Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen

Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: BuddyPress 1.0 from WordPress: Create Your Own Social Networking Site

BuddyPress is a free, open source software platform that allows you to run a social network of your very own.

BuddyPress contains all the features you’d expect from WordPress but aims to let members socially interact. All of the new platform's plugins can be themed to match your own style, in just the same way as a WordPress blog.

The BuddyPress plugins are bundled with a default theme to get you going out of the box. As all BuddyPress plugins are independant, they can be used in two different ways. All of the plugins could be used to create a complete social network from scratch, or you could use specific plugins to add desirable features to your existing blog network.

See a demo and download BuddyPress now at:
http://buddypress.org

Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: Tweet Your Google Calendar with Twittercal

Twittercal is a free service that connects your Twitter account to your Google Calendar. Add events in a snap from your favorite Twitter client. Follow the 5 steps procedure to get started.

1. Register for a free Twitter account

2. Add gcal as your friend

gcal is a bot that process and forward messages to your Google Calendar.

3, Grant access to your Google Calendar account: your twitter username and your gmail address

4. Now add any events by sending a direct message to gcal

d gcal meeting with paul tomorrow at 7pm

d gcal meeting with fred on monday, 25th of june at 9am

5. You can follow Twittercal on twitter.com/twittercal

Find out more: http://twittercal.com

Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: Start Your Own Live Talk Show..Free...with blogtalkradio.com

BlogTalkRadio is the social radio network that allows users to connect quickly and directly with their audience. Using an ordinary telephone and computer, hosts can create free, live, call-in talk shows with unlimited participants that are automatically archived and made available as podcasts. No software download is required. Listeners can subscribe to shows via RSS into iTunes and other feed readers. The blogtalkradio.com network has produced tens of thousands of episodes since it launched in August of 2006.

Find out more: http://www.blogtalkradio.com

Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: How to Find a Niche Market

Looking to sell affiliate products on the Web but not sure how to find the most popular niche markets? Jump on the backs of the big publishers who have already done the research for you.

Example: Check out the For Dummies Web site http://www.dummies.com With more than 150 million books in print, covering 1,300+ topics, For Dummies is one of the most widely recognized reference series in the world. Pay close attention to two sections on the site: "Most Popular Topics" (on the HP in the right column) and "The Store" http://www.dummies.com/store.html. If it is popular, and, more importantly, if a book has been published on a particular subject and is in The Store, it is a definite niche. Otherwise, the book would not have been published in the first place.

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HTML & CSS TRAINING: Need to master HTML & CSS? Sign on for Kathy Gillen's online, instructor-led HTML & CSS courses. Learn more

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Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: Sell Digital Products Securely with E-junkie

E-junkie provides shopping cart and buy now buttons to let you sell downloads and tangible goods on your website, eBay, MySpace, Google Base, CraigsList and other websites using PayPal Standard, PayPal Pro, Google Checkout, Authorize.Net, TrialPay, ClickBank and 2CheckOut.

For merchants selling downloads, E-junkie automates and secures the digital delivery of files and codes. If you are selling tangible goods, they automate the shipping calculation and inventory management. The E-junkie shopping cart has a built in sales tax, VAT, packaging and shipping cost calculator.

You can sell ebooks, sell mp3 tracks and albums, sell software, icons, fonts, artwork, phone cards, event tickets, cds, posters, books, t-shirts and almost everything else you want to sell.

E-junkie has no transaction limit, no bandwidth limit, no setup fee and no transaction fee.

For just $5/month, you can have up to 10 different products online for sale.

Sign up for E-junkie today...1 Week Free Trial Available

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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TRAINING: Need to learn how to use social media to market your business? Sign on for Mary Gillen's 2-day online, instructor-led Using Social Media for Online Marketing course. Learn more

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Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: Make Google Alerts & Twitter Tweets Do the Work

If you're having trouble coming up with ideas for blog posts or article content, use Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts to create email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Great for monitoring trends in your industry and for getting that brain matter in your noggin a'rolling. You can also take advantage of TwitterSearch http://search.twitter.com/ to see what real-time topics are coursing through the Twitter service.

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SEO TRAINING: Need to learn the latest search engine optimization tips and tricks? Sign on for Mary Gillen's 2-day online, instructor-led Search Engine Optimization (SEO) course. Learn more

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Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: Marketing Idea - Go the Extra Mile

We've heard of an apartment complex that offers a free weekly car wash to all their tenants. Wonder why their apartments are never empty!

Image: HQ Holden by Jeff Thompson, on display at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand.

Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: Marketing Idea - Stand Up and Get Noticed

Can't afford to exhibit at conferences? Make the most of the question and answer periods during workshops and presentations.

Stand up and ask a question, throwing in a reference about your business.

Example: "As a Web Developer, I would like to know how you think social media will impact your industry." Make sure your question is intelligent and pertains to the matter being presented. This process can help you make more connections.

Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: Custom Backgrounds for Twitter Profiles

Get a Photoshop template to customize your Twitter profile page

If you visit my profile at http://twitter.com/marygillen you will see a custom background that includes more info about me. Go grab the Photoshop template that I used at http://tinyurl.com/59bsjq, compliments of boinblog.com. Merci, Fabrice Epelboin.

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PHP TRAINING: Need to learn PHP? Sign on for Mary Gillen's 2-day online, instructor-led Intro to PHP course. Learn more

Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: Online Video - The Rule of Thirds

Position your subject to the left or right of center

According to Wikipedia, "the rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography and design. The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections."

Keep this in mind when you are shooting your online videos for YouTube. We are all tempted to film the video subject in the center of the frame. As you see in the screen shot above, my niece Emma is looking towards the center of the screen. By positioning the video subject to the left or right of center, you get a much more interesting shot for viewers to look at, and you are following the rule of thirds.

Photo of Emma: David Mankin

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SEO TRAINING: Need to learn the latest search engine optimization tips and tricks? Sign on for Mary Gillen's 2-day online, instructor-led Search Engine Optimization (SEO) course. Learn more