You might think your smartphone is cool just because you can tweet, email, google, check in at the airport, or check in at your local YMCA (my YMCA is looking at implementing this.) But really, it can do and be so much more. Chances are you already have a whole slew of apps on your phone already. The question is…are they adding to, or taking away from, your productivity?

Whether you use an Android or iPhone, you can download many third-party applications to help you stay on task, remember what you need to do or what you agreed to, and generally keep yourself organized so you don’t waste valuable time.

Here are just a few apps to check out. Please note, I’m not saying these are the only ones, or even trying to get you to purchase these. I do not make any commission if you do. I’m just passing along some useful information.

1.      Evernote: Evernote allows you to take and organize notes. Not only can you access your notes from your phone, but with an Evernote account, you can use them from anywhere with an internet connection. The app itself is free and offers 40 MB of storage space, but you can upgrade to 500 MB of space for $5/month.

2.      ReQall: This is another to-do list app with both free and premium versions. For scheduling convenience, it syncs with your Google and Outlook calendars, and allows you to keep text and voice memos and reminders in a synced account. Also, you have the option to automatically convert your voice memos into text notes.

• The “Pro” version is $24.99 annually. Additional functionalities available with ReQall Pro include location-based note taking.

3.      Jott: Jott takes voice notes and transcribes them into texts that you can post to a variety of web interfaces including Twitter, Google Calendar and Facebook. It also offers a Jott.com account and a desktop application so that you can leave voice notes and transcribe them for later use.

• The application is free on its own, but the account is paid. The basic Jott subscription is only $3.95/month, and the pro account is $12.95/month. There is also an “a la carte” version that offers five minutes of recording time for $6.95.

4.      Air Sharing: With Air Sharing, you can drag and drop a variety of different document types between your phone and your personal computer. Basically, it enables your phone to function as a wireless, portable USB drive with which you can view, edit, and store your documents.

• Air Sharing offers a standard version for $2.99 and a pro version for $9.99. With the pro version, you can print from your phone and remotely access files on your computer.

5.      Timewerks: Timewerks helps you track how many hours you’ve spent on a variety of different projects when you’re working for clients. You can even invoice your clients straight from the app! There’s also a stopwatch feature that runs in the background and allows you to track how much time is spent on each activity.

• Using this app, you can export your invoices to your computer. Also, it integrates with Credit Card Terminal software, which enables you to accept credit card payments through your phone.
• Timewerks is $9.99 for the full version. However, there is a free, “lite” version that offers all of the same functionality, but only for one project at a time.

What apps have you found most useful for enhancing your productivity? Share in the comments below.

No related posts.

Well, yes…and yes. And that’s the beauty of the folks behind WordPress development. The core contributors and the entire open source community are constantly making it better and better (such as with the last essential security update).

So…f you want a preview of what’s in store with WordPress 3.1 – a sneak look at all the cool new features, join the FREE Walkthrough Webinar on Friday, January 7th, 12noon Eastern time.

Related posts:

1. Are You Ready for WordPress 3.0?
2. Mobile Apps to Boost Productivity
3. Did you know that on average a tweet is only retweeted 1.4 times?

But if you’re like most people, you’re confused by all the SEO talk…which keywords, when do I use keywords, what about meta tags, yadda yadda…..It can be overwhelming.

Really, the best way to get known online is to be engaging in meaningful discussion with people who are in your desired market. On other words, talk to the people who are talking about the things or services you are providing.

When you are engaged in conversation about things your market finds meaningful, they will begin telling others about you – linking to you. Therein lies the beauty. Not only are you adding value, it is BY adding that value that you gain incoming links.

Sounds pretty obvious, doesn’t it? Well, it is, but most people are going about it the hard way, creating everything from scratch. There is a very cool way to leverage the conversations already going on in your marketplace to gain natural, virtually effortless links.

The program I’m studying for this, and I hope you will, too, is Link Liberation.

I’ve been following these guys for some time and am always impressed with how clever they are, as well as how “above-board” they are. If you’ve heard the term “black hat” strategies, it refers to sneaky, and sometimes outright unethical ways of doing business. These guys are 100% white hat. There are so many honest, fairly easy ways to build your search engine ranking and online presence, that it’s a waste of karma to use the questionable ways.

So…check out Link Liberation.

And, if you join me in the program – which means signing up via my link (yes, that is an affiliate link for the program), I will give you 2 hours of free consultation time. You can use this time to have me customize your WordPress site, or even help you put the pieces in place that you’ll be learning in Link Liberation. Just remember you have to register via this link to get the extra bonus. Link Liberation

Can’t wait to experience Link Liberation with you!!

Related posts:

1. SEO and the Blog Advantage
2. Keywords & Blogging, Part 4
3. Creating Content that is Relevant for Readers and Search Engines

WordPress 3.2, scheduled for release in Spring 2011, will be the first WordPress release that drops PHP 4 support. The planned minimum supported version for the WordPress 3.2 release is PHP 5.2.

