Dennis J. Smith

Google provides air passengers free Wi-Fi for the holidays

November 9, 2010

Passengers enjoy free Wi-Fi for the holidays November 20, 2010 through January 2, 2011 Here’s a great way to stay connection while traveling this holiday season. I had a chance to use GoGo Inflight Internet on Delta last year. Bring your laptop and stay connected while 30,000 feet above planet earth. Read more below. This holiday season, Google Chrome has teamed up with AirTran Airways, Delta, and Virgin America to offer free Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi on every domestic flight from November 20, 2010 through January 2, 2011. These participating airlines have outfitted their entire domestic fleet with Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi, and we expect more connected passengers this holiday season than ever before! Just bring a Wi-Fi enabled laptop or mobile device and stay connected to family and friends while you travel. More information: http://www.freeholidaywifi.com/press http://www.gogoinflight.com http://gogo.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=59

Book Trailer–“Promote Your Business Or Cause Using Social Media

October 29, 2010

Promote your Business or Cause using Social Media is a handbook for beginner’s interested in using social media to grow a small business or take any cause to the internet. Learn how to create a blog, start a blog radio show, upload videos to YouTube, Tweet on Twitter and build a fan page on Facebook with social apps and even eCommerce. Purchase your copy today for just $7.95 through CreateSpace or Amazon.com: CreateSpace ““ Order Now Online Amazon ““ Order Now Online -Available in Paperback and Kindle – Learn how to add a shopping cart to your Facebook fan page and sell product right from your fan page. – Learn how to get your own personal Facebook URL. – How to get started with WordPress and your own blog. – Twitter Tips! About the author: Dennis has been creating websites and browsing the web since the days of Netscape 1.0 while living in Seattle, Washington. His technology background goes back to the days of the Commodore Vic 20 and 64, Pong and Pac-Man. He later turned his passion for technology and web design into a love for Internet Marketing, blogging and now Social Media. He is the owner of IgniteHost and GreenHostUSA website hosting, search engine optimization and social media consulting located in Boise, Idaho and writes the tech blog GigaDroid.com for the popular Android phones. During his free time he enjoys road trips back to Seattle, exploring Idaho, microbrews, great coffee, sharing his knowledge with friends and Facebook acquaintances.

3 Social Media Tools To Grow Your Business

October 15, 2010

Here are 3 tools that are free and will help you grow your business through social media. There are many other applications out there and they appear and disappear as social media changes and evolves. I like these 3 listed below for their ease of use and little set-up time. Please feel free to leave a comments about the tools you use or if you use these. RSS Graffiti for Facebook Simplify your social media marketing with this free application available on Facebook. RSS Graffiti will automatically publish your RSS feeds to any of your Facebook Fan Pages. Setup is easy and and takes less than 10 minutes to establish. You can schedule how often RSS Graffiti updates your wall, set publishing limits and can even publish to Twitter. I use it to publish articles from my WordPress blog to my Facebook Fan Page. Then Facebook automatically send out a Tweet to my Twitter followers that alerts them of a new post on my blogs. Payvment E-Commerce Storefront If you are looking to sell product online with little upfront cost Payvment is the answer. Payvment is a free shopping cart application for Facebook Fan Pages and uses PayPal to process payments. Set-up is easy and most can have a storefront up and running in 1-hour or less. Visit the Facebook Fan Page of Pioneer Soap Works to see what an actual storefront is like. All In One SEO Pack WordPress Plugin This is a must have tool for any business with a hosted WordPress blog. All In One SEO is a free plugin that optimizes your blog for better search engine results. This application gives you better control over the optimization of your post, pages and site home page. Therefore your chances of moving up in search engine results increase. Easy enough for beginners yet fully customizable for those with a little more SEO background. Content by Dennis J. Smith ““ Social Media Author

Social Media Search Engine Taps Into Facebook

October 10, 2010

Here’s a search tool that you can use to see what people are talking about on social media sites. WhosTalkin is a great way to find out what others are saying about your business or your field. Just type in your search term and WhosTalkin will search all the social media site for matching conversations and return results in a few minutes. Social Media Search Engine, WhosTalkin, Recently Integrated Facebook’s New API, Giving The Search Tool Unrepresented Reach. Pawleys Island, SC (Content by PRWEB) October 5, 2010 Social media search engine, WhosTalkin, recently integrated Facebook’s new API, giving the search tool unrepresented reach. WhosTalkin is a social media search engine that searches real time conversations from around 60 different social media gateways. Adding Facebook, marks a significant step for the almost 2 year old search company. Along with the Facebook addition, WhosTalkin, is also launching a new aggregation engine, a new real time metric, and the ability to export results directly from the search tool. Joe Hall, founder and CEO says, "We knew that in order to integrate Facebook, we would need to change the way we aggregate data to facilitate large scale searching." As a result, WhosTalkin has launched a new aggregation engine that now powers their service. Hall says, "We are very happy with initial test." The new engine will allow WhosTalkin’s developers to easily add new social media gate ways over time. "The social web is constantly changing, so we wanted our new system to be able to change and grow with it." says Hall. The new aggregation engine has opened doors for Hall to launch other features as well. "We are also launching a new metric that we think gives a very accurate picture of the level of conversations in social media." states Hall. TalkRank is a new unique metric that gauges the level of conversation in social media. TalkRank is different than other social media metrics because its based on live data. Users can continually check TalkRank to monitor trends. Along with the new aggregation engine, the search tool now also allows for instant exporting of results. The search results can be directly exported into Microsoft Excel. In the future the search company plans to provide other formats. ### For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebsearch/facebook/prweb4592424.htm

