Suncoast stitches and craft hobby expo in Caloundra

Friday night races in Noosaville

Friday Nights in Maleny

BlindChase in Mooloolaba

National Touch League in Caloundra

World Wide Cat Steven’s Tribute in Noosa

Noosa Festival of Surfing

High School Seniors Expo in Caloundra

Brian Kennedy in Noosa

These are the upcoming events on the Sunshine Coast thanks to eventful. As you can see there are a number of local businesses and organizations already taking advantage of this great service. You may like to read this post where I explain Eventful.com and it’s advantages to business owners like yourself  further.

If your business isn’t currently taking advantage of eventful and you would like to find out more about this great service, either call me or fill out the email contact from at the bottom of this post.

Cheers Adam Bean 0414502809

BTW when you join eventful.com make sure you look me up this is my profile I have also created a Sunshine Coast business owners group that you can use to promote your event.

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Before we even start today I have to give credit to Jodie Thompson as this post was inspired by a post on her blog, and a recent webinar Jodie ran that I attended. The blog post was titled…

“The Recommendation age is here”

I would highly recommend that you read Jodie’s post before you read any further. Then I will introduce you to foodspotting.

Ok glad to see you are back. When you watch the video below  I will walk you through foodspotting, and how this powerful  form of social media  recommendation application could be leveraged by food based businesses.

Even if you aren’t a restaurant/cafe owner the principles will work the same for your business, we just need to find a social media recommendation tool that is applicable to your business. This is the probable the first time you will have seen foodspotting on a Sunshine Coast Web Site, and there is a very good reason for that. I am currently the only person on the Sunshine Coast using foodspotting, but as you will see on this video, I won’t be the only one for very long!!!

Remember to fill in the email form below with any questions for the blog talk radio show on Sunday. I am also offering three businesses the chance to be featured on this Sunday’s show. All you have to do is head over to the Sunshine Coast Web Marketing fan page and comment on the wall under the blog talk radio post. It’s first come first served.

Profit and enjoy

Cheers Adam Bean

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Today we are looking at Eventful.com which is a free online service that you can use to promote your business events.

Watch the video below where I explain how it all works and how you can leverage this great free service.

Be sure to sign up for your free Eventful.com account on the link below.

Eventful sign up

Adam Bean on Eventful.com

Sunshine Coast Social Media Marketing Eventful.com group

These are the links that you need to get your wordpress blog setup.

Host Gator Web Hosting

Name Cheap Domain Names

Wordpress Blog Platform

Watch this video for the full explanation of the benefits to your business, that Eventful.com and wordpress provide.

Profit and Enjoy

Cheers Adam Bean.

If you haven’t already read it this was the first post, Crush it with Ustreamtv

Be sure to register for the blog talk radio Live Q and A at the end of the week on the form below.

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Welcome to the first stop of my blog tour, first up I am going to share with you a very important online tool for your business.
That tool is Ustreamtv and best of all it is free, all you need is a web-cam and a computer with an internet connection, and you can start your show as soon as you are finished this post!!!

So watch the first broadcast of this week below, to find out exactly what you are going to learn this week on my blog  tour. It is all based around social media on the move!!

Then you might want to watch the Gary Vaynerchuk video below my Ustreamtv broadcast, as I think you might be very interested to hear what he has to say!! Why is that I hear you ask?  Because Gary took a 4 million dollar wine company and turned it into a 45 million dollar company, with a show on ustreamtv Wine Library Tv!!!

Make sure you fill out the email contact form at the bottom of this post, to get details of the blog talk radio show I will hold at the end of the week, where I will do a live  Q and A to help you with any online marketing questions you have for your business.

Be sure to listen to what Gary has to say, it is relevant to you no matter what your business does!!!

Profit and Enjoy
Cheers Adam Bean

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Nothing says Australia more to me than a Kangaroo, except for maybe the boxing day cricket test!!!

I love Australia and particularly my backyard which is the Sunshine Coast, sometimes it is easy to forget just how good it is to live in this great country. To me celebrating Australia day is about celebrating how lucky we are to live here.

