Planninga from Nanninga: A Strategic Planning Blog: Strategic ...

THE STORY
Let?s say that you are the coach of a sports team.? Your biggest game of the season is coming up, so you devise a masterful plan beforehand on how to win the game.? After writing up the plan, you become very proud and say to yourself, ?This is a brilliant strategy.?

Yet, when it is just before game time, you tell the players on your team, ?Each of you go out there and individually do whatever you think is right.?? So that is what the players do during the game.

And I?m sure you know what the result would be.? There is no coordination among the players or agreement about what to do.? As a result, they suffer a terrible loss.

THE ANALOGY
There is a reason why sports teams have coaches and why those coaches develop game plans.? Without the coach and the game plan, the players on the team would play in a random, uncoordinated fashion.? They would have no success.? Yes, they may all individually be great athletes, but if they are not executing a common strategy, they will fail.

To win in sports, you need more than just great athletes.? You need a plan to win and a coordinated execution of that plan.? For example, a great pass is only ?great? if there is someone who knows it?s coming and is in the right place and ready to receive it.? And that only happens if it is planned and practiced.

As the saying goes, there is no ?I? in TEAM.? It is about working a common plan together.

This may sound obvious for sports teams, but it appears to be less obvious in the business world.? There is a great movement to ?empower? the people on the front lines of business.? The idea is to just give them the proper tools and get out of the way.? Let them do whatever they think is right.

Sure, the gang up at headquarters may have some fancy strategic plan enshrined in some book or Powerpoint deck.? But if the people on the front lines aren?t aware of the plan, or not trained in what the plan means for them, or are told to just ?do whatever you think is right,? then that plan is worthless.? You become just like the coach in the story who designs a great strategy but doesn?t use it while the game is being played.? That type of planning is worthless.

Yet this worthless approach seems to go on quite often in the business world.? Those designing the strategy and those executing the strategy rarely interact.? They may talk about the strategy once a year at an off-site location nowhere near where the actions of the business actually takes place.? Yet, the rest of the year, when the daily execution of decisions takes place, the topic of the strategy is rarely ever brought up.? This creates a disconnect between what the company says and what the company does.

And you know what?? It is what you do on a daily basis out in the marketplace which determines your success, not what is dreamt up back at headquarters.? So if you want to win, you need the team to be playing the game you designed beforehand.

THE PRINCIPLE
The principle here is that the real strategy is not what you say, but what you do.? What you say is just an idea.? By itself, it has no value, no impact on one?s success.? Instead, it is what you do which impacts your success, because it is the only thing that gets played out in the marketplace where the battle is fought.

Therefore, if you want to win, you need three things:

1. A winning game plan (a great strategic plan).

2. A team capable of executing the plan (the right skills, infrastructure, investments, competencies, supply chain connections, etc.).
3. A team that has been coached so that they have the knowledge, ability and desire to execute the plan while the game is being played.?

We?ve talked a lot about the first two points, so we will focus the rest of the blog on point #3.?

You cannot execute what you do not know.? If a player does not know what is expected of them, it should not be a surprise when they do not do what you want.? If the only people who know the strategic plans are the executives on the sidelines, then don?t be surprised when those on the front lines of the business do things contrary to the strategy.

Yes, you may have great, caring, action-oriented people in your company who want to the right thing.? But if there is no consensus on what is right, then they will all be doing different things?none of them evil per se, but none of them coordinated to build upon each other to deliver the plan.

Therefore, make sure everyone knows what the plan is.? You probably even want your customers to know what the plan is, so that they can hold your people accountable to it.? Heck, why not tell the whole world, including your competitors what your plan is.? If it?s a well designed strategy and your people are executing it well, it shouldn?t matter.

Vince Lombardi, the great coach of the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s, said that he wanted his teams to execute so well, that even if the opposing team knew exactly what you were going to do, they still couldn?t stop you.

Wells Fargo has created success with a superbly executed plan to win via cross-selling.? Now it?s one thing to say ?we will win via cross-selling.?? It?s another thing to have a sophisticated plan executed everywhere in the organization to pull it off.? As Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf put it recently, ?We could leave our strategic plan on an airplane and it wouldn?t matter. ?It?s all about execution.?
So don?t be afraid to tell the whole world your strategy, especially the people who have to execute the strategy.? And do it often.?