New Look and Features Coming To Twitter This Fall

October 4, 2010

If you use Twitter to promote your business get ready for a a change this fall. Many people like Twitter because its minimalist design and easy of use. But as the site grows Twitter is looking for was to maintain its lead as a social media powerhouse. Do you visit the website or just post your Tweets? Here’s a video Twitter release to YouTube showing some of the upcoming changes: What do you think about the planned changes? Helpful? Here’s more information on the upcoming changes provided by the folks at Twitter. New design You will now find @mentions, retweets, searches, and lists just above your timeline ““ creating a single, streamlined view on the left of the screen. On the right, you can see the features you’re familiar with, including whom you recently followed and who recently followed you, favorites, and Trending Topics. View photos, videos, and other media content Now, it’s easy to see embedded photos and videos directly on Twitter, thanks to partnerships with DailyBooth, DeviantART, Etsy, Flickr, Justin.TV, Kickstarter, Kiva, Photozou, Plixi, Twitgoo, TwitPic, TwitVid, USTREAM, Vimeo, yfrog, and YouTube. Discover related content When you click a Tweet, the details pane shows additional information related to the author or subject. Depending on the Tweet’s content, you may see: @replies, other Tweets by that same user, a map of where a geotagged Tweet was sent from, and more. Mini profiles You can click a @username to see a mini profile without navigating from the page, which provides quick access to account information, including bio and recent Tweets. Follow @Twitter Rollout timing These changes will roll out as a preview over the next several weeks. During the preview, you’ll be able to switch back and forth so you have time to grow accustomed to the way things work. Eventually, everyone will have the updated version of Twitter.com. So what do you think? Think Twitter has something good coming down the pipeline or do you think that things should be left alone? Feel free to contribute and leave a comment below. Posted Dennis J. Smith with content by Twitter

5 Must Have Social Media Plugins for WordPress Blogs

October 1, 2010

With the explosion of Social Media many bloggers are discovering the power of sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz and LinkedIn to name a few. With WordPress plugins you or your readers can share your blog postings with others just with a click of the mouse. Here are 5 plugins for Social Media that I think are the must haves if you are serious about promoting your business or cause. Update: Some of these plugins have been discontinued or have not been updated by their developers. WP FB Like With the exploding popularity of Facebook this is a must have plugin because it post to the king of social media. WP FB Like is easy to setup and will add the Facebook “Like” Button at the top and bottom of all your post or pages. When your reader clicks on the button a link to your blog post is added to their Facebook wall. If their friends click on the link they are sent to your blog and directly to the post. Update: This plugin hasn’t been updated in over 2 years. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress. Sexy Bookmarks Here is a WordPress plugin that does it all when it comes to sharing out your blog post. Sexy Bookmarks lets you pick and choice the social media networks you’d like your readers to share to. Plus you can drag and drop them into the position you’d like them to display on your page. You can display the social media networks at the top or bottom of your post. There over 80 social networks to choose from but I would suggest that you keep it under 20 so as not to overwhelm your readers. WP Google-Buzz With all the buzz about Google Buzz and Google’s jump into the social media arena you’ll want this plugin for sure. If you prefer to keep a minimalist look to your blog you might want to consider going with just a few buttons. Facebook, Twitter, Digg and maybe even MySpace depending on the demographics of your readers. WP Google-Buzz is easy to configure and has several customization choices to fit any bloggers needs. Update: This plugin has been discontinued Disqus Comment System This plugin replaces the default WordPress commenting system by adding elements that will drive more traffic to your blog. Both new and repeat traffic can be generated from the use of this popular plugin. Most major newspapers and news organizations use Disqus on their websites. Readers can check a like button just like the FB like button and can post their comments to Facebook and Twitter. Readers can also subscribe by email or RSS and get notified when someone replies to their comment. What’s not to like about this plugin? PostRank PostRank shows off the top post on your blog and is updated automatically as the rankings change. The look and feel of the widget can be set to match the color of your WordPress theme. Monitor your PostRank scores and social media analytic metrics right from the WordPress dashboard. The PostRank plugin is easy to install and setup is a breeze. Keep in mind that it might take a few hours for the top post to start displaying. Wibya The ultimate social media plugin for your WordPress blog is the Wibya Toolbar. Integrate both your Twitter and Facebook Fan Page feeds into your blog along with a host of other choices. Show off your YouTube videos or pick what videos you’d like displayed. Customize the look and feel of the toolbar to match your WordPress theme. Do you use any of the above plugins with your WordPress blog? Have something else that’s a favorite? Please feel free to leave a comment below and add to this list by letting others know your recommendations. Interested in other WordPress Plugins? Check out this post from the blog ““ How To Make My Blog Best WordPress plugins ““ 18 most downloaded WordPress plugins ever If you know someone who could benefit from the information above please feel free to share with others. I appreciate it and hope you’ll return again. Thanks!