So with that in mind I have scoured the internet to find as many Sunshine Coast Events as I could for Australia Day 2010 . If you would like a Sunshine Coast Australia Day event added just put it in the comment section below and I will ensure it gets posted. Please also feel free to contribute what it is that Australia Day means to you!!

One last thing I just want to say a huge thank you to all the surf life savers who do a brilliant job patrolling our beaches here on the Sunshine Coast.

Mooloolaba

• havaianas  Australia Day Thong Challenge
• Australia Day Awards
  

Caloundra

• Kings Beach Park

Noosa

• Kick off with Great Aussie Breakfast
• Noosa Malibu Club
  

Buderim

• Buderim

Bongaree

• Aussie Beach Party

Coolum

• Kick of with Coolum Lioness Breakfast

See Coolum

• Events

Attractions

• Aussie World Dunny Race

• Australia Zoo

Relax and Enjoy Your Australia Day

Cheers Adam

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If you are new to my site you will quickly learn from reading my posts, that  I am not big on theory and would rather write about what I see that actually happens…

So this is another real life example from facebook. If you are a regular reader on this site then you have probable already read “Where Do You Buy A Fridge @ 9pm On A Saturday Night” which was a real life example of my wife purchasing a  fridge online, and spreading the positive news via facebook.

The fridge story showed you the benefits of a customer singing your praises using a social networking site. This is the flip side a customer with a cockroach in his salad, warning his friends not to let it happen to them!!!

Now as you know from reading my blog posts I often call social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, word of mouth advertising on steroids.

Now this hyped up word of mouth advertising can be working for your business or against it!!! This story falls into the against category.

What makes this story even more powerful is that it has these two other factors working with it….

• A visual representation ie; the picture of the cockroach in the salad

• The person who this happened too is very well known, for the purpose of post we will call him Roy.

Now Roy just happens to be a very well known business man who has built an international brand, and has also written a number of books. So you could say he knows a little bit about customer service. In fact poor customer service is one of his pet peeves.

When I was having a problem with my business early last year, I contacted him through facebook and he told me to ring him personally about my problem, which I did and he sorted it for me.

While talking with  him he told me something very interesting, that I only just truly recognized the profoundness of today. During our chat he said that things were about to change, the balance of power was shifting back to the consumer. Roy said for too long there have been many poorly run businesses that were treating their customer as idiots, and offering them substandard service.

This is not going to last much longer he said, the consumer is not an idiot, and the worm is about to turn. At the time I didn’t fully grasp what he was talking about, but today it dawned on me. The balance of power is going to swing to the consumer via social media.

Within seconds of receiving poor service these days, like a cockroach in your food you can have spread this message around the globe via site like facebook and twitter. So the days of average businesses providing sub standard service are quickly coming to an end just like Roy said.

Social media is here to stay, embrace it and leveage it so that you don’t end up another…

“There Is A Cockroach In My Salad” Story!!!

Profit and Enjoy.

To find out how your business can leverage online marketing tools, like Twitter and Information Products.

Call Adam Bean on 0414502809

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Today I am going to discuss with you exactly how you can use Twitter for your business. What we are going to do is look at some strategies that you can easily implement so that you get your followers actually promoting you.

As a business owner you know the extreme importance of word of mouth advertising. If you have read any of my previous posts about Twitter, you would already know that it is word of mouth advertising on steroids.

But Twitter is a two edge sword. If someone is unhappy with you or your business, and they are voicing those concerns via Twitter. Then that is going to spread like wild fire as well.

This is when the power of Twitter really kicks in to gear as this type of situation is a huge opportunity turn things around and turn them into both a happy customer and a raving fan all at the same time.

If you use Twitter correctly, you are able to reach far more people more effectively than any other form of advertising that I know of.

But and this is a big but!!!!

You have to use Twitter the correct way. It is far more credible for you if someone else is singing your praises, not to mention time efficient!!!

So how do we do it? How do we get people to start talking about our business about promoting us?
Well you are probable not going to believe this, but you already know the answer because your Mum told you what it was when you were a child!!!

