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Social Marketing Mama
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My Registered & Protected Copyright: http://marketingyourbusinesssandpr.blogspot.com/
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skip to main | skip to sidebar Social Marketing Mama Hi, I'm Nic Soto, your Social Marketing Mama! Ok, so you have a business idea, perhaps selling your prized handcrafted jewelry,family recipe or your unique fashion designs. Yet, no real buzz has been generated about YOUR business, no-one has featured you, traffic is pretty much non-existent and you're starting to wonder how in the world can you market your business on a low budget? Well, you've come to the right place. Sunday, October 11, 2009 Promote Your Business URL Here - Free! Anytime there's an opportunity to get more exposure for free its a good thing!Promote Your Business URL Here - Free! Posted by Social Marketing Mama at 12:27 PM 0 comments Links to this post Labels: free business directory, get listed on business directories, how to get in business directory Saturday, October 10, 2009 He's baaaaaaack! My home office sits near back of the house, and every so often I see a gopher foraging in our yard. I know, some of you hate them, others think they're cute!I don't mind him coming around, as long as he doesn't leave a mess...lol.I snapped a few photos....I know, I should have more pressing things to do..but hey. It's SATURDAY! Posted by Social Marketing Mama at 2:23 PM 0 comments Links to this post ...need a little advertising? GREAT NEWS! I know a lot of you are needing some low-cost but effective advertising to get more customers coming your way, and with PPC and CPC being so expensive we decided to cut our own rates for logo ads. No monthly/annual fees. One medium logo ad on our home page right side, permanent placement for just $45.We also reach tons of customers as we host a business shopping directory here, and of course receive visits from media. So for anyone looking to save big and get their business some extra exposure, especially during the upcoming Holiday season, and really who doesn't need that right! Send me a direct message on twitter.com/mamapr or through our company site here. If you are needing a large column ad, pay just one flat rate of $75, also permanent with no additional fees. Think about how much you pay now! Posted by Social Marketing Mama at 8:50 AM 0 comments Links to this post Labels: affordable advertising, cpc, need low cost advertising, ppc Friday, October 9, 2009 Suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome For many it can put the brakes on your life. While I am not a doctor, I chose to seek out natural remedies to the symptoms that I experienced. But I do recommend that you see a doctor if you feel that you have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or starting a new exercise program. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is different for everyone, but I'll share what worked for me. I was also diagnosed with ADHD... lucky me!I had it all, from pain in my legs and joints to sleepless nights. Headaches that made me want to cry..and sometimes I did. To depression, mood swings, anxiety, panic attacks and that's just the half of it. While I'm not 100% free of all symptoms I have been able to alleviate most of them, and rid myself of the others. My journey started several years ago, overweight and highly depressed. I wanted a change, and it had to begin with a commitment to myself.Losing weight was my first priority (some of you may not be overweight...but keep reading as I discuss the other challenges I faced), and boy did I have a lot of pounds to lose. Over 145 pounds, which took 2 years to lose.My obesity kicked my hormones out of whack, and everything from my mood to how I felt physically was affected by it. I began with books. Seems simple enough, but the best avenue to seeking out solutions to your problems is your nearest bookstore, library and yes. The web.Losing weight was only one part of the problem, but as the pounds came off it was like a light bulb had went off in me. I began to see me for the first time. While my weight contributed to a lot, I had other symptoms that I needed to fix.Below is what I changed/added in my life to help deal with CFS. I hope you can take away from this, and benefit as well.Everything from my obesity, mood swings and headaches:Foods - Removed unhealthy junk foods that made my hormones go nuts. I started eating whole grains, soy, wheat germ (this really helped with my energy), fruits and nuts. Including foods rich in calcium, fiber and Omega 3 oils. I did start taking vitamins such as B Complex which has several benefits including helping with energy. I knew that if my body was healthy and given the right nutrients that I would start to feel better.Watch out for food products with high fructose syrup, corn syrup and so forth. Processed foods, foods high in fat and sodium. I know, you're probably shaking your head thinking .."then what can I eat?". Believe me, once you get the knowledge picking the right foods will become second nature. I happen to eat organic foods, and despite what people think about Wholefoods, its not impossible to shop there and find deals. Wholefoods sells its own store brand organic foods called 365, and are quite affordable. My typical day of meals/snacks: Use Sparkpeople.com for weight loss/meal ideas.Breakfast - 1 cup Irish steel cut oatmeal with 2-4 tbs wheat germ, 1 tbs natural honey, 1 cup soy or almond milk. Topped with 1/2 cup blueberries and/or 1tbs chopped nuts. Snack - low carb yogurt, 4 oz of a homemade fruit/vegetable smoothie, low fat string cheese, or 1/4 cup nuts. Lunch - Fish/Chicken (size of your palm, cup of green beans, 1/4 cup wild rice. Or Boca burgers with a whole wheat bun and baked sweet potato fries.Snack - low carb yogurt, 4 oz of a homemade