Chris is making my job really easy this week. Here he has a list of 20 free ebooks about social media. I know, I know, it’ll keep you reading all year. But it’s good for you. You might even learn something!

Also check out his Personal Branding ebook for free here.

Happy new year to you all! Ready for a fresh new start?

Readers know that I love Chris Brogan. He has amazing advice for entrepreneurs, both on his blog and in person. So it’s no surprise that as soon as I read his recent post, “My 50 Most Linked to Posts,” I dropped what I was doing (ok, it was a good excuse to procrastinate from my book) and started reading these articles.

For those of you who don’t know, Chris is a the social media guru. I get a lot of great advice from him and try to pass it along. That being said, I demand that you check out these posts. You’ll learn how to use social media for your business,  how to brand yourself, how to promote your blog, and so much more. Here’s a few of the titles to whet your whistle:

• 50 Ways to Take Your Blog to the Next Level
• How to Do More With Less Time
• 100 Personal Branding Tactics Using Social Media

Bookmark this link and read one article a day, and I promise you’ll improve your marketing!

I don’t know about you, but I am SO ready for 2009! Ready to throw 2008 out the window and see better things in 2009!

Last year I posted my resolutions for 2008. I want to review those first and then list my new resolutions.

Resolutions for 2008

1. Increase readership of blog to 5,000-10,000 unique readers per month. While I didn’t quite hit this high a number (I don’t think I realized how hard that would be), I did end up here, on the Sparkplugging network, and that has propelled my blog in ways I couldn’t have imagined.

2. Make blog profitable. Okay, so I’m not making six figures (or even four) from my blog, but I have found profit in unexpected ways, like my trip to BlogWorld, courtesy of Epson, and my fantastic Epson printer.

3. Expand Egg Marketing into marketing coaching, ebook products, and classes. This, I am proud to say, has happened. I’ve developed two ebooks on press releases and email marketing, and have taught several online courses on writing press releases. I have one client that I provide marketing coaching services to.

4. Listen to my husband/business partner’s good ideas for my businesses. I have definitely learned the value of listening to my husband when it comes to solid business advice (we will overlook the Marble Slab snafu, though).

5. Continue to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing this! I met a lot of fascinating people and worked with great clients in 2008.

6. Translate blog readers into Egg clients. This remains difficult, but I did determine this year that my blog readers and Egg clients are two separate markets, so this might not be necessary.

7. Exceed my revenue projections for Egg. Didn’t quite do this, but I added several staff and increased expenses for Egg, which means I can do more fabulous things with my company!

8. Get in touch with my blog readers. The last part of the year, I’ve strove to really connect with you guys. It meant being less stuffy in my posts (and you tell me if you feel more in touch with me as a result).

9. Continue to network, both in person and online. Yes! This is one I can unequivocally say I have done. I’m sure you’ve noticed my transformation into a social networking butterfly! Networking has been the greatest reward this year.

10. Have my business run itself while I relax on a beach in another country! I had to throw this one in last year. Not there yet, but my husband and I have made it our goal that in 2010 we will spend the summer in France.

Keep reading to see what I have in store for this year!

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I got out of this year (a failed franchise, husband working 2000  miles away) and what I want out of next year (money, less stress, etc.). I always try to be thankful for what I do have (health, family, general happiness, a Wii and now an XBox) rather than focus on the negativity, although as we all know, that is often hard.

So take this time with me to look past the economic turmoil (I have high hopes for Obama changing things, as best he can in 2009) and decide what you have that went right in 2008. Maybe you started a business after long dreaming about it. Maybe you grew your current business, like I did Egg Marketing. Maybe you’re ready to launch next year. Whatever it is, open up and be ready for whatever 2009 will bring. I am.

Happy New Year, folks. I’ll see you next year.

A while back, I posted my interview with Steve Yastrow, author of We: The Ideal Customer Relationship and Brand Harmony. I just finished We and wanted to share my thoughts.

Too often in marketing we focus on attaining a new customer. How can we get their attention? What will make them buy? But, as Steve points out in his book, equally important is building a relationship with that client once we’ve attained them.

There’s two ways your clients can think of you:

• Us and them: client thinks of you as having separate goals and needs than he does
• We: client considers you almost an extension of himself, and knows that your goals are aligned

So how do you create a “We relationship?” It’s all about listening. Rather than forcing your agenda down a client’s throat (X Product comes with this feature! This benefit!), listen to what they’re saying and what they need.

Also, be present. When you’re talking to a client, don’t think about your next appointment or the Red Sox game. Pay complete attention to the person you’re speaking to.

In order to create a memorable encounter with a client (or potential), Steve says you must:

• Engage in the Moment
• Create Conversation
• Make it Unique

This is a great book, and I highly recommend it, no matter what your role at your company.

I hope you’re  having a great Christmas (yea, so why are you reading my blog right now??)! I know I am.

If you’ve paid attention, you’ve noticed I’ve gotten really into social media marketing lately. It just gets me really egg-cited! Today I wanted to share with you why I think Facebook is all of that and a plate of sushi.

Now, I’ll admit, early on, I thought Facebook was for kids. My nephews are on there, so why should I put my business on there? Well, try the fact that  there are 41 million unique visitors on Facebook between the ages of 25 and 64. These ain’t kids! Every single one of those people is a consumer, if not a business owner. They want to buy from you!

Here are some of the features on Facebook that I use to promote elements of my business.

• Updates. This is the easiest to use. You can type in what you’re doing for your business (project you’re working on, new product, web link). It’s like a mini press release.
• Posted Items. Here you can post articles/blog posts you’ve written, videos, websites, products.
• Events. If you host webinars (and you should) you can post them here and even get people to RSVP.
• RSS App. I use this to automatically feed my blog posts into my Facebook account.
• Marketplace. Post your products for sale.
• Page. In addition to having a profile of YOU, you can have a Page for your company. Extra SEO boost!

It’s all built in to a single platform, and it’s easy to use, once you spend a little time on it. So why aren’t you on Facebook yet??

I often talk about what to do when it comes to marketing. Here I thought I’d tell you what not to do!

1. When creating a blog,  use the free URL that comes with the WordPress account. People will appreciate you being cheap. Why spend $5 for a unique URL when you can get one free??

2. Spam your Facebook friends. They like getting promotions from you daily. It makes them feel special.

3. On Twitter, by all means, always respond to someone following you with a link to your site. And send them discounts on products.

4. When making friends on networking sites, make friends with everyone. Young, old, American, Chinese, it doesn’t matter. After all, couldn’t everyone benefit from your product??

5. When writing blog posts, write long paragraphs with no breaks. Bold words, bullets and numbers are for suckers.

6. On Facebook, use the picture of you getting drunk on your birthday for your profile. For your business.

7. You’re busy. Just use social networking for promoting your company. Why bother creating conversations?

8.  Just pickone social networking site. You don’t have time to try others.

9. Don’t bother learning more. If you’ve gotten this far, you obviously know all there is to know about social media marketing!

What tips do you have?

Jim Kukral, of Your Pitch Sucks and Biz Web Coach, will be interviewing me on my tips for writing great press releases.  You know how much I love press releases, so I’m egg-cited to share what I know with you!

The call will be Monday, December 22 at 8 pm Eastern. Register for the FREE webinar now!

Why should you attend? Are you getting everything you want to get out of your marketing and PR? Do you have a shoestring budget and want to do your own PR? Then you must write press releases! And I will show you how.

Here is my original post about the shirt.