June 9, 2013

Did you know YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine after Google? Yowza. Video is hot and it's a great way to diversify your content (as I talked about in this week's Hangout on Air--see #2 below). YouTube is currently holding a free 2-week "Maximize Your Channel!" online course. Get the inside scoop and listen to real people who have successful YouTube channels. (I love tips from real people!) Sign up for the course here. Check out the FAQ here. Go straight to the videos in the course here.

Speaking of video, I enjoyed hosting my first Q&A Hangout on Air this week! If you joined me, thank you! In preparation, I posted How to Hangout on Air: FAQs on Tuesday. Then on Thursday I answered about 8 questions during the live 30-minutes Hangout on Air. Questions included "What are your top three pieces of advice for newbie bloggers?" and "Should I use my blog name or my real name on Google+ for my page?" If you missed it, you can watch the replay here.

The great thing about the internet is that many times we can connect with others a lot easier than we can offline. But in some instances, it's good to interact with someone in 3D, such as when hiring a virtual assistant or a babysitter, or finding a roommate. Ziggeo allows you to prescreen people via video. Brilliant.

"You're likely most creative when you're groggy," says Lifehacker. I have found this to be true myself. I struggle with perfectionism, but I've noticed that I'm a lot more likely to take creative risks on a Friday night when I'm tired after a long week.

Chris Brogan says it very well in his post Value Your Blog Real Estate: "I’ve written about sidebars a lot. Lately, I note that people put all kinds of things in their sidebar that send them away. People put their Facebook fan page widgets. They put their tweets. They put all kinds of things that say, 'Please, leave my blog and go off on this tangent.'...After your advertising (be that for your own products and services or for someone else’s), sidebars can be either a great way to focus people on something that matters to you, or they can be a tool to lob people back off your website. Which would you prefer?"

Ooo la la, I got bit by the warm weather relaxation bug and sorta neglected social media this week. Eh, no biggie, life goes on. On Friday, I spent most of the day going through all of our toys (seriously, every. single. one.) as well as our boys' room. We got rid of a car load of stuff and I feel much lighter. Getting rid of stuff is one of my favorite things to do. My best tip for all those gazillion little things that kids keep around that are "too special" to get rid of? I collect them and put them in a box in my closet. If they ask for something in the box, I can retrieve it, but 9.5 times out of ten, they completely forget about their precious thing. I figure if they don't ask for something after 3 or 4 months, I can safely (and quietly) get rid of it. Works every time!

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