Expose your WordPress blog postings with a little Facebook “Like”

September 29, 2010

Now you can get some “Like” on Facebook for your WordPress blog post with a simple plugin. You don’t have to know anything about programming code like HTML. While in your WordPress Dashboard go to Plugins on the left-hand menu. Click the “Add New” button and type in “Facebook Like Button Plugin for WordPress” (current version is 0.4a). There’s also WP FB Like which is easy to setup with a few clicks of the options. Pick whatever one you feel comfortable with but don’t delay on adding this must have plugin. The screenshot above shows you some of the options for one of the FB Like Button plugins. I recommend displaying the button before and after an article for maximum benefit. When a reader “Recommends” or “Likes” your posting a link is posted to their Facebook profile. This is an excellent way to drive traffic from your friends Facebook page to your blog. Do you have a favorite plugin you’d like to recommend to other readers? What do you “Like”? Feel free to comment below and click “Recommend” to recommend this article to your Facebook friends.

Being Social with Social Media On The Go or In The Air

September 24, 2010

The beauty of running your own business is that you are no longer tied down to the desk. With social media, a mobile hone and a laptop or even a new tablet PC you can promote your business while on the go. It doesn’t matter where you are at anymore to connect with the world and market your business. I’m at Brewforia Beer Market right now which is a business in Meridian, ID that sells over 500 different beers. Brewforia uses social media to connect with their customers by showcasing new product, what’s on tap and new food products. The relaxing environment and free Wi-Fi makes it possible for someone like myself to enjoy a beer, enjoy a craft bread (pizza) and write a blog post or market my business endeavors. Where do you enjoy hanging out when promoting your business? It’s pretty common to find Wi-Fi in every city around the US and Europe. Plus services such as Clear, Rover and Sprint offer 4G in 50 plus cities across the US. That means you could be sitting on a park bench and connected to the internet at super fast broadband speeds. Think about how relaxing that would be enjoying the warm fall sun while conducting business over the internet. I’ve even been connect to the internet while flying 36,000 ft. above the earth heading to Florida. GoGo Inflight Internet connects you to Wi-Fi while on board your cross country flight. Pricing starts around $4.95 per flight segment depending distance travelled. Visit their website for more information on pricing and how the service works. I’ve given you a few ways you you can promote your business while on the go or even in the air. Suggestions? Ideas? Feel free to comment below and start the discussion.

Latest Reviews of Promote Your Business or Cause using Social Media

August 24, 2010

Latest Reviews of Promote Your Business or Cause using Social Media By Social Media author Dennis J. Smith It’s been a few months since I first published my first book Promote Your Business or Cause using Social Media. I want to share with you some of the latest reviews and give you a chance to win your own copy. Johnna says “I’ve used Facebook as a marketing resource for years and "Promote Your Business or Cause using Social Media" taught me numerous NEW things I never used or maximized!" What would you like to learn about social media? All you have to do is register for my bi-monthly Social Media News Club. Which happens to be free! I’ll pick a winner at the end of this month and continue to do so each month through December 2010. Great Help!, July 22, 2010 Dennis J Smith helped guide me through the maze of options available. As a social media novice, the number of sites and formats for communicating my message was overwhelming, but the step by step guide let me identify which product was most effective. Dive into the social media pool with confidence!, July 9, 2010 Dennis J Smith has done a nice job of opening the door to the social media opportunities for people who have little or no experience with Facebook and other forms of this ever changing aspect of our electronic world. Dennis presents some practical ways to put various aspects of social media to work for your organization, business or cause. Read full review”¦ A must-read for small business owners!, July 6, 2010 With the social media craze, it’s difficult to know what’s out there, what it does and how to do it! Dennis does a great job of laying out some of the industry’s biggest players, the return you can see on your investment and most importantly, how to get started immediately! Read full review”¦