This is a video about the United States and speaks to many of the challenges we face as the world changes and our nation goes though a shift in wealth and power.  Mortgaging the future of our country at a time when the world is becoming flat is a slippery slope and only time will tell if our nation will be able to sustain our current position as the global economic leader in GDP, technology and innovation.

A candidate recently asked me, “How do I find a hiring manager in a large company like Microsoft?” There are a lot of ways to do this but one of the easiest and best is using LinkedIn. When I recommended this to the candidate he completely agreed, however, the problem was he only had about 60 connections. Too few to be effective.

Some benefits to a large LinkedIn database of contacts:

1. People can find you. The more people at the second and third degrees of separation the more times you will show up in a search. For example, I have around 500 contacts. However, I am linked to over 5 million people on LinkedIn. When I search for a candidate that is a huge database.
2. LinkedIn will eliminate the need for resume databases on Ladders, Monster, Careerbuilder and other job boards. This is because it costs on average between 5,000 and 10,000 dollars to have access to these resume databases. LinkedIn is free. Why would a recruiter or any company pay that when we can use LinkedIn for free.
3. Resumes databases by the job boards are not pick up by Google or any search engine. These are the ones you want to make sure you show up on. LinkedIn is and you can even improve your search results for as little as $25 a month. (See prior blog article SEO Your Search On Google)
4. It helps you find the people you want an introduction to. This is very powerful. I have helped numerous people with introductions as a result of LinkedIn. On a weekly basis I receive requests indicating they found a person in my connections and would I make an introduction. I always agree.
5. Even when working this is a great tool for resources, customer contacts and introductions, references, service providers and even potential hires for you or your company.
6. On a personal basis it is a great way to stay in-touch with friends, colleagues, prior employees and networking contacts. When you update your profile they will get a notice and likewise when they update theirs.

Work hard at building your connections. Make every effort to reach that magic 500+. If you use Outlook download the LinkedIn tool bar. It makes inviting people very easy.

There are many more positives to building your LinkedIn network than there are negatives. Many have resisted. I believe this recession has proven to be good thing for everyone’s network.

If you have other ideas share them by adding a comment. Lets help everyone build a strong network.

A good way to start is building a network is making sure your profile is complete. If it isn’t start there and then begin expanding your contacts. Don’t miss the opportunity to get a high ranking on Google.

You can download for free our “8 Matrix LinkedIn Profile Assessment” tool.

We are seeing more and more restaurants using Facebook as a way to get more customers.  With the new FBML technology we can now build full Facebook Platform applications for our customers that deeply integrate into a user’s Facebook experience.  We can hook into several Facebook integration points, including the profile, profile actions, Facebook canvas, News Feed and Mini-Feed. This a real breakthrough and if you or anyone you know owns a bar or restaurant they should read this article on 8 ways restaurants can use Facebook pages to gain more clients. MySpace had this and I used it for my Golden Spoon Yogurt Stores goldenspoonyogurt to learn how to use Facbook Pages and build your fans click this link  Read More

By Arthur Chinski, Joshua Mizrahi, Philip J. Wolman,

David M. Kozak and Carol L. Lucas

April 2010

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “Act”) into law, and on March 30, 2010, signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which made significant changes to the Act. The Act, as amended, represents comprehensive health insurance reform that will have a direct impact on employers. The Act provides for the establishment of “exchanges” through which employers will be able to purchase health insurance for their employees, and imposes new requirements on employers and the employer-sponsored health insurance plans.

Click here to read more

Here is a list of 15 Easy Ways to Get Visitors & Tips to Build Traffic to a New Blog or a New Website:

