I meant to post this sooner, but Paddy did a really fun interview with me about how I Twitter. Thanks Paddy – I love how clean and well-designed the interview and your blog is.

Thanks to everyone who made 2008 great for Newspapergrl! I know it looks like I’m thanking myself but it’s really me thanking you for your business, contribution, comments, and friendship.

Did you hear about how In-N-Out Burger drew a lot of down-and-out job applicants recently? They opened a new store in Las Vegas and needed to fill about 50 positions. What happened? 1,000 people showed up to apply.

Wow.

If you get the stories from applicants, these aren’t your usual teenagers looking for a minimum wage type of job. They were people behind on their mortgages, people who had stable job histories. The average American down on their luck.

I’d love to ask how the experience went for the applicants but it’s a heart-wrenching story. It’s also an incredible PR opportunity for In-N-Out that I’m afraid they’ve missed (but could still do).

Eventually these people will probably be employed, and In-N-Out can leave a good taste in their mouth right now so they’ll come back to eat there.

Here’s what I think they should’ve done….

• Given each applicant a coupon for a free lunch.
• Call the media and get camera crews to cover the event. Perhaps a plea to other employers to consider some of these applicants or let them know if they’re hiring so In-N-Out can spread the word (perhaps gather email addresses and send out posts).
• Make it into a bigger story about this trend. The local news station could look like heroes. They could do a segment saying here are some candidates looking for a job right now. Perhaps focus on one a day at the end of the newscast.
• Send out a press release about what In-N-Out Burger is doing to help Americans find jobs or beat hunger. Spread the word on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook.
• Donate to an organization that provides food or helps people find jobs or build job skills. Spread the word.
• Put all of this on their blog or web site (it has a flash intro! They need OrangeSoda to help with SEO issues on their site).

I think they passed an incredible opportunity to look like heroes in a sad situation. What do you think?

Today is “bare all” day on blogs, where you’ll get the secret behind some of the biggest blogs in Internet marketing telling what plugins they use.

Andy Beal tells what plugins he uses at MarketingPilgrim (including how to put profile pictures by blog posts).

Problogger reveals what SEO plugins for WordPress you should use.

I have 16 plugins and that are making my blog run slow. Andy says his aren’t slowing down his blog. Oh, and I want even more plugins!

Akismet
Broken Link Checker
enhanced WP-ContactForm
Google XML Sitemaps
HeadSpace2
One Click Plugin Updater (a must have – upload new theme or plugins in 1-click)
Page Link Manager – check a box to show a page in navigation (or not)
Samsarin PHP Widget  – I’m not sure if I added this or not.
Sociable – Digg and the rest of the social bookmarking sites
Subscribe To Comments     2.1.2
Twitter Tools
WordPress.com Popular Posts – I suspect this is a problem
WordPress Related Posts
WP Super Cache

I’d put links but that would take forever at this point. I’m trying to figure out the various causes my blog is so slow. Which makes me just want to Twitter…

He says he’s not addicted, but I don’t believe him. Jesse Stay gets my award for the biggest Twitter addict. I don’t know how long he’s been twittering but he’s got close to 10k updates. In over two years I don’t even have half that.

He was on the CoworkUtah panel and talked about how his addiction led to meeting @guykawaski and @robertscoble. That’s pretty serious.

So here you go Jesse…

If you want to see the Twitter panel, here’s my take, and you’ll see links to everyone who participated. I tried to make my part of the panel in Twitter style, not all stuffy and serious like a lot of panels (read: boring). I talked directly to other members of the panel and audience as if we were friends, just like we would on Twitter.

Ash, and the other panelists could probably also win a Twitter addict award (this goes to each segment of the panel by twitterer).

Give out your own social media award…or make up your own (here’s the funny awards press release – I’ve been working with Larry Weaver on his new book of printable awards.)

Btw, I think I’m addicted to Twitter too. Thanks to h0neyb for the drawing. I bet she’s addicted too!

Last night’s TweetUp at @CoworkUtah was the best. So much energy. Fun conversations. One of the best parties of the year. Check out #cwutah on search.twitter.com to read the response.

I loved the art & the eclectic style. The first thing I noticed was the green martian figurines, trolls, and action figures on display under a blue light. Wait, I think, am I really in Utah?

Friends Nate Moller (@mollermarketing), Jesse Stay (@jessestay), and Ash Buckles (@ashbuckles) were with me (@newspapergrl) on the panel. I got to meet Mick Hagen (@mickhagen) who also joined us and added another dynamic to the group. As he says, he’s on Twitter for the fun of it and doesn’t have an SEM/SEO background. Twitter feeds the ADD lifestyle of short attention spans.

Here are my Twitter rules:

1. Don’t follow everyone who follows you. It’s too easy to lose too much in the crowd. Rather a smaller more connected group than a large anonymous one.
2. Don’t be boring. Add value by tweeting information that people need or are interested in or is interesting.
3. Don’t fill your tweets with @replies or it looks like you only responding to individuals and not doing #2.
4. Sign up for an RSS feed of your company name, your competitiors,  and topics you’re interested in. (use search.twitter.com) Respond to & follow people who talk about your business, including coworkers.
5. Don’t let Twitter take over your life. Meeting people in real life and talking in person still beats twittering (but I like both). Relationships are important and can’t be sustained on 140 characters or less. I don’t twitter on the go – only on my computer. That helps me keep balance (but I still fight to keep present to people next to me instead of tuning them out to be online).

