring a marketing firm with capabilities to do strategic planning, writing, design, interactive and new media planning. Outsourcing is usually about the same cost of a full-time employee who might have only core competencies in one or two of these areas.

Most importantly, do not stop marketing and advertising your company during this time! Strong, consistent brand messages and graphic elements will wake up your brand and help prospects and customers keep your company top-of-mind. Continue to build your brand awareness so you will stay top-of-mind no matter what the economy holds!

Tweets about this post:
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In this day and age, more and more people are operating their businesses from the comfort of their own home.  If your business requires you to have regular contact with people out-of-state or even overseas (internationally), then your phone bill can be pretty high.  That being said, there is a company called ProxyComm which was modeled on the principle of providing generations of people and business owners alike with the best possible communications services.  Founded by John and Sunshine Peterson, ProxyComm combines the telecommunications industry with the technology industry to  offer advanced communications services to untapped markets.

ProxyComm Products

ProxyComm offers  fantastic call routing and unlimited domestic and international calling plans that are unlike any other calling plans in the market.  Some of the things you’ll get with the ProxyLine service include but are not limited to:

• An additional line for your existing phones
• UNLIMITED nationwide calling
• Great features including: Simutaneous Ring, Advanced Voicemail, Call Screening, Call Recording, Live Call Transfer and Free Directory Assistance

ProxyComm Features

When you’re trying to run and operate a business, the type of phone plan as well as phone features you have suddenly become very important.  After all, the last thing you want to hear is that one of your clients (or potential clients) couldn’t reach you.  Therefore, ProxyComm offers the following features (with more to come!):

• Do Not Disturb- Set your ProxyLine to send calls straight to Voicemail or to accept calls normally.
• Simultaneous Ring- You can haver your ProxyLine ring on up to 4 phones.
• Personal Number Administration- Log in to your account through our web portal and manage your account and service options in real time.
• Caller ID Control- Program your inbound and outbound CallerID numbers used by your ProxyLine through the Personal Number Admin tool.
• Call Recording- Ever wanted to record a call for playback later?  Now you can receive recordings as email attachments just like with voicemail messages.
• Advanced Voicemail- ProxyComm Voicemail includes many advanced features such as a folder storage system, broadcast and forward capabilities, and separate “busy” and “not available” messages.
• Email Notification- Have your voicemail messages sent to you as a sound file attached in an email where you can listen to your messages on your computer, forward them or save them!
• Free Google Directory Service- You get unlimited, free directory listings, powered by Google!
• UNLIMITED Calling- You can use your ProxyLine like a calling card for unlimited outbound calling.  Callers will see your ProxyLine number in their CallerID display, and you will save on long distance charges with our unlimited nationwide calling or with our unlimited International plans.
• Call Screening- Your ProxyLine service comes wth an optional call attendant to answer  your phone and screen your calls with a name announcement.
• Call Transfers- Transfer live calls between any two phones- cell phones or landlines.  Need to run and take the call with you?  Just transfer it from your landline to your cell phone!

From a marketing standpoint, advertising is as natural as putting your pants on in the morning; you don’t even think twice about it.  However, to other people (the consumers), advertising is one of the most annoying things.  It’s an intrusion on our privacy and an unwelcome interruption.  That being said, Evans poses the question: If you couldn’t interrupt people, how would you reach them?

Marketing is tricky.  On the one hand, as a marketer, you want to create a buzz about your product or service with the hopes that it will lead to an increased revenue.  At the same time though, you don’t want to turn possible consumers off by aggravating them.  This is where online marketing comes into play.  Many more businesses are turning to online marketing and advertising because let’s face it; this is where most people spend the majority of their time.  Additionally, studies have proven online marketing to be more cost effective overall than other traditional means of advertising (i.e. television, radio, newsprint).

Building Your Online Reputation

Even if you were at the top of your game and widely recognized as a leader in traditional forms of marketing, switching over to online marketing means having to start from scratch; it means that you have to work on building your reputation all over again because ultimately, it’s your online (not your offline) reputation that drives your desired results on the Social Web.  So how do you go about building your reputation online?  You begin with a quantitative break down how popular you are in some of the following categories:

• ratio of blog comments to your blog post
• unique visitors
• dwell times (how long any one person stayed on your site)
• assessing social commentary about the content on your site (do people like it or hate it?)
• assessing the social commentary related to your product or service (is your website helping or hindering this?)

Other questions that you’ll also want to be thinking about:

• What are you doing to generate awareness about your product, brand or service?
• What channel  is your top performer in terms of return on investment (ROI)? How was it measured?
• Are your strongest touchpoint experiences driven by marketing (the expectation you set) or operations (the product or service you deliver)?

By continuously reviewing and tuning your content based on its use, you are continuously enhancing your relevance to specific audiences and thereby building your social reputation. -Dave Evans

The Main Points According to Dave Evans:

• Social media is most different from traditional media in that it lacks the option to force an interruption:  Your message has to be invited in.
• Social media is fundamentally measurable.
• Social media can be organized as follows:
• Platforms: This includes social networks along with white-label community and forum applications.
• Content: This includes ratings, reviews, photos, videos, podcasts, and similar content that is created and shared on the Social Web.
• Interactions: This includes the little bits of information that flow around through feeds, email, and SMS that tell participants what is going on across the Social Web.

Tweets about this post:
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If you are replacing a wall sconce or a ceiling fan in your house, chances are you’re going to probably look it up online first before heading out to a store.  Not only is shopping online usually cheaper (in a lot of cases), it is also much more convenient!