And do it specifically.? In sports, each player not only needs to know the overall game plan, but the specific game plan for their position.? Have you told everyone what is expected of them as their part of the game plan?? Do you even know what each person?s part is in executing the plan?? Shame on you if you haven?t broken down the strategy to a level where people can see where they fit in.? Don?t assume people will figure it out on their own.

Knowing what is expected does not automatically imply that you can flawlessly execute the plan.? That is why sports teams practice between games.? Through instruction, training, repetition and feedback, the players become better at their role.? That way, when game time comes, they are better able to execute the plan.

This same principle applies to business.? Don?t just tell people what is expected.? Help train them so that they can better execute on what is expected.? How many businesses have employee training programs specifically developed around strategic goals and objectives?? You?d fire a sports coach who didn?t train his team to execute the plan.? Why should we settle for less in business?

Every day, there are dozens, if not hundreds of decisions being made by each person in the organization.? Are each of these decisions helping to promote the strategic intent or are they moving in a different direction?? The strategic coaches cannot be there when every one of these decisions are being made, so the coaches need to train everyone so that it becomes a natural reflex to decide in the direction of what?s right for the strategy.? Have some training sessions where you go through common situations, to help everyone see what the best decisions for action are. ?

Finally, one needs people on the team who want to execute the plan.? You need team players who buy into the culture, buy into the objectives, and buy into the general strategic approach for achieving those objectives.? Effective leadership can help build up that desire.?

Unfortunately, we?ve all seen great athletes who are not team players.? They tend to hurt, rather than help performance.? Are you willing to deal properly with those who don?t have the desire to be a team player??

But What About Improvising and Adjusting? Now we all know that the future is uncertain.? Things will happen that we did not anticipate.? But that is not an excuse to stop planning and stop trying to connect execution to plans.

Sport events have the same problems.? Unexpected things happen.? Perhaps a key player is injured, or the opposition is stronger than you anticipated.? That doesn?t mean teams abandon planning and play randomly.?

No, instead sports teams make adjustments to the plan.? They don?t totally abandon their macro plan, because they are stuck with the players and the training they already have.? But mid-game they adjust the plan to make it more suitable for the game of the moment.? And if they were trained well, they have practiced some alternatives for just such occasions.

The same is true for business.? It is okay to adjust the plays mid-game (adjust, not completely throw away).? And if you have practices various scenarios in advance, you are ready to adjust quickly when the scenario changes.

Finally, the idea of empowerment is not a totally bad concept.? In fact, it is mostly a good concept, especially when things are changing.? But it needs to be empowerment bounded by strategic intent.? In other words, one is free to improvise as long as it is consistent with the overall strategic imperatives for that individual.? The sports analogy would be that a player can adjust their play as long as it is consistent with the game plan for their particular position on the team.?

And the more you train and practice the strategy, the better that improvisation will be.

SUMMARY

Your real strategy is not what you say, but what you do.? Therefore, any strategic planning process needs to emphasize strategic execution?doing the things which move the strategy forward.? In order to accomplish this, one needs to do three things:?

1. Have a great plan.

2. Have a team capable of executing the plan.

3. Have a team that has been coached so that they have the knowledge, ability and desire to execute the plan while the game is being played.?

This requires making sure everyone knows the plan (and their part in it), is trained to do what is needed to execute the plan, and has the desire to play their part.

FINAL THOUGHTS
How often do?your strategy people ever get out in the field to see the game in action?? You wouldn?t dream of leaving the coaches at home when a sports team goes out to play a game.? Is it any less wrong to never let the business strategists be at the game in the marketplace?

