Phyllis Zimbler Miller's Blog: Phyllis Zimbler Miller Author, page 68

Blast From the Past: Summer 2000 Websites

In cleaning out some old files I came across papers of mine from August 2000 when I worked for a website company.

One of the found documents was a content style guide I had written for a client's website. The rules included:

"Proper names must be capitalized."
"All text should be in 12-point font."

The papers also included a flow chart that I had created for the navigation of this client site. Before creating that flow chart, I had studied the usability writings of Jakob Nielsen (see

How to Get More Mileage Out of Older Blog Posts

It's not a good social media strategy to flood your updates with the link to the same blog post over and over again.

But there is an organic strategy for re-sharing certain blog post links:

Let's say you have a recipe blog and three weeks ago you wrote a blog post with your favorite recipe for pumpkin pie. Of course at that time you shared the link to this post on the different social media sites on which you are active.

Now imagine that you baked a pumpkin pie today for your family's dinner. ...

Using Social Media to Promote Your Restaurant

For the past year my husband has been hearing about the build-out of an elegant restaurant in Beverly Hills (California) from the owner, who also owns the lunch place across the street from my husband's law office.

And when I spotted a coupon from Groupon.com for the restaurant, which is Da Vinci at 9737 N. Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills, my husband bought the coupon to try out the restaurant.

We did so on June 30th to celebrate 30 years from when we pulled into Los Angeles with my...

Update on Paulette Ensign's Genius Tips Booklet Promotion Opportunity

As I've written in previous blog posts, Paulette Ensign offers an incredible way for 13 other people to market your business (or book) for you — the marketing power of 14.

If you haven't read about this amazing opportunity, read about it now.



And here are the people/companies already signed up for this opportunity:

Originator of this booklet (me) whose business is social media
President of allergy relief night-time air purification system who uses social media to promote his...

How to Create a Facebook Like Box for Your Website

Facebook used to call it a Facebook Fan Page and people would "fan" the page. Now it's a Facebook Page and people "like" it. Ok, so you know this. But what about that Facebook Fan Box that's currently in a text widget in your sidebar?

Have you noticed that it doesn't load most of the time anymore? Facebook is (not-so) secretly telling you it's time to switch to a Facebook Like Box.

Here's how to create a Facebook Like Box (comes in two forms — iframe and XFBML):

1. For both forms: Log...

How Do You Quantify Social Media?

I am always taken aback when people ask how I quantify how much business revenue using social media has translated into for a company.

Social media is a relationship-building endeavor. It's being willing to put yourself out there in public on the Internet and interact with potential customers/clients while sharing worthwhile information.

Can you quantify how many times a person/company interacts with you before buying your product or service?

A comparable question might be:

Can you...

Using Social Media for Customer Service to Create Raving Fans

I'm a huge fan of the deceptively simple book "Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service" by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles, which first came out in 1993. Although this book was written before the days of social media, the book is as relevant now as it was in 1993.

In fact, the book may be even more relevant today as a blueprint for how social media can be used to deliver exceptional customer service and create raving fans.

For a client or customer, no part of a business...

Failure of Imagination: Marketers Who Want Social Media to Disappear

A marketing colleague of mine reported to me a conversation he had with a national company's marketing executive who is "old school."

Reportedly the person – we'll call him Sam – said that most people in business do not see social media as something that adds value to their current offering. According to Sam, they use social media simply because it is there and their competition is using it.

But it's what he apparently said after this that boggles my mind:

"Most marketing people, myself...

Making WordPress Websites as Easy as Possible for People

Miller Mosaic Power Marketing is a huge advocate of WordPress websites/blogs because, once the site is up and optimized, people can mange the site themselves.

Yes, there are a few things to learn, just the way there was the first time you used Word. And then using Word became like second nature to you.

Yael and I have been working on how to make it easier for people to say yes to getting a WordPress website and then how to make it easier to become comfortable using their WordPress website.

...

Frugal and Focused Tweeting for Retailers Book Is for Everyone

Carolyn Howard-Johnson's new book "Frugal and Focused Tweeting for Retailers: Tweaking Your Tweets and Other Tips for Integrating Your Social Media" is for everyone – not just retailers – who wants to use Twitter more effectively to promote a brand, book, cause or business.

Carolyn's years of experience as a writer and retailer make this book a cornucopia of information on how to use Twitter to promote a retail store – and by extension the examples can apply to almost any endeavor.

This book...