1. Focus on creating content – do not create content just for search engines. Eventually people will stop coming if your content is useless.
2. Create New Content. This is easier said than done. Or you could create different content. As an example, you will find thousands of websites showing how to set up a free blog on WordPress. There is nothing new you can write about it. However, you can create a demo video about that. That’s different! Off course, there has to be good text around the video to please the search engines as well.
3. Look for exciting topics that people have consistently looked for. Typically, if your blog is not as famous as the New York Times or the CNN, people will most likely not come to you to find out what is the latest development in national politics! Instead focus on something that has proved to be popular for a long time.
4. Keep your blog software updated. Older versions often do not have many unique functionalities to make your presentation attractive. Google, for instance, noted that it will index WordPress blogs that use the most updated versions to prevent security flaws.
5. Create content regularly. And when you do, do not repeat your previous articles blatantly. Regularity is very important. It serves 2 purposes – search engines always look for newer, updated content to index & deliver in search results & keeps your blog fresh in the minds of your readers.
6. Write sincerely on the subject. Allow due credits in case you are using someone else’s content. Be cautious that you do not end up creating another set of links. There are too many directories with links telling what others are doing. There is always a serious need to sincere people who are offering something new.
7. If you have to show ads, then show them. But keep in mind that ads distract readers. Especially flashing ads, pop-ups, pop-unders, exit ads irritate the users. Moreover, such ads often conflict with the readers’ browser causing them to crash inadvertently. Go with Text & Image ads or Shopping Ads to begin with.
8. Get to know people who are equally trying to get traffic. Social networking is very important in the long run. But it could be a challenge to have your links up on the blog of a famous blogger. So look for other bloggers who are starting new & you could start sharing links with them. When I began, I used to request everyone to share my RSS feeds. Many did and many more did not. But whoever did, helped me in getting attention from their friends.
9. Write with facts. There is a saying that controversy gets attention. This is true. You can definitely write about something controversial, but at the same time, be open to criticism. Controversy also gets you harsh comments & critics. Also, while talking on a controversial subject, do not write false information. Keep the facts straight.
10. Write is very lucid language. Think of the reader while you write. Read your own post before publishing & correct grammatical mistakes, spelling mistakes & data errors.
11. Be open to ask for opinions. Not every readers would bother to write a comment, some will. Comments often form a sort of a mini-forum for your readers to talk on the subject. Remember to moderate such comments & always allow a healthy discussion.
12. Submit to search engines regularly, especially when you blog is very new. Once in a couple of months is a good time to submit your blog to search engines. If you are publishing a blog, submit to blog search engines as well. We have listed the important search engines that you should consider submitting your blogs.
13. Allow readers more than one way to keep in touch. Twitter, Facebook, Technorati are good examples that millions of readers use to track authors. Subscribing to feeds is another non-intrusive way to connect with your readers.
14. Join popular link exchange programs. They are like free advertising for your blog without paying any money for it. It is a simple system when you show other people’s ads & in turn they show yours.
15. Be consistent on your subject. You may have decided to create niche content or publish general content. But if readers want to keep coming back is because they find you as an expert or someone with good sincere opinion on the subject. If you have too much variety, like you talk to movies & physics in the same blog, you are trying to become a small mediocre news magazine.

If you are like me you may be wondering what to do every time you go to a networking event to get the most out of your time, money and effort.  I have been to Meetups, Mixers, Social Networking Groups and I have always walked way asking myself what could I do differently so that when I am in a situation where I am meeting new people, I can make meaningful and long lasting relationships.  Here are some tips that may help you that have helped me.

1. Keep in mind that networking is about being genuine and authentic, building trust and relationships, and seeing how you can help others.

2. Ask yourself what your goals are in participating in networking meetings so that you will pick groups that will help you get what you are looking for. Some meetings are based more on learning, making contacts, and/or volunteering rather than on strictly making business connections.

3. Visit as many groups as possible that spark your interest. Notice the tone and attitude of the group. Do the people sound supportive of one another? Does the leadership appear competent? Many groups will allow you to visit two times before joining.

4. Hold volunteer positions in organizations. This is a great way to stay visible and give back to groups that have helped you.

5. In networking conversations. This means questions that ask who, what, where, when, and how as opposed to those that can be answered with a simple yes or no. This form of questioning opens up the discussion and shows listeners that you are interested in them.

6. Become known as a powerful resource for others. When you are known as a strong resource, people remember to turn to you for suggestions, ideas, names of other people, etc. This keeps you visible to them.

7. Have a clear understanding of what you do and why, for whom, and what makes your doing it special or different from others doing the same thing. In order to get referrals, you must first have a clear understanding of what you do that you can easily articulate to others.

8. Be able to articulate what you are looking for and how others may help you. Too often people in conversations ask, “How may I help you?” and no immediate answer comes to mind.

9. Follow through quickly and efficiently on referrals you are given. When people give you referrals, your actions are a reflection on them. Respect and honor that and your referrals will grow.

10. Call those you meet who may benefit from what you do and vice versa. Express that you enjoyed meeting them, and ask if you could get together and share ideas.