Source: http://planninga-from-nanninga.blogspot.com/2013/01/strategic-planning-analogy-483-execution.html

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Panasonic Thinks People Want to Add Widgets to Their TVs

Panasonic thinks that you want to personalize your TV with a home screen populated with widgets. They also think that you want to draw on the TV using a gigantic pen. Seriously. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/H4SSSB4Zsq4/panasonic-thinks-that-people-want-to-add-widgets-on-their-tv-updating-live

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PFT: Seahawk, Redskin make peace after scuffle

Rob Parker, the ESPN commentator who was suspended for 30 says after questioning whether Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III is authentically black because he has a white fiancee, says he was surprised by the backlash.

Parker said on Flashpoint on Channel 4 in Detroit that he didn?t expect the reaction he got.

?I can?t believe it, Parker said. I mean, looking back at some of the comments, I can see how some people can take it out of context and run with it, but the response, and what happened over the past 30 days and everything was just shocking,? Parker said.

For Parker to now suggest he was taken out of context is surprising, considering that Parker issued an apology three weeks ago. If Parker were simply taken out of context, he would have nothing to apologize for.

But Parker did apologize, and ESPN has also acknowledged that it was wrong not only to air Parker?s comments but to re-air them on Best of First Take later on the same day that Parker made the comments. The decision to re-air the comments and give them the ?best of? seal of approval was not Parker?s, and Parker indicated that ESPN knew even before the program what he planned to say about Griffin.

Asked if ESPN producers knew what Parker would say about Griffin, Parker answered, ?Yeah, for the most part.?

?I mean, we had a discussion ? a pre-production meeting. Not every single word, but they knew which way we were going and it?s just not off the cuff, obviously,? Parker said.

And it?s the ?embrace debate? format of ESPN First Take that Parker said is the reason the show succeeds. Parker said that such comments on a less popular show wouldn?t have yielded such a big controversy.

?It also shows how big and popular a show First Take is,? Parker said.

So while Parker may not be happy about his suspension, his comments show why ESPN likes the attention.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/07/trent-williams-richard-sherman-make-peace/related/

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Chinese protesters stage rare censorship demo

Kyodo News via AP

A protester holds aloft a banner that shows freedom of speech near the headquarters of Southern Weekly newspaper in Guangzhou, Guangdong province on Monday., Jan. 7, 2013. A dispute over censorship at the Chinese newspaper known for its edgy reporting became a political challenge for China's new leadership as protesters called for democratic reforms.

By NBC News staff and wire services

GUANGZHOU, China ? Scores of supporters of one of China's most liberal newspapers demonstrated outside its headquarters on Monday in a rare protest against censorship, backing an unusual strike by journalists against interference by the provincial propaganda chief.?

The protest in Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province, came amid an escalating standoff between the government and the people over press freedom. It is also an early test of Communist Party Chief Xi Jinping's commitment to reform.?

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Negotiations between journalists and officials, whom the protesters held responsible for replacing a New Year's letter to readers that called for a constitutional government with another piece lauding the party's achievements, continued into the night, a senior journalist who asked not to be named told NBC News.

Police allowed the demonstration outside the headquarters of the Southern Group, illustrating that the Guangdong government, led by new appointee and rising political star Hu Chunhua, wants to tread carefully to contain rising public anger over censorship.?

The protesters, most of them young, laid down small handwritten signs that said "freedom of expression is not a crime" and "Chinese people want freedom."

China Nobel winner Mo Yan likens censorship to airport security

Many clutched yellow chrysanthemums, symbolizing mourning the death of press freedom.?

"The Nanfang (Southern) Media Group is relatively willing to speak the truth in China, so we need to stand up for its courage and support it now," Ao Jiayang, a young NGO worker with bright orange dyed hair, told Reuters.?

AP

Security guards stand near protest banners as flowers are laid outside the headquarters of Southern Weekly newspaper in Guangzhou, Guangdong on Monday.

"We hope that through this we can fight for media freedom in China," Ao said. "Today's turnout reflects that more and more people in China have a civic consciousness."?

Could expand
Chen Ziming, a Beijing-based political analyst who spent years in prison for his involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, said the protests could get worse if authorities ignore the protesters demands.

"I am concerned ? that the leaders concerned may not have the boldness and the capability to push for more reform," he told NBC News. "If the problem is not handled properly, there is the danger that it will expand and worsen."