fruit/vegetable smoothie, low fat string cheese, or 1/4 cup nuts. Dinner - Salad with grilled chicken, hearty low sodium/fat soup, or hummus and pita chipsAgain, you can see more ideas at sparkpeople.comI started learning yoga to help with the aches and pains. This also helped with my focus.Listening to relaxing instrumental music like the sounds of waves, rain, etc. Meditating daily. Putting myself in a relaxed state so my mind and body was given a chance to relax helped with anxiety and depression. Depression was further helped with regular exercise, or walks outdoors. Keeping a journal helped track when the depression would come on, and what I was doing at the time.When feeling a panic or anxiety attack is about to come on I would sit down in a quiet place (if no place to go I'd listen to my nature tapes in my desk) and concentrate on my breathing. I would place my hands down by my side and simply focus on my breathing. Sometimes counting to 100.For headaches I started doing this: Take Clove Oil - I use Now Foods CLOVE OIL (make sure you are not allergic!). I take a medium bowl of very warm water, not scolding hot, and add 3-4 drops of the clove oil. I take a clean bathroom towel rag and submerge in the bowl for 1 minute. I ring it out and place on the back of my neck for a few minutes, then repeat the bowl process..ring and place on my temples.Sleep was a huge challenge, but preparing for a good nights sleep really helps. I also made sure that I didn't eat right before I went to bed. I went out and purchased a new pillow, eye-mask and even one of those machines that play soft music or sounds. It's important to be as relaxed as you can to help with the process, so having these things helped. Meditating, doing 15 minutes of yoga or simply laying in bed with your eyes closed and visualizing yourself sleeping and focus in your breathing becoming more and more relaxed. Sounds crazy but it helps.It took a little time, but it helped a great deal.Today I am virtually pain free, the headaches rarely come around, I no longer crash from fatigue, I have less bouts with my depression, and those pesky anxiety attacks are more controlled.Have a question, feel free to ask!May peace and harmony find you. Posted by Social Marketing Mama at 7:20 PM 0 comments Links to this post Labels: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, symptoms Thursday, October 8, 2009 Me and PR Go Way Back Back in 1998 I was still in film production, marketing and freelance writing on the side hoping to break into a bigger pool of opportunities helping aspiring filmmakers turn their script ideas into actual films. I soon realized that many lacked the business side of the industry and had no idea on how to market their film or even generate media attention to help get some buzz going on their work. I volunteered to take on this task on several small projects and started calling in contacts from freelance writers, local media to editors who I met through previous jobs, and who could possibly mention or even feature them. To my surprise and delight I got many call-backs.The film industry in Chicago wasn't as active as it was in New York, California or even Miami so I figured why not test the waters in public relations and see where that could take me as my number priority was keeping food on the table and having the funds to pay the bills. After a couple of years I was starting to get regular calls from prospects who needed help with PR, reputation management, writing press releases and getting them out to the right people. Everyone from authors to up and coming artist to small business owners looking for a way to get themselves on the map. I needed more job stability, and grew to like this type of work. So I stayed with it, and glad I did.Helping people reach their dreams is a great feeling, so I started focusing more on PR and using my online marketing skills along with contacts I had made over the years to start my own little marketing and PR company called, Public Relations Depot.Our services allow entrepreneurs to compete with bigger companies, without having to invest thousands of dollars. It's a win-win situation.I'm very proud of the work I have done, and feel honored to have worked (and continue to work!) with such talented and aspiring people. This is no longer a job for me, its my career, my second love if you will. No entrepreneur wants to put up a "Going out of Business" sign, so my job and focus is to help prevent that.I genuinely want to see each of my clients reach their goals and live out their dreams. Their success, is my success. Advice for OthersAdvertising can only take your business so far, while I don't count it out completely, today's marketing involves more engagement with consumers which can be achieved through effective Public Relations, and SEO (search engine optimization) to help reach more targeted online consumers actively searching for your products. Utilizing these strategies will help your business grow - to ignore these vital components could mean trouble for your business future down the road. With a lot of patience and persistence you will reach your goals. Posted by Social Marketing Mama at 10:20 AM 0 comments Links to this post Labels: advertising, business, clients, dreams, goals, internet, marketing, marketing company, pr, press release distribution, public relations, sales Tuesday, October 6, 2009 Is your site designed well? Helpful Tips for Effective Web DesignUse these tips to enhance your site, make it easier to load and look more professional. 