As I said on the panel, to me Twitter is like being in a newsroom, at an airport, or in a big city. There’s a feeling of action, of comings and goings. It’s a charge. Sometimes I want to turn up the volume on my computer so I can hear it all. Twitter makes me feel part of a larger community and gives immediate feedback.

So thanks to everyone who came and is twittering for a great time.

If you posted about the event, please send me the link & I’ll add it to this list:

Mick Hagen: http://www.mickhagen.com/2008/12/12/twitter-thoughts-utah-tweetup/

Nate Moller: http://mollermarketing.com/2008/12/11/what-im-sharing-at-tweetup-utah-panel-on-twitter-cwutah/

I spoke on SEO at a StartupPrincess event a while ago, and met Utah professional organizer Vicki Winterton. I desperately wanted someone to teach me to organize my home better, and she was perfect for the job.

We spent a lot of time getting my place ready to sell and it sold in two weeks in a tough market! In the process I also made a new friend, which is even better.

Vicki recently wrote this in her first blog post on her new site:

I want to thank my website designer and SEO specialist, Janet Meiners Thaeler, for the many hours she invested in my website. We bartered services. I think we both felt we came out ahead. I found Janet to be one of the nicest people I have had the privilege of knowing. She is wise, humble and very skilled. She will always be one of my favorite people!

Thank you Vicki, for making my day!

It’s Christmas time and people are in the mood to give gifts and tips. Money is likely tight this year. Why not ask them to leave a review of your business online instead? Rather than a 1-time thing, this can create leads for your business for years to come!

This applies to the place you get your hair cut (be sure to leave your favorite stylist’s name), where you take your car in to be repaired, and many other local businesses you patronize.

This works even if the business doesn’t have a web site. You can help them get at the top of the list when someone goes to Google searching for a business like theirs. Research shows that people are using search engines sooner and more often than they use the Yellow Pages to find a local business.

First, their local business should be on Google Local. Google Local lists small businesses and is connected with Google Maps. My friend Matt says: “This almost guarantees a first page ranking for your most targeted local keyword.” That means a keyword with a location attached such as “Palaski, New York auto repair shop”.

If you add your business to Google Local it will show up in the list of results for auto repair shops that are close to Palaski New York. It will list your address and phone number and show reviews. You can click, “add review” next to the reviews, and leave your review of the business.

Google Local pulls reviews from other sites. Consider offering an incentive such as $5 off for anyone who completes a review for your business and emails you the link. You can email customers, thanking them for their business and asking them to leave a review. You can also leave reviews on some of the sites I’ve listed below.

Places to leave reviews (these are sites that Google Local pulls reviews from)
TripAdvisor.com
Judysbook.com
InsiderPages.com
Citysearch.com
Virtual Tourist.com
http://wcities.com
Outside.in
Fodors.com
Zagat.com
Goyot.com
Fommers.com

I hear the chorus – when it comes to pitching the media – traditional media like newspapers or tv shows – they want the story. They are sick of pitches that either don’t apply to them, or that aren’t interesting.

Most of the time, it’s not interesting that you named a new CEO or made a new partnership. Your software or product isn’t that interesting (unless you’re Klimit). What makes things interesting is the human element or the story.

Reporters are burned out, stressed out, and many are losing their jobs right now. They don’t have energy and time to read about your news. So what is a PR firm or a company trying to get attention to do? Tell and distribute your own story. When and if you have a story that’s interesting or bigger, then go ahead and pitch.

In the meantime, your audience is a search engine. Or, it’s a social media site like Facebook where you interact with potential customers (or just people) directly. It’s really about being human, responding, and building trust with communities. It’s where someone who specifically cares about your industry, your product, or your company will find you.

You pay a lot for distribution (hiring someone to get the word out to new audiences). You have something to say but no one is listening. You can say it on your web site, but how many people will find it? Some. But if you distribute your news online hundreds of others outlets will see it, you’ll get more exposure. Your news will be interesting to someone and be reprinted, blogged about, or linked to on other web sites that otherwise wouldn’t know you exist.

Or, your news will just sit there until someone looks for it in a search engine. That’s good too. Because search engines don’t get headaches. They’re not overwhelmed or losing their jobs. They have space. Sure it helps to be interesting. But it’s not the same as pitching to media.

When it comes to news, search engines are the holders of information about your company. Traditional PR needs to weed through the news and choose the right outlet. Many stories will go to search engines. Some will get on the news. Clients must change from wanting to see stories about them in the press, to thinking about impressions, traffic to their web site, and direct sales from their news releases.

MarketingSherpa is giving webinar training called “How to Viral Market.” In just two weeks they have over 300 people sign up.

It’s next Wednesday, December 10 at 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.(EST). You have to sign up by Tuesday, December 9th, 2008.

Learn how to start a viral marketing campaign, including:

• How to plan, budget and promote viral campaigns
• What works and what’s next in viral marketing
• 7 Interactive tactics you can employ now

Get New “How to Viral Market” MarketingSherpa Toolkit When you Sign Up

Click below to learn about the presenters and topics. This is for B-to-B and consumer marketing campaigns.