Virtual Business Cards

Running out of business cards? Tired of lugging them around? DropCard can send your virtual business card from your phone to the receipent’s email.   Once you sign up, you simply text the email of the person you want to send your information to and they will receive your contact informtion, blogs, social networks and any other information you set up in their email.

To learn more, visit DropCard.

Better Living On the Web is now a Newstex Contributor

Better Living On the Web  is now part of the Newstex blog syndication service. Newstex offers Content On Demand® and Blogs On Demand™, including tailored, real-time news and commentary from thousands of branded newswires, newspapers, magazines, financial and business sources, official government feeds and blogs. Newstex collects full-text digital news and commentary feeds, standardizes the content format, adds stock ticker symbols, indexes stories using PeopleTickering® and topical categories, and instantly delivers the result via easyto-integrate XML or RSS newsfeeds. In 2007 Newstex was selected for the EContent 100 list of companies that matter most in the digital content industry and Blogs On Demand was voted top

New Technology in Information Today’s People’s Choice Awards. For more information, please visit the Newstex site and the Newstex blog

Web 2.0 Balance

I really like Web 2.0. As a work-at-home mom, sitting in a quiet house can be great for productivity but lonely too. Web 2.0 gives me the camraderie as well as support, encouragement and even recognition I need. But Web 2.0 applications can do much more. They offer ways to market your business, network with others, get advice, find resources and much more.

The problem of course is that its too easy to get swept up in Web 2.0 overload and end up wasting time. Part of the problem is that so many applications are “recommended”,  others are just cool, some are designed to support others … and so on and so on until you belong to more programs than you can effectively use.

To be honest, I’m still trying to find Web 2.0 balance. Right now I belong to MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, WorkItMom, and Self Growth (I also have a Ryze acccount but I don’t use it and can’t seem to get it cancelled). I visit MySpace every week day to post the blog there. I don’t visit Facebook daily, but much of what I do online (blog, Twit, etc) shows up there through its feed service and FriendFeed. The other three, I don’t visit very much at all and end up feeling guilty about it. I also use Twitter to which my blog and Squidoo lens send updates. I use Del.icio.us to save sites I want to view later, but I also have ClipMarks and LaterThis accounts both of which allow me to share information that I save, but I don’t use them for that. I use them for productivity not socializing.

Even though I’m overwhelmed with Web 2.0, I’m easily enticed to check out more applications. I visit Biznik today and although I decided to pass on it for now, it does look like an interesting site. Then there is YouTube, Flickr and many more.

Here are some tips and tricks that I’m using that do seem to help in managing my Web 2.0 life:

1) Don’t overdo the social networks. Most people recommend the main three (Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn), but if none of them fit your goals, then its a waste of time. Choose social networks that are in your niche, focus on your goals (ie networking, finding a job, etc), and have the audience you want to reach or get to know.

2) Automate what you can. FriendFeed will gather all the posts and feeds from your Web 2.0 efforts into one place. I use it on Facebook. My Facebook is updated several times a day even though I don’t go to Facebook hardly at all. (Of course, by not visiting my page I miss on what others are doing…sort of the point to social networking). I use a Twitter plug-in on my blog and Squidoo page that automatically sends a Tweet to my Twitter account. I even make it easy for people to Tweet about my blog posts with a plug-in called “Twit This”. Anytime you can make multiple posts with a single entry can save you time and keep your Web 2.0 projects fresh and current.

3) Make sure your settings are set to send you an email whenever someone does something on your network sites. If someone wants to be a friend, sent you a private message, or posted a comment, you want to know about it so you can respond to it in a timely manner.

4) Set up time each day or week to focus on your Web 2.0. Most people who blog have a schedule for posting, but not usually for when they visit their social networks to make friends and network. Its easy to forget to do it AND its easy to waste too much time doing it. So schedule it in. That way it will get done, but you’ll have a time limit.

Get a Virtual Assistant for Free

Outsourcing is big business these days. But not everyone can afford or needs a full service virtual assistant to keep them on task. Now you can get help from Sandy. Sandy is a web-based virtual assistant whose most important feature is that she can remind you to do everything from pay your bills to water your plants. She can be used along side your current productivity tools whether its Outlook or Post-It notes. She comes with widgets that can used with other applications such as iGoogle. And she can even send message reminders to your mobile devices.

The nice thing about Sandy is that she’s free and doesn’t require that you download anything. Simply visit the site, sign up and then start asking her to keep track of your important and even not so important tasks.

You can learn more by visiting IWantSandy.com.

Simple Virtual Collaboration – Twitter

With so many people working virtually, workers need a way to keep in contact and informed with each other. Email has been one way. Instant message and chat has been another. But when several people need to be kept in a loop that is frequently changing, using a mini-blog, like Twitter offers an easy and free solution.

Through Twitter members of a team can keep other members abreast of changes, give feedback, and provide resources that are instantly viewable by all other members. No more forwarding email or managing multiple IM boxes. While chat software offers some of the same benefits, with Twitter you don’t need to be in a chat room. You simply input your messages and its posted for the rest of the team. When someone else has something to share, its automatically posted to your Twitter page as well. You can even add your Twitter to iGoogle, downloaded onto your desktop, post from your blog or get other applications to make it easier to use. (Note at the end of each of my blog posts is a button that says Twit This from which you can Tweet a message about this post.)

You can respond directly to specific comments posted by other simply by clicking the arrow icon next to the post. Your reply will be listed in the Twitter dialogue but also in the reply box of the person to whom you’ve responded. Private messaging is available as well.

Twitter is a social networking resources on which people can follow you and you can follow other people. But you can keep your Twitter group private simply by checking the box at the bottom of the Settings, Account page that says “Protect my updates”. By clicking the box, only the people you approve can follow your posts and you are not added to the public timeline.

Twitter can be addictive so if you’re using for work purposes, you’ll want to be careful you don’t get caught up in Twit Chat. You can learn more by visiting Twitter. You can check out my Twitter page here.