What does this mean for you?
If your server/hosting company is not running at least version 5.2 of PHP, things will go kaflooey (a technical term) when you attempt to install or upgrade to WordPress 3.2.

Our friends at iThemes to the rescue…again.

They have developed a quick and easy tool to help you discover whether the server your site is running on is ready for WordPress 3.2. It does this by looking at the information returned by your server. If your server doesn’t identify the PHP version being run, instructions for an alternate method will be provided.

Test your PHP version with the iThemes tool.

If you are using Hostgator, the hosting company I recommend, you are probably all set with the correct version of PHP, but it is still a good idea to check just to make sure.

Related posts:

1. Are You Ready for WordPress 3.0?
2. It’s Alive It’s Alive!…WordPress 3.0 is here
3. Cool changes coming with WordPress 3.0

Well, what I mean is Twitter is rolling out some new features that make it a more effective way of connecting with people – learning about them as well as sharing more of yourself.

Features such as:

• an easy way to discover new content.
• the ability to view mini-profiles, so you can get to know someone’s profile at a glance, rather than having to click over to their profile (and away from what you are currently viewing).
• view photos, video, and other media content – right there on your own profile. Easy-peasy.
• and, of course, a fresh new design.

All of that is fun, of course, as well as savvy on the part of the Twitterverse leaders. By adding these new features, you are more likely to spend more time on your actual twitter profile – since it’s now more helpful – and perhaps less time on all the various third-party services you may be using.

Savvy concept.
And in terms of marketing wisdom, take a look at the video they are using to promote the new twitter. Fun, fresh, and definitely makes you want to take a look.

What could you learn from this for your own business marketing?

Thought about creating a video? Kim Doyal’s video marketing program and Rob Schult’s Video Profit Pipeline are both top notch.

Watch Twitter’s new video and share what ideas you get for your own business in the comments below!

What do you think?

If you want to create your own video, definitely check out Rob’s Video Marketing Pipeline and/or Kim’s Video Marketing Program.

Related posts:

1. Did you know that on average a tweet is only retweeted 1.4 times?
2. Video Marketing – upcoming program you must check out
3. Viral Videos – why they fail, and what to do about it

Have you looked at your site on a smartphone? If not, I encourage you to do so.

Some of the problems you run into are error codes, unreadability, excessive scrolling required, and confusion on the part of the reader. If it’s not easy for them to find what they are looking for, they’ll go somewhere else.

If you don’t use a smartphone, you probably don’t know what I’m talking about. If that’s the case, go to the high school student or Gen Y professional next door and get them to show you. You might be surprised at how clunky your site is on mobile devices.

The folks at iThemes and PluginBuddy – my favorite resource for WordPress themes and tools – have developed a plugin to make it super easy to create a smartphone-ready version of your site.

“Mobile” is a professional WordPress plugin that allows you to easily build an iPhone version of your site in minutes using the built-in style manager, mobile-ready themes and custom header uploader.

No, the mobile version of your site won’t look exactly like your website, but that’s the point. You want it lean, easy to navigate, and easy to see what is most important without having to scroll around too much.

To make the setup even easier, this premium plugin, which is currently only $45 for use on a single site (quite the steal!) has:

• starter themes – so you don’t have to create anything from scratch
• custom header uploaded – so you can make a smaller version of your header for instant recognizability for your mobile readers
• mobile style manager – which makes it super easy to match your colors, fonts, headline styles, etc. to those on your site, keeping your branding consistent and in perfect order.

The Mobile plugin includes Smartphone and Mobile Platform Support for …

* Android Devices
* Apple iPad
* Apple iPhone
* Apple iPod, Touch
* BlackBerry Device
* LG Phones
* Motorola Phones
* Nintendo DS
* Nintendo Wii
* Nokia Phones
* Opera Mini Devices
* Palm Devices
* Sony Ericson Phones
* Samsung Phones
* Sony Playstation Portable
* Sony Playstation 3
* Windows CE Device, Mobile IE
* Apple Safari (desktop; for development)
* Google Chrome (desktop; for development)
* Microsoft Internet Explorer (desktop; for development)
* Mozilla Firefox (desktop; for development)
* Opera (desktop; for development)

If you need help setting this up, let me know.
My guess is you won’t, though, since it’s such a piece of cake!

Related posts:

1. Mobile Apps to Boost Productivity

Conscious Business Tribe

Here’s the brief description from the Conscious Business Tribe website:

Has blogging lost its zing for you? Are you new to blogging and looking for a strong start on the mechanics and the mindset? Join us for a conversation on:

• What to write about to keep your readers coming back for more
• Where to find juicy topics your audience, and search engines, will love
• Creating headlines that hook your readers into engaging your content

Make blogging easy, natural and fun. You’ll not only look forward to blogging, but your blog will have an authentic flair that will serve your readers, build your list, and position you as an expert, etc.
Read about the Conscious Business Tribe to see if it’s for you.