The attention paid to the protest domestically also highlights the unique position of Guangdong, China's wealthiest and most liberal province and the birthplace of the country's "reform and opening up" program. In a symbolic move, Xi chose to go to Guangdong on his first trip after being anointed party chief in November.

Mo Yan's Nobel win celebrated -- and panned -- in China

"That this is happening in Guangdong, a trendsetter?of China?s reform, is cause for worry," Bao Tong, the highest ranking party official sent to prison for sympathizing with the 1989 pro-demoracy movement, told NBC News.

"If Guangdong regresses, then it will be a setback for the reform pioneered by Xi Zhongxun," he said, referring to the father of new Party chief Xi Jinping who was once Guangdong?s governor.

Revelations of vast fortune held by Chinese leader's family may hurt Communist Party image

Talking to NBC News by telephone from his Beijing home where he remains under virtual house arrest, Bao said China?s new leaders recently called for protecting the constitution and rule of law.

"What the journalists did was to support the call of the new leaders, and the leaders should be happy, not unhappy," he said.

Several open letters have circulated on the Internet calling for the Guangdong propaganda chief, Tuo Zhen, to step down, blaming him for muzzling the press.?

Special coverage of China: Behind the Wall on NBCNews.com

Photographs on microblogs showed banners that said "if the toxin of Tuo isn't removed ... Guangdong will be castrated."?

"Not since the time of reform and opening up and the founding of China has there been someone like Tuo Zhen," Yan Lieshan, a retired veteran editor at the Southern Weekly newspaper, told Reuters by telephone. "He's too arrogant. He has gone overboard and constantly violates regulations."?

Xiao Shu, a former prominent commentator at the Southern Weekly, said Tuo required that journalists submit topics for him to approve and that he yanked issues that he disliked.?

Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei goes 'Gangnam Style'

"These details illustrate one problem: that he has established within the Guangdong media a system of prior censorship of the press," Xiao said, calling for Tuo's removal.?

Chinese Internet users already cope with extensive censorship, especially over politically sensitive topics like human rights and elite politics, and popular foreign sites Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube are blocked.?

China shut the website of a leading pro-reform magazine on Friday, apparently because it ran an article calling for political reform and constitutional government, sensitive topics for the party which brooks no dissent.

NBC News' Eric?Baculinao and?Le Li, and Reuters contributed to this report.?

More world stories from NBC News:

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Source: http://behindthewall.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/07/16392545-chinese-protest-outside-newspaper-gates-in-rare-censorship-demo?lite

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Discover The Best Weight Loss Tips Now! | reflexvision.net

Keep healthy snacks available at home, at work and on the run. Buy a large, lidded container that is made out of plastic. Some of the snacks that you should invest in are carrots, berries and celery sticks. Lay out the veggies in the container over a layer of ice with a little water and store them in the fridge. You will always have a handy snack on hand which is easy to grab and go!

Losing weight does not need to be difficult. It is something anyone can do, if they are willing to give it a little patience and determination.

There are many diet pills, on the web and in stores, that claim to be magic. You should avoid using them. They provide little to no proof of having any positive effect and may even have addictive properties. The businesses that make them do not give enough information on how to make a good choice, therefore it is best to shed weight naturally.

TIP! Start a food journal to track calorie intake. If you keep a record of what you eat, you can overcome mistakes that you may have not kn own about otherwise.

Fill up on low calorie foods that are high in fiber so they fill you up. Having a salad, soup, or low-calorie vegetables such as tomatoes or carrot sticks before a meal will help you feel satisfied so you?ll eat less of the high-calorie main courses. Drinking water prior to eating does the same thing.

Unhealthy food is often appealing because it is associated as a ?comfort? food. Look for situations or problems in your life that create a stronger desire to consume these comfort foods. Instead of eating these, look for a healthier alternative to make it through your trigger.

TIP! A simple tip to help you lose weight is to drink milk before you eat your meal. Milk helps you feel full, so you will not eat as much during meals.

Keep track of the calories you consume. Go out and purchase and cheap spiral notebook or journal. You can then use the notebook exclusively for your dietary habits. Write down whatever you eat, the calories contained in the food, and the serving amount. Doing so will allow you to assess your progress and monitor your eating habits so you can make adjustments as needed.