That being said, when it comes to the Internet and Internet marketing, it seems like everything depends on what Google thinks of your site. And in order to up your ratings on search engines like Google, there are many different elements involved.  For instance, you may consider redesigning your website partially or entirely to be more user-friendly and appeal to the masses.

As part of your ‘web-site makeover’, you may want to consider figuring out what other competitors there are in your industry. Then, come up with key words to focus on sprinkling throughout your content so that it becomes more recognizable by search engines.

Regardless, many companies have seen their business take off despite these rough economic times, and a lot of it has to do with Internet marketing as being something that is valued by business owners around the world.  One such business that is seeing positive results from Internet marketing is LightsOnline.

A Little Light Goes a Long Way

From home lighting to ceiling fans and bathroom lighting, LightsOnline.com has a naturally marketable product.  However,  prior to their involvement with Internet marketing, no one would have even known that they even existed!  Our own Fred Wood (who does a lot of work with programming) did the programming for the 15K item shopping cart.  Both he and David  Williams (SEO expert) have been hard at work with the LightsOnline website and have actuallyhelped to take them  from no-mans-land to 218 on Google for one of their key word phrases- quite an accomplishment for a company that wasn’t even on the map!

We wish LightsOnline continued success as their business continues to succeed.  Additionally, this just goes to show how valuable Internet marketing can be to any business wishing to gain some attention!

Have you ever worked in a work environment that gave you a headache not from the people but from the interior lighting that was used in the office?  As ridiculous as it may sound to some, the kind of work environment that you subject yourself to can actually negatively impact your productivity.

Should the Employer Be Responsible?

Not to say that your employer should hang brass chandeliers or put up fancy wall sconces up, but if you work in a tight office with windows that don’t open, a ceiling fan or two wouldn’t be such a horrible investment.  When you’re trying to get work done in an office, 80% of the battle resides in the lighting- especially if your job requires you to spend a considerable amount of time on the computer.

Improper lighting can lead to eye strain, sensitivity to light, headaches, migraines and increased irritability (which all results in decreased productivity). If you share an office with someone, you may want to see what their opinion is on the lighting situation because while some people may enjoy a fluorescent environment, others prefer to practically work in the dark.  Next, you’ll want to approach your supervisor and discuss the issue with him or her. Never demand that the work environment be changed; rather, simply explain how it is affecting you and your ability to do your work.  If your supervisor cares about his or her business, then they’ll make the best decision.

This post sponsored by: Web Design Raleigh

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It seems like people here are way too happy…

What motivates you to work diligently at your job?  What’s your relationship like with your boss or supervisor?  If you ask any CEO, most will openly tell you that the key to building a strong, successful business begins with being able to trust your employees to get the job done.

Could you imagine what it would be like if an employer couldn’t trust their employees to show up for work or to do an adequate job once they were there? That company would be on the fast track to failure. The following are 3 simple examples of how you can earn the trust of your employer:

1. Be On Time-Nothing pleases an employer more than an employee who shows up bright and early to work because this demonstrates not only the fact that they are self-disciplined but also, it demonstrates their willingness to learn and their determination to succeed in the company.
2. Communication- Being able to communicate regularly with your employer helps keep him or her up to date with what you’re doing so that there aren’t any “surprises”. Additionally, chatting with your boss may open up other channels for discussion to help him or her get to know you better as a person in a non-work-related way.
3. Quality versus Quantity- You can have quality and you can have quantity, but seldom can you get both at the same time.  An employee who gets a ton of work dumped on him or her might be able to handle it, but what sort of quality will it be?  No matter what task that is assigned to you, always strive to do your very best. Even if you fall short on getting everything done, a good employer will be able to recognize the quality of your efforts- which is more important.

A few years ago, an unnamed man walked into a bank on Long Island, NY and withdrew thousands of dollars from an account.  That bank account belonged to my father.  Whether it was the fault of the bank teller for not checking the photo identification of the man or not, the fact remained that this person got away with a form of identity theft.  By pretending to be someone he wasn’t, this person illegally obtained personal information belonging to my father in order to withdraw funds from his bank account.

Identity Theft Protection

Identity theft will affect all of us at some point in our lives. This is why identity theft protection is so important. According to an article published in USA Today, in 2003, approximately 25% of victims said their personal information, such as credit cards, checkbooks and Social Security cards, had been lost or stolen, according to a survey by the Federal Trade Commission.

Since 2003, identity theft hasn’t gotten any better; it’s gotten worse.  No doubt, there seems to be a very clear correlation between identity theft and the increased number of people who use the Internet to do their banking as well as shopping and other business transactions.  For instance, in 2009, the Internet Crime Complaint Center released its latest annual report on victims’ complaints received and referred to law enforcement. From January 1, 2008 – December 31, 2008, the IC3 website received 275,284 complaint submissions. This is a (33.1%) increase when compared to 2007 when 206,884 complaints were received.

10 Tips For Identity Theft Protection [source]

1. Ensure websites are secure prior to submitting your credit card number.
2. Do your homework to ensure the business or website is legitimate.
3. Attempt to obtain a physical address, rather than a P.O. box or maildrop.
4. Never throw away credit card or bank statements in usable form.
5. Be aware of missed bills, which could indicate your account has been taken over.
6. Be cautious of scams requiring you to provide your personal information.
7. Never give your credit card number over the phone unless you make the call.
8. Monitor your credit statements monthly for any fraudulent activity.
9. Report unauthorized transactions to your bank or credit card company as soon as possible.
10. Review a copy of your credit report at least once a year.

For more information about identity theft protection, contact LifeLock today at 1.800.543.3562.