Remember what good old Mum taught as kids? Surely you remember what she used to say about treating others as you would like to be treated yourself? This is so simple it is ridiculous yet I would estimate that it is something 98% of Tweeps overlook .

If you want others to promote your business then you need to do two things…

• Promote them first! Remember treat others as we want to be treated.

• Tweet information of value.

That’s it!! As I repeat over and over and over, Twitter is about three things.

• Engage
• Interact
• Add Value

So that is it for today, follow this simple strategy and start watching the results.

If you would like to thank your Mum for teaching you such a valuable lesson, please mention her in the comments section below.

To arrange a consutation about using Twitter for your business, Contact  Adam Bean on 0414502809

Profit and Enjoy

In the next post I am going to tell you about a tremendously incredible tool called Google reader, and show you exactly how in 15 minutes a day you can find all the valuable information you need for you followers.

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Beating the Market from Crestock High Quality Images

Sunshine Coast Web Design and Marketing has a new motto for 2010…

• New Year

• New Look

• New Direction

There is a very good reason for these changes…

That  reason is YOU !!!

You have to let me apologize.
All year I have been raving on and on  about how your web design is about your customer not you.
And yet I haven’t been following my own advice, so the rot stops now. 2010 is all about you!

So what is going to be different Adam I hear you ask, exactly how is your site going to be all about me?
Well this where the new direction is going to come into play, your business is going to get the chance to be featured on this blog!!
That’s right you can have your business featured right here in front of potential customers, who are looking for the services you offer.
Not hidden away on some links page that no body ever looks at, but you business will be the main post on my blog for at least a week. When new visitor’s land on my site they are going to see your business.

This is how it will work…

You submit your business to me, either you can or I will write a post about your business and what goods or services it provides. This can be a full blown sales pitch, you don’t have to hold back this is all about promoting your business.

I will add to the post about your business a number of suggestions for promoting it using social media and information products. I will also interview you on blog talk radio again about your business and what you offer. Blog talk radio is going to be a huge part of making this blog more interactive in 2010.

What is the catch I hear you ask there has to be one doesn’t there??
Well yes there is a catch, I can’t work with everyone, so I will be picking the businesses I consider are the most motivated to take their online presence to the next level in 2010. I am sure you will agree that is fair enough?

So pitch away, tell me why I should put your business on here first!! Explain to me why you are so motivated to get your online marketing working for you, the way it should be.
I am more interested in your attitude to improving your business, then I am in what your business actually does.

All I want is business owners like yourself that are interested in the impact social media can have on their business, that would like so real life exposure to see how it all works.

Looking forward to helping you with your online marketing.
Call me on 0414502809 to tell me about your business.
Or catch me on Twitter @beanie72.

Profit and Enjoy.
Cheers Adam Bean

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Should you automate your Twitter account,?

This can be be a controversial subject and there are all sorts of theories out there, but automating Twitter is not something I recommend. Certainly not for the way I use Twitter at least.

Let me state this very clearly I do not automate my Tweets, (I did toy with it for a very short time) but I will never do it again in the future.

The reason I don’t automate is because of my three core rules for using Twitter or any social media medium…

• Engage
• Interact
• Add Value

It is very hard to do these three things through automation in fact I consider it impossible!
Twitter is a real time communication tool so to use it effectively, people need to know that when your tweets are coming through it is actually you and not some Automatic Tweeting Machine.

The whole automation process isn’t I believe what Twitter was designed for, and pretty much nullifies the effectiveness of Twitter particularly for small business.

This post was supposed to wait for a few days while I finished writing my first series for a guest blog tour that I am currently undertaking. But the response to my first post (Twitter is about Quality) was so good that I brought it forward.

Now this is why I recommended the Tweeps that I did to you, have a look at their reactions, none of them knew that I was going to post about them and the way they use twitter.
And if they had an Automatic Tweeting Machine their tweeting wouldn’t be nearly as effective as it is.

These are the comments that I received very quickly I might add, three are locals to the Sunshine Coast and one from Victoria.
There response and willingness to interact and add value is the reason why they are in the small percentage of Twitter users that actually use Twitter effectively.