When you must choose between salad and soup at a restaurant, choose clear soup or a salad. A healthy soup or salad before your meal will help cut down how much you eat of the main dish.

TIP! Get a solid plan for managing stress. Stress is one of the biggest causes of obesity, as people use food for comfort.

As you start altering dietary habits in order to achieve healthier eating, focus your initial efforts on portion size reduction before addressing calorie counting. These days, many people?s concepts of a healthy diet are overly focused on details like specific ingredients or chemicals. The truth is that portion control is the key to healthy eating. Just eating less food is enough for most people to make a significant improvement in their diet.

Cardiovascular exercise is the key to successful weight loss. Called ?cardio?, cardiovascular exercise includes running, speed walking, biking and a lot of other activities that increase your heart rate. Once your heart rate climbs and stays elevated, you are in peak fat-burning mode. Think about getting at least thirty minutes of cardio around four days per week.

TIP! Be sure to get enough rest. Experts tells us that a typical adult needs roughly eight hours of sleep each night.

A little fun time in the bedroom is a great way to burn some extra calories. Sex can lower your craving for poor food choices. Plus, you can work off many calories during a sexual encounter. Actually, when done properly, you can shed 150 calories in 30 minutes from sex.

Do not keep losing weight a secret or else you will not have the pressure from others when you are tempted to fail. Friends and family help you stay motivated and can be encouraging on your journey to weight loss. They might refrain from giving you drinks and foods that they know will be bad for your program.

TIP! You could illustrate the progress that you make easily by taking photos of yourself before and after you lose weight. This will give you a clear picture of your accomplishment.

It is recommended that cardio be done in the mornings before breakfast for maximum weight loss. Research has shown this method burns 300 percent more fat and calories than doing your exercise at some other time of day.

As your weight loss continues, go through your closet and donate clothes that are now too large for you to Goodwill. This will help you feel proud of your accomplishments, and increase your confidence in your abilities to continue to move forward. It helps provide the motivation needed to maintain your size or take off some inches off.

TIP! If your ultimate goal in exercising is fat loss, it?s best to focus your exercise efforts on cardio exercises. This will increase you heart rate and help you burn more calories than weight lifting and other resistance exercises.

A good way to help maintain the proper weight is to not eat a few hours before you go to bed. Although it is easier said than done, not eating food before going to sleep is not helpful towards losing weight because it ends up not being able to get burned off. Try to stay active after dinner, and you will have an easier time steering clear of snacks.

Don?t just choose food blindly; read the nutrition facts panel on every food item you buy. The most important thing to note is how many calories are in each serving of a food item. It?s important to check the serving size to account for all of the calories you consume. Monitor the levels of sugar and carbohydrates listed in the chart.

TIP! When shopping at the grocery store or supermarket, try to stick to the perimeter of the store. These aisles contain the more nutritious and healthy foods, like fresh vegetables and fruits, as well as lean meats and dairy.

Be skeptical of low-fat and low-calorie labels. Most of the time, although these foods may have a lower amount of calories or fat, they may also not have enough vital nutrients or they could have harmful chemicals in them which impact your body?s metabolism, which makes losing weight harder.

Run down the beach to burn calories while watching the beautiful view. Running at the beach is harder than running on concrete or grass due to the sand?s added resistance.

TIP! Focus on a 2000 calorie daily diet, and make sure to plan in advance what your meals and food choices will be to avoid the desire to snack on things you shouldn?t. Look at the nutritional value of every food you eat, make sure you are getting a wide variety of vitamin rich foods so all your bases are covered.

Increasing your exercise, and decreasing the amount of food you eat, is the best combination for weight loss success. Boosting your metabolism and eating fewer calories will assist your body in burning fat.

If you want to lose weight, stay away from processed foods. Not buying processed foods can help you become more aware of the foods that you are buying and the ingredients that are in them. Look out for high fructose corn syrup, sodium, trans fat and other unhealthy ingredients.

