Biz Tips Blog: Internet Marketing Tips

Shoeboxed.com is a cool organization tool!

This isn't really related to Internet marketing, but I just learned about a really cool site that can help you be more organized. And better organization can help free up valuable time for marketing your business.

In the new Springwise newsletter, I read about Shoeboxed.com, a site where you can send all your online receipts and they'll be organized for you in one secure online account. Can you imagine how much easier it will be when tax time comes around? Instead of printing out your receipts or losing them in the mass of emails you get, they will be neatly organized in one location.

You get a personal email address that you use instead of your regular email every time you purchase something online. Your email receipt is then sent to your Shoeboxed account.

Here's the info from Shoeboxed.com's FAQ:

Shoeboxed.com is an internet startup company that is reinventing the online shopping experience. Shoeboxed.com has created a centralized website for the storage, organization, and management of personal and business receipts. It will also keep spam from reaching your personal e-mail inbox and will help protect you from online identity theft. This service is free to everyone and will help to eliminate the hassle and inconvenience of receipts. With each user's purchase history continuously updating and centrally stored, shoeboxed.com will help to simplify your life and give you more control over your personal online shopping data.

I'm pretty organized (though if you were to see my work space you wouldn't think so) and this type of service totally appeals to me. Since I have a business partner, Patsi Krakoff, and we live in different cities, we both make purchases. If we both use an account, then it will be simple for our accountant to get the necessary info when she does our books.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Gmail Video Spreads the Love

Last month the folks at Google and Gmail invited their Gmail fans to produce videos showing how Gmail travels the world.  They received 1,100 video entries and have created one video with clips from many of the very creative clips. You can also see a map showing where all the clips came from.

I'm a Gmail fan and have been using it since it was first available by invitation only.  I love the message threading, color coding of the discusions, the filters and labeling. I have all my email accounts redirected to my gmail account so I can access my email online anywhere, anytime.

Enjoy the video!

Speaking Skills: Free resources for becoming confident

If you're interested in improving your presentation skills or overcoming the fear of public speaking, our colleague Dr. Larina Kase has some free resources on confident speaking for you.

1) Here are 3 articles on public speaking anxiety.

2) Here is a charisma quiz and some more articles on storytelling and speaking for business opportunities at.

3) The Blog Squad conducted a 30-minute interview with Larina and you can listen to it here (get more great tips on blogging while you're there too!)

To access more great resources to improve your presentation skills, visit Larina's blog at www.themindsetofsuccess.com.  And of course, we recommend the book, The Confident Speaker by Larina and her co-author Harrison Monarth.

Related Posts:
Tom Antion's Advice to The Blog Squad
Presentation Challenges: How do you handle unexpected challenges?

Music and Audio Searches: What Will They Think of Next Department

Just when I am beginning to understand search engines and the importance of keywords, they come along with search engines that work for podcasts and music files! You gotta wonder, "How do they do that?!"

I haven't tried this yet, I am going by the word of Shel Holtz, on his Shel of My Former Self blog, here's an excerpt:

"When was the last time a search engine made you say, 'Wow'?

"For me, it was probably the first time I tried Podzinger; I was wowed by the fact that the folks at the BBN-owned company had figured out how to catalog words spoken in audio and make them searchable, then take you just to that part of the audio file where the word was said.

"I had another “wow” moment today trying out the OWL music search, hosted on the Creative Commons search page, ... The search suggests you can 'find music through music.'... OWL will find other songs like the one you were playing from a current database of more than 10,000 songs from independent music sites."

I have to echo Shel's reaction: "But...wow!" Try it out and let us know what you think.

t-list tshirts

From Springwise Newsletter, here's a clever idea from a Canadian company: customized t-shirts called t-lists, with your list of favorite bands, writers, likes and dislikes, artists.  Each t-shirt is made to order with YOUR list.  Lists seem to be all the rage for articles and blog posts.  This is a way for you to proudly proclaim your favorites.

Custom Road Sign Sports Your Message

Thanks to John Trosko at OrganizingLA, I discovered a fun way you can shout out your message on your blog or website.  Try a Custom Road Sign to bring attention to a special event, anniversary (like John's 1 year blogging anniversary), your tagline, or other important message.  I haven't figured out what to say yet, therefore no roadsign here yet.

links for 2006-05-01

• MySpace is now no place to blog
  Interesting take on how MySpace is developing. I don't have a MySpace account -- too much to do in the rest of my life and business, but I know it's popular with 74 million users, so it pays to pay attention.
  (tags: MySpace blog social networking)

links for 2006-04-29

• globeandmail.com : Business starts to hear the ka-ching from Web 2.0
• (tags: internet web web2.0 blog wiki)
• "Blooks" Are In Bloom
  Glad to know we're on the edge with our Blog to Book Project!
  (tags: blogs blooks publishing books)

links for 2006-04-28

• Southwest Airlines blog takes off
  I always choose Southwest if possible, mostly because of their very flexible ticket exchange policy. And not they've joined the Blogosphere!
  (tags: Southwest Airlines blog blogosphere)
• Top Ten Tips for Creating Effective ScreenCasts
  I've just started dabbling with Camtasia and have yet to produce anything worth showing. So I'm very happy to find these tips.
  (tags: howto media movies software technology video Camtasia screencasting presentation tips screencast)

links for 2006-04-27

• Sphere: A New Approach to Blog Search
  (tags: blogs search technorati Sphere)