“Thanks for including me in your list Adam. I’m very flattered.

Looking forward to reading the rest of the series of your Twitter tips for business.

Have a fun and prosperous new year! Keep tweeting!” @kikirobinson

“Hello Adam. Thanks for the great list. I have enjoyed meeting local Sunshine Coast and Aussie people on Twitter and have connected with them more than anyone else which is cool.

It\’s probably that I don\’t do scheduled tweets so my times often meet with local people.

Thanks for the mention and have a great new year”!  @ecwebsites

“O sweet as! cheers man , looking forward to reading the series ” @jam3rr

“Thanks for including me in this list Adam. I love Twitter and I am amazed at the impact it has had on my business in such a short time.
I look forward to reading your upcoming posts about this topic. There seems to be a lot of confusing information out there. So, it will be great to have some solid guidance for business owners.
Thanks”!  @PpcMom

Do you think that they could create that sort of interaction with automation?
No way in hell!!!
I know what you are going to say next, you don’t have all day to sit there Twittering away.
I realize that as your are a small business owner who is exceptionally busy, time constraints are a huge problem.

Us online marketers like to preach to you that you should be using Twitter and other social media tools.
Who has the time to do that? I think because we spend so much time on the internet us web marketers tend to forget sometimes that there is another world offline, and not everyone spends all day online tapping away at a keyboard like us.

So the key for bricks and mortar business owner like yourself when it comes to twitter is be consistent, if you can only spare 20 minutes a day do it at the same time each day, so that your followers get to know when you are most likely to be online and they can actually interact with you.

I hope that this post has shed some light on the whole automation process, in the next few posts I am going to show you how you can leverage Twitter to actually save you time.

Yes that is written correctly Twitter can actually save you time!! I am going to show you the right way to use Twitter so that you are getting the maximum benefit from it.
This is a little hint… Does word of mouth advertising effect your business??

Profit and Enjoy
Cheers Adam Bean
@beanie72

For any questions about Twitter please leave a comment I do answer them all or feel free to call me on 0414502809

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Twitter seems to have a bad name in the business community. I hear all the time business owners stating that they either don’t get twitter or they think it is a complete waste of time.

If you want to know just how much Twitter does actually impact business and what a powerful tool it is, you might like to read my post they are talking about you.

The reason I feel Twitter gets such a bad rap is because there is so much poor information about it out there.
Also the amount of garbage do this and you will get 100 followers a day programs, doesn’t help Twitter’s reputation amongst business owners either.

So what I am going to do for you is kick you of on the right foot with Twitter and show the short cut’s to using Twitter for business effectively and efficiently, so that it is an asset to your business marketing.

Below I am going to give you a list of what I consider the top Tweeps for the Sunshine Coast and then the top business Tweeps outside of the Sunshine Coast but still in Australia.

What I want you to do is only follow these guys for at least a month and watch how they engage interact and add value to their followers and community through Twitter.

I will link their twitter names to their twitter profile page to make it easy for you to follow them.

Alternatively I have created this list  social entrepreneurs that will make your life even easier you, as can follow them all by just following the list.

There is also one other to follow that doesn’t fit into the Sunshine Coast or Australian category but the resources and tips they post about Twitter make them well worth following to.

Ok first up the Sunshine Coast list…

• @ecwebsites

• @kikirobinson

• @AnnieInfinite

• @jam3rr

This are the Tweeps that fit into the rest of Australia category…

• @LanceScoular

• @DivineMissWhite

• @GWPStudio

• @PpcMom

One last one that is defiantly worth following for great Twitter resources and tips..

• @TwitterTips

I know the list is only small but as I said it is quality over quantity, and the worst thing you can possible do when you start out on Twitter is get inundated with garbage.

So follow these Tweeps and learn from them, please leave any question or problems with Twitter in the comments section below.
This is the first in what will be a series of posts about using Twitter effectively for business, so be sure to check back regularly for more great tips.

Looking forward to connecting with you on Twitter very soon.

Profit and Enjoy.

Cheers Adam Bean

@beanie72

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