A great way to lose some pounds is to only wear tight fitting clothing. If you are overweight, you may want to distract yourself and others from the weight by wearing baggy or loose clothing. Wearing tighter clothes can make you more aware of your body.

TIP! One way to promote weight loss is to eat at scheduled times each day. When people eat at the same time everyday, they tend to look forward to their meals, they are also less likely to indulge on snacks.

If you are trying to get healthier, stay away from the popular fad diets. Extreme diets are a risk for your health, especially ones that seriously limit your daily nutritional intake. It?s very common for a fad diet to emerge on the weight loss scene, flourish for a brief period, and then disappear almost as quickly as it appeared. While they may induce quick weight loss, these diets are never a long-term solution for your waistline.

Cutting fatty, greasy foods out of your diet can have positive results for your skin as well as your waistline. There is research supporting the implementation of a low fat, high-protein diet. The healthy balance of natural skin oils can be disrupted when you eat a lot of high fat foods and sweets, creating problems for your complexion.

Many people have stopped using the word ?diet? for good reason. Think of your goals as eating healthier rather than as some drastic measure to lose weight.

If you work, bring a healthy lunch and snacks with you. This goes double if you plan to work overtime. You don?t want to come home and binge because you haven?t eaten enough during the day. Without these healthy snacks at hand, you might eat junk food instead, which is never good for any weight loss plan.

You probably know the importance of exercise in losing weight. Plan at least three sessions a week, and target a 40 to 60 minute window. Put exercise into your schedule, whether it be after work or in the morning, so you burn stress as well as fat. Stick to your diet and exercising: you should lose start losing weight within weeks.

One good tip for those new at losing weight is to just start small. Focus on one thing at a time and gain momentum as you go along. Trying to fix everything about yourself at once is not a good plan.

Don?t replace what you eat, instead replace high fat ingredients in your recipes with those that have lower fat. Take a peek at all of those fatty recipes you are used to and think about how you can make them more healthy. Avoid butter, replacing it with vegetable oil spread. Rather than using sour cream, go with plain fat-free yogurt. You don?t have to live without your favorite foods; just modify them to fit into your dieting plans.

While dieting, try to make pasta-free spaghetti. For this recipe you?ll need some veggie meatballs, tomato sauce, and oregano. This is a tasty and much healthier alternative to spaghetti. You can create many wonderful meals with healthy ingredients.

Mashed cauliflower makes a healthy substitute for mashed potatoes. The recipe is quite simple. All you need to do is cook cauliflower florets with a bit of chopped onion and water in a pot that is covered until tender. Once it is tender, puree the florets with veggies or with some chicken bouillon and seasoning to taste. You will create a yummy side dish for suppers including all the nourishing capacity of the cole varieties (including cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and others) with a small amount of carbs.

You need to view unhealthy, fattening foods differently that you do what you should be eating when you want to lose weight. If you do decide to indulge in a high calorie treat, limit its size and savor every bite. While savoring every bite of the chocolate, you will enjoy the complimentary flavors of the accompanying fruit and nuts. This will leave you feeling satisfied with the indulgence and more full because of the accompanying food.

As you can see, there are various tricks to help you lose weight. Hopefully, you recognize that it?s a very feasible undertaking, and, as long as you keep at it, it can reward you in so many ways. Try some of the things you have learned here, and research more, and soon you will have an arsenal of techniques that work for you.

Source: http://reflexvision.net/discover-the-best-weight-loss-tips-now/

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Using Social Media to Promote Your Business | SEO Alien

I don?t think it would be to out of line if I said that the goal of any businesses ?is to make money. The most common way of most businesses to make money is the result of selling of a particular product or service. However, to sell that product or service you need to let the general public know that you exist.

Click for Social Media Tactics

Let?s face it, a customer cannot buy your product or service if they do not know that your product or service exists. That is why, as a business owner, you have to advertise your business. One of the simplest, most affordable ways to market your product is through Social Media.

When most business owners think of advertising, many business owners will literally cringe. Is this you? There is a good chance that you are because many advertising methods cost money. As a business owner, it is hard to spend it that hard earned money, right?