1. How fast does your site load - This is something that every website designer should follow. You might design a website that looks great but few people are going to see it if it takes a long time to load. Your website designs should be optimized for the web and should not take more than 15 seconds to load. Remember, you might have a great design but very few people are going to see it if it takes a long time to load. 2. Easy to navigate - Once a visitor has come to your site you need to make them go through your site. To do this you need to have clear navigation. Make sure all your important links are at prominent places. Preferably right on top - that's usually where a visitor first looks. Make use of menus on the right and the left. Try to link to as many pages of your site. Let your information be accessible from all parts of the site. You never know what a visitor may be interested in. Try to also use the footer for your important links. 3. All Resolutions - Today, there are computers with all kinds of resolution. They range from 640 x 480 to 1024 x 768 and go even higher. Your job is to design your site for all these resolutions. The best way to do this is to design your site in terms of percentage and not pixels. 4. Browser Compatibility - Make sure your site is browser compatible. Your web site should look good in Netscape as well as in Internet Explorer. Don't stop designing your site as soon as you find that it looks great on IE. Usually Netscape gives some problems, especially when you try doing complicated HTML designs. But don't give up too soon, usually with patience these problems can be easily fixed. 5. Readable and professional looking fonts - Don't ask me how many times I've clicked out of a site just because the font is in Comic Sans and the color is a bright pink or green. Just by looking at the font you feel that the site is not a professional site. Don't use Comic Sans and other fancy fonts that may not be available on most computers. If the font you use is not available in a visitors computer the web site will use the default font of your computer which is much worse. So try to keep to common and professional web fonts. 6. Minimize the use of images - I believe that sometimes simple designs are the most effective for the web. Keep your site simple but neat. Don't clutter your page with big, bulky images that take ages to load. Instead use tables creatively and design eye - catching icons that will draw a visitor's attention to a particular section of your site. Tip - Visitors are usually more interested in content than in design. 7. Use of white space - Try not to clutter up your page with too many images, backgrounds and colorful fonts. Again use the Keep It Simple principle by minimizing the use of graphics and using a lot of white space. White space gives a sense of spaciousness and overall neatness to a site. Notice the white space in our site at www.prdepotchicago.com 8. Check for broken links - Always check for broken links within a site before uploading it to your web server. In Dreamweaver you can check for broken links by right clicking on any file in the Site Files Window and then clicking on Check links - Entire Site. resource:entheos Posted by Social Marketing Mama at 2:21 PM 0 comments Links to this post Labels: broken links, designing a website, how to design a website, website design Nothing better than warm and delicious pumpkin and apple soup 1 red onion, chopped2 apples, peeled and chopped1/2 pumpkin, peeled and chopped1 cup of stock + hot water1/2 tsp of nutmeg 1. Brown the red onion in some oil in a pot. 2. Boil the kettle for your stock. Make up stock and add to the pot. 3. Add the pumpkin, apples and nutmeg. Add more hot water to cover all the ingredients. 4. Gently simmer until the pumpkin and apples are soft, about 30 minutes. 5. Remove from the heat and blitz well with a hand blender or food processor. Add more stock until you have the consistency you want. 6. Season with salt and pepper.Serves 4. Posted by Social Marketing Mama at 9:58 AM 0 comments Links to this post Older Posts Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) About Social Marketing Mama Niccolinas Soto is a founder and the CEO of PRDepotChicago.com, a U.S. based marketing firm whose innovative Search Engine Optimization services, and online PR campaigns help small and new businesses increase their visibility, traffic and sales. Employing a staff of 8, the firm's business comes from around the world, with clients from every industry. Offering inexpensive rates to small business owners. e-Public relations | PR campaigns | SEO services | Social and Online Marketing | Website Design Consulting www.prdepotchicago.com Thank you for visiting my new blog! View my complete profile Share This Blog on Twitter! Share This Blog Subscribe Subscribe Share My Blog Posts Atom Posts All Comments Atom All Comments Facebook Badge Nicci Soto's Profile Technorati Profile My Blog List 4-legged.com/ Blog About.com Scandinavia Travel Cooking nurse Cooking With Hip Hop Cooking... by the seat of my Pants! Delightful Divas In Business Earth-House-Hold Eco Fashion, Beauty, Health and Travel News Eco Interactive Costa Rica ecozenboutique's blog Etsy Twitter Team Focus Organic.com Food Couch Go Green Travel Green The Metsy Team Blog by Mixed Media Etsy The Peach Tree Follow me on Twitter.com Helpful Links American Business Women's Association Entrepreneur.com Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) PRDepotChicago.com Small Business Administration Books: Business & Investing Blog Archive ▼ 2009 (16) ▼ October (9) Promote Your Business URL Here - Free! He's baaaaaaack! ...need a little advertising? GREAT NEWS! Suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Me and PR Go Way Back Is your site designed well? Nothing better than warm and delicious pumpkin and... Subscribe to my Blog = FREE Business text listing... Do you want fries with that? ► September (4) Carrots, Eggs & Coffee - May We All be Coffee Making it a Pot Roast night! There's always time to stop and smell the roses...... Losing those pounds for good... ► August (1) How to best design your website and selling succes... ► April (2) Top 30 Perfect Places for Your URL I ask.... 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