Remember…if you don’t have a blog or site set up yet, I can make it a snap – often having you up and blogging within hours. I help business owners and leaders design and implement practical, effective search engine optimization strategies that fit your individual lifestyles…which means you have more time to be and do what you want.

You know…less worry. less hassle. more blogging.

Related posts:

1. Top 4 Reasons Businesses Should Be Blogging
2. 9 common blogging mistakes and how to avoid them.
3. Keywords & Blogging, Part 3

If you are, I’m right there with you. I use a little video here and there, but haven’t learned all the specifics.

Like you, I’ve heard how important it is to use video in my marketing – and on my blog – but honestly, most people still aren’t doing it.

Do you know why?

It’s because we don’t know how to do it….or, we think it must be really complicated…and mostly because we don’t know where to start.

I’ve seen probably 20 different people try to explain why video marketing is important and how to do it the “easy” way. Only none of the info was what I would call “easy”.

I’ve recently learned that it’s actually quite straightforward and doesn’t require thousands of dollars of equipment and software to get going. And wouldn’t you know it…I learned it from one of my own mentors!

Kim Doyal, one of my favorite WordPress experts (and not JUST because she featured my other site, PersonalGrowthPrincess.com as one of her highly recommended ones) is sharing some new information and secrets about video marketing.

In this video, Kim Doyal, aka The WordPress Chick, shares some staggering facts about
WHY you need to using video to drive traffic to your site and increase sales!

She’s also written a free report which explains why you don’t need to be Steven Spielberg
or spend tons of money to get started! (That’s my kind of plan.)

Check out the free video and report here:

Let me know what you think!

Don’t get left behind because you’re not using video.

Related posts:

1. New Twitter Features – Easier & More Exciting to Use! [video]
2. What do physics and marketing have in common? [video]
3. Viral Videos – why they fail, and what to do about it

WordPress 3.0 is live and rarin’ to go!

If you’ve been a bit out of the loop, here’s a post I wrote about some of the cool new stuff coming in 3.0.

And of course you’ll want to be ready for it – so make sure you take a look at the tips I gave for preparing for the transition.  Specifically I recommended using a plugin that helps with the backup process, so you won’t lose any valuable info if things go a wee bit kaflooey.

You’ll probably want to take a look at the official release announcement for a thorough understanding.  There is a video from Matt Mullenweg giving a “State of the Word” address, so you can understand where this release fits into the history. You might think that would be too geeky, but truthfully it is really fascinating, particularly given this is all done via open source, with volunteers. Pretty impressive.

And if you’re impressed, and grateful, that you get to use such impressive and constantly improving software for free, consider a donation to the WordPress Foundation.

Here’s a video that demonstrates the newest features and functions of WordPress 3.0.
If you have any questions, please let me know.

Oh, and if you are using the themes I recommend, from iThemes, or any of their plugins, you are good to go for 3.0.  [superemotions file="icon_cool.gif" title="Cool"]

Here’s the video:

Let me know what you think!

Related posts:

1. Are You Ready for WordPress 3.0?
2. Cool changes coming with WordPress 3.0
3. Are you ready for WordPress 3.2?

Actually, WordPress 3.0 will be super-exciting and I can’t wait for it to get here. There are some major changes that will make it easier for the average WordPress user to modify their sites, but if you generally aren’t an “early adopter”, then you may want to wait for the first revisions to 3.0. It has gone through painstaking testing, but once it is out among the millions of users, there are sure to be a few glitches found.

So what do you need to do to get ready prior to WordPress 3.0 being released?

First, if you are not already updated to version 2.9.2, then update lickety-split. (By the way, if you are not using 2.9.2, the latest version that was released 4 months ago, then you are most definitely not an “early adopter”.) While not all hosting companies will make 3.0 immediately available, you want to be in control of what version you upgrade to when. If you make sure you are on 2.9.2 now, you won’t have to worry about jumping from 2.5 to 3.0.)

Second, update all your plug-ins – even the ones that you currently have deactivated. There’s always the chance that you could run into a snag updating your plug-in after 3.0 comes out. If you update now (as in asap), you can rest assured that you have the latest version that works with version 2.9.2.

And third – as always, make sure you are backup your site on a regular basis.
But not just the database – which only includes pages, posts, comments, custom fields, categories, and tags – you also want to back up all your site files on the server.
(For just the database, log into your dashboard, then go to Tools>Export. You will save the export file to your hard drive.)

To back up your entire site, some hosts, like hostgator, have a wizard to walk you through the process in the admin panel (cpanel) – remember you’ll be saving the backup to your hard drive, so remember where you save it.

Or you can use a plug-in like BackUp Buddy.

If you take care of at least those three tasks, you’ll be sitting pretty when 3.01 comes out. [superemotions file="icon_cool.gif" title="Cool"]

Curious about what’s coming? Read about some of the changes with WordPress 3.0 in this post I wrote, or check out  WordPress.org.

Related posts:

1. It’s Alive It’s Alive!…WordPress 3.0 is here
2. Are you ready for WordPress 3.1?
3. Are you ready for WordPress 3.2?