One of the most popular arguments of why NOT use social media is that it’s too hard to track and calculate ROI.  Here are 10 tools to utilize when monitoring your social media presence and ultimately verifying the success of your campaigns:

1. Google Analytics – This is a tracking service offered free by Google.  By creating a campaign in Google Analytics that allows you to track back any and all links you post to your website, you’ll have an immediate ROI.  Google Analytics is a great tool when used correctly, so you’ll need to make sure you have someone knowledgeable on your staff to set up a campaign successfully.  Once the link goes active, you’ll be able to see how many people clicked through to your website and track where they went or what they purchased upon visiting.  make sure you capture any sales derived from links you’ve posted on social media sites by setting up goals within your analytics campaign.
2. Backtype – A real-time, conversational search engine that gives you an update about what people are saying about your company and products.  Compiled from Twitter, blogs and social networking article sites such as Reddit, Backtype allows you to effectively understand which bloggers will help you and your company establish a presense as an industry thought leader and could lead to an additional story about your company.
3. Twitter Search - Gives you a live feed of people discussing your company on Twitter.  Check up on trending topics involving your company to find the latest compliments, issues and opportunities.  Can’t find anyone talking about you?  Twitter’s a great place for your company to start the conversation and get noticed by potential customers.  Developing an online community of “followers” helps you have candid conversations with people who may not otherwise have any exposure to your brand.
4. Facebook Fan Pages - Facebook is used for individuals to connect, share photos, and relate to like people.  This social networking site offers many opportunities for small businesses to expand their audiences externally.  Whether your’re trying to develop new talent, increase ecommerce, or simply build brand awareness, Facebook offers measurement tools within a groups’ admin rights.  By measuring number of fans, amount of comments and shares, you can benchmark where you started and set goals for impressoins and click-throughs.  Here you can tell if what you are putting our is actually being read and from there what those fans are doing with that information.  Are they clicking back to your website? Sharing it on their own pages?  Facebook might seem like a big project, but by listening and measuring, your time spent will have a good ROI.
5. Addict-O-Matic - Similar to Backtype, Addict-O-Matic creates a custom page highlighting conversations, pictures, videos and articles mentioning your company.  If you’re looking for an all-encompassing snapshot of the buzz you’re creating online, Addict-O-Matic is the tool for you.  From a coporate perspective, Addict-O-Matic is the perfect tool for a busy CEO.  It allows you to stay on top of your online presense without signing into each individual service.
6. Website Grader - A free SEO tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website.  Website Grader scores your website based on things like website traffic, social popularity and SEO and then provides basic advice on how to improve your website from a marketing perspective.  The tool is a perfect compliment to a well-positioned social media campaign, as it helps make it easier for search engines to find and identify your corporate website.  As a CEO, utilize this tool to evaluate where your website currently stands and where it has room for improvement.
7. Compete.com - Gives you the opportunity to compare your website’s popularity and analytics to those of your competitors.  By entering your website address, as well as up to two competitors’ website addresses, you’ll be able to see a line chart highlighting the traffic to each of the websites as well as top search terms and referring sites for each company.  This is a great benchmark tool to help track success of your competition.  If your competitions’ score is higher than yours, research what they’re doing online and create a campaign that incorporates their successes.
8. Delicious – A social media bookmarking site that allows users to tag, save and share web pages in one place, Delicious helps you to better understand whether or not people find the content you’re publishing interesting and relevant.  The more people adding your website to Delicious, the more popular your website becomes and the higher it appears in search rankings.
9. Digg – Digg allows people to share content published anywhere on the web.  Once an article is shared, users can vote on the internet of the article and increase its popularity.  As popularity increases, your article is sorted to the top of the Digg pile, appearing for more people.  Oftentimes, you’ll find a select group of people are “digging” your content.  Follow up with these people as they may be interested in your industry or company specifically.
10. Social Meter - Social Meter scans major social networking websites to analyze a webpages’ popularity.  It looks at link-backs on websites such as Digg, Delicious, Google search and Technorati and tallies any results in a comprehensive bar chart.  By releasing relevant information via press releases. Twitter and blogs, you can increase your social meter score.  The higher the score, the more people are reading your content.

By: Lois Arbogast, Vistage International

Consider this: if Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth largest in the world by population, ahead of both Japan and Russia. 

When I talk to people about using social media to market their business, I usually get one of two responses. Either they love using Facebook and Twitter or they really don’t see what all the fuss is about. Unfortunately, both are missing the point.

Social media is probably one of the biggest developments in business since e-mail. Never before has the communications playing field been so level. Social media allows for a single-person, sole proprietorship to have the same potential consumer impact as a Fortune 100 company, without the million-dollar advertising budget.

And yet people still misunderstand social media or, even worse, ignore it completely as a fad.