Unfortunately, if you believe that all forms of advertising take money, you are sadly mistaken. Although you may have to spend money to make money, there are ways to promote your business and the products or services that you sell without having to spend any money at all.

Is your curiosity peaked yet?

There is a good chance that it is, rightfully so. One of the ways that you can promote your business is online, without having you having to spend a dime, with something that is readily available online. That thing is an online social networking website.

?A large number of internet users, in fact millions of them, belong to at least one social networking website.?

When it comes to social networking, most will think of Social Media as online friendships or online relationships. While these types of relationships may very well be the most common, did you know that social networking is also used for businesses? In fact, that was originally how social networking got started. If you are a small business owner, especially one that operates an online business, there is a way that you can use social networking sites to your advantage.

Is Social Networking All Friends and Relationships?

Although social networking websites are traditionally focused on those that would like to make online friends or develop online relationships, there are networking sites that are designed for business owners. These websites will not only allow you to share your business information with other business owners, but it will also allow you to develop close relationships with those that share an interest that is similar to yours. Essentially, this means that you could not only learn valuable business information, but you could also walk away with a new business partner or a new friend.

As previously mentioned, social networking websites with a focus on businesses, are a great way to promote your business. However, this does not mean that you should completely forget about the other online social networking websites, the ones that are designed to make online friendships. Although you may not learn any valuable business tips by joining Linkedin, ? Google+ or Facebook, you may be able to get new customers and new customers is exactly what your business should want and need, right?

If you are looking to join an online community, you will need to create your own profile or profile page. If you are planning on joining a traditional social networking website, to gain access to millions of potential new customers, you are urged to be careful when making your online webpage or profile. One thing that internet users hate is being solicited for business.

This does not mean that you cannot use social networking to your advantage; it just means that you need to be careful with how you do it. Instead of creating a only Facebook profile, create a Facebook business page as well . Instead of only a Google+ personal page, create one for your business. Of course,?you are advised to make personal page and that is where you can also include information on your business.

By joining a social networking website, especially the ones that are popular and have a large number of members, you should be able to generate interest in your business, including the products or services that you sell.

Who knows, but that interest generated could turn into sales; thus making your social networking experience more than worth it.

?

To Your Success!

About the Author:? Always taking advantage of the latest Internet Marketing possibilities, Mike Barnes has become recognized for his Search Engine Optimization abilities as well as his innovations using Social Media, Text Message Marketing, QR code Marketing and Mobile Website Design and Marketing. For more Online Marketing Techniques and Affiliate Opportunities, visit member.seo-alien.com?and earn 100% commission on first month referrals!

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Source: http://seo-alien.com/articles/social-networks-promote-business/

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Cancer: By the letters. | Scribbling of Thoughts

I recently received devastating news that a friend from mine from college, a wonderful, beautiful person, had passed away at 30 years old from a battle with cancer. Having heard about her journey and also having seen it closely in my family, I decided to write a nice little description of the word, letter by letter, as to what my feelings were on the subject.

C: Cruel. A ruthless disease that often hits extremely healthy people for absolutely no reason.

A: Asshole. (You are one, Cancer.) Plain and simple, no explanation necessary.

N: Never-ending uncertainty. For the one with cancer, of course, and their family, their significant others, and their friends. Always hoping for the best. What will be that next result of surgery? What will be that next result of a PET Scan?

C: Courage. I?ve never seen more courage exuded in those that I?ve seen fighting this bastard battle, more strength than an angry shark. These people are pure inspiration to help you deal with your own trivial bs.

E: Enigma. Why, we all wonder, why does this hit this loved one that we are close to? Why do they have to go through hellish treatments, surgery, doctor?s appointments, etc.? Mystery.

R: Retaliation. What we all need to combat this horrendous disease. Yes, we can keep fighting for newer treatments and better cures. But in the meantime, volunteer. Visit those who are in need. Keep your loved ones optimistic and strong.

Be well and hug someone you love tonight.

Just a little bit of my opinion. You can like it more on www.facebook.com/scribblingofthoughts

Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/scribbling-of-thoughts/2013/01/cancer-what-i-think-of-you-a-7th-grade-style-acronym/

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