Take my two earlier examples of responses. The first guy thinks social media is all about Facebook pages and Twitter statuses. The fact is, there are literally hundreds of options in the social media pantheon. The trick is figuring out which ones work best for communicating with your target audience and focusing your attention on those.

As popular as Facebook is, it might not be your best choice. This takes time and attention that not every small business owner might have. This is where outsourcing or contract work comes in handy. A good consultant will help you research your market and decide on the best course of action, while leaving you free to run your business.

Even worse is the second response – indifference. These are the people with their proverbial heads in the sand, assuming all of this social media hooplah will fade away.

Social media is not a fad, and it is not just for kids. Businesses small and large are making lots of money using this social media stuff. Look at upstart blender maker BlendTec, for example. They struck marketing gold with their popular “Will It Blend?” videos on YouTube and saw their sales increase five times as a result.

Now before you grab a digital camera and try your hand at becoming a viral video director, you should know that BlendTec invested a lot of time (if not money) in producing their video series. This is key. You must be prepared for the real cost of social media marketing. What you don’t spend in dollars, you will spend in sweat equity.

But at the end of the day, if it’s done right, the return on your investment could be legendary…and profitable

HORIBA is a global instrumentation company, publicly traded on the Tokyo stock exchange. The HORIBA Group of worldwide companies provides an extensive array of instruments and systems for applications ranging from automotive R&D, process and environmental monitoring, in-vitro medical diagnostics, semiconductor manufacturing and metrology, to a broad range of scientific R&D and QC measurements. Proven quality and trustworthy performance have established widespread confidence in the HORIBA Brand. With over 5 business segments, they produce instrumentation covering medical, scientific, semi-conductor and automotive industries. To learn more, visit horiba.com

By Will Crist

I used to think of myself and my services as a fire truck looking for businesses with fires in the basement. My job was to look around, talk to people and find out if they had fires in the basement they wanted to talk about. Often, when they were willing to talk, they were also willing to let me put the fires out. In other words I could help them solve the problems they were facing. My experience was usually that people with fires in the basement were out front looking for the big fire truck to pull up. When they heard the siren, they started pointing to the building.

Maybe you have seen yourself in a similar fashion. Your offerings, your good or your services provided solutions to the problems the businesses or consumers were facing. Often, most often, the buyers who believed you could solve their problem within their time frames and budgets would buy. Systematic selling was a plus because it helped both the buyer and seller stay on track toward a decision. The decision could be either Yes or No. Either one was a clear decision and, once the decision was made, you could move on.

In the past twelve months, I have been feeling that the world has changed. There is almost universal agreement that most businesses have major problems that, if they were solved, would result in better business for them and the rest of the economy. People tell me things like: “There’s lots of businesses out there who need you these days.” When I first heard words like that, I thought, since I didn’t have a line outside my door, maybe it would be helpful if I painted my fire truck a brighter red, put a flag on it, and revved the siren up louder so people would hear me. Not only did I not get invited to put out a lot of fires, the feedback I got was the siren was annoying.

I was really confused. They have a fire. I am a firetruck. What is getting in the way?

After talking to lots of people, I have come to believe believe that many business owners have taken a pledge to not spend money. They have decided that, even though they have money (and most businesses do have money), they are not going to spend it! If someone on the phone or in their office sounds like they are trying to sell something, the conversation is over.

When I came to this conclusion, I recognized that I was as welcome to business owners as a Snickers bar in a Weight-Watchers convention.

Lots of people wanted to invite me in to help them solve their problems in management and to help them enhance their revenue, but no one wanted to spend money. It wasn’t that I wasn’t doing all the behaviors that used to result in sales. It wasn’t that my services were unproductive. That Snickers bar was very attractive. It just happened that everyone around me seemed to be on a diet.

I wonder if you are feeling the same way. You keep going out looking for business. Your products or services are top notch. They can really help people and other businesses. But nobody is buying. Sound familiar?

So what are you going to do? Nobody is spending money. The problems and limitations continue to smolder in the basement. You and I and others know we can solve the problems. But the beliefs about money and the commitment to not spending any is getting in the way.

I do know that big, red, noisy firetrucks are not the answer. Snickers bars, as attractive as they are carry too much baggage when people have pledged to not eat them. How do you help the people or businesses you know who are struggling to move forward?

If I had the answer, I would bottle it and se…ll it…. Oh that’s right no one is buying these days. So how will we help businesses out of this dilemma? There will be risks. It will require courage. Those with the most courage will take the first risks. They will have the highest probability of being at the front of the parade when the music starts again.