What Joe's site really says: "I am trying to trick you into thinking I am a big corporation when really I am just some dude in skinny jeans and an ironic t-shirt behind a Mac."

A Facebook friend of mine posted a link to a new website a friend of theirs had recently launched, so I decided to check it out. (Ah, the power of social media) The home page looked pretty good so I decided to look around a bit more (always a good sign).

I should mention that this website was for a single person, let’s call him “Joe,” who is a public speaker. It’s not a company or a big business or anything. Just one dude trying to get you to book him as a speaker.

As I was saying, the home page looks good. It had a design that would be attractive to his potential audience. A good photo of him. Intriguing graphics. And the copy was written in first person point of view making it all very personal with things like…

“Welcome to my new website.”
“I’d love to hear from you.”
“Sign up for my newsletter”

But then, when you click on the “About” page, it takes a completely different turn. Some nameless person is talking to me and Joe is being referred to in the third person. To make it worse, there is an absolutely great, compelling story being told there.  But it reads more like a newspaper article, complete with quotes from Joe.

It all comes across as very pretentious and turned me off immediately. Chances are he probably wrote it himself anyway. So, why wouldn’t Joe tell this story himself?

If you were at a conference networking, would you hire some guy to follow you around and make your introductions for you? I envision something like this:

Potential Client: “Hi, Kristina, it’s nice to meet you.”
Me: “It’s nice to meet you too!”
PC: “So, tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do.”
Me: “Hold on one second. Mike, take it away.”
Mike: “Kristina has a thirst for knowledge that lends itself well to her position as a virtual assistant and administrative consultant.”
Me [nodding]: “I have a hunger to learn.”
Mike: “Yes, this passion for learning dates back to her days as a young girl who always wanted to be right and always have the last word. A borderline personality disorder which probably stems from a lifetime of being compared to her much smarter older sister.”
Me: “Wait. What? This isn’t what I told you to say.”
Mike: “Well, it’s true.”
Me: “It is not. And for the record, she isn’t smarter than me. She’s just more….motivated.”
Mike: “See? Always has to have the last word”
Me: “I do not. Now, shut it, Mike.”
PC [slinking away]: “Um, yeah. I have a…thing…to get to…somewhere else.”

See what happens when you give your story away for someone else to tell? The connection to your potential client is lost. It isn’t you talking to me any more. It’s some random person I don’t even know and it’s completely out of place.

I have tried to come up with some reasons to do your “About” page in third person and none of them make sense to me:

1. “I’m not comfortable talking about myself.” Um, yeah, you need to get over that. As ugly as this may sound, you have to be able to sell yourself. You are your business. Your business is you. You can’t get away without talking about yourself if you expect your business to grow. It’s called “marketing.”

2. “It sounds like I’m bragging.” Well, that would be because you are! You deserve to tell your story. You deserve to tell people what makes you great. What else is an “About” page for? Are you saying that making it seem like you had someone else write about you is more humble than just doing it yourself? (Pssst…the answer is no. It makes you seem more arrogant.)

So, be brave. Tell your story and what makes you different from your competitors. Let other people talk about you on your “Testimonials” page.

Of course, contrary to what Mike said, I do not always have to be right, so what is your take on the “About” page. Should it be written in first (I, me, we, us) or third person (He, she, them)?

Thanks for reading,
Kris

[For the record, I have no idea if Joe is a hipster who uses a Mac.]

Image credit: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Pictured: Nothing whatsoever to do with this blog post. I just like jelly beans.

Howdy, strangers! I have recently come to a startling conclusion: I have not gotten a single client because of my Facebook page or LinkedIn profile. Nor have I gotten a single client due to a tweet or blog post. Not a one. All of my clients have come from either referrals and introductions from my other clients or from people I have met in person. And this conclusion has actually made me feel a lot better about myself.

Now, I am not deleting my social media accounts, nor am I going to stop blogging. Am I telling you to delete your social media accounts and stop blogging? Absolutely not! We need to have those tools because they are great marketing channels, excellent sources of information, and also, they are just plain expected these days. But I am also no longer stressing out or feeling like a failure when I don’t update these channels because I have now realized this is not how I meet my clients.

My business is thriving even though I haven’t written a blog post in a few months and haven’t been tweeting regularly.

Granted, I have the luxury of working with a great community who collaborate frequently. You are constantly running into the same folks so there is ample opportunity for people to recognize how awesome you are. And I also can’t neglect the fact my last name is pretty well regarded in this community thanks to my awesome sister and biggest client.  But my point is I have found that I don’t need to tweet 4 times a day or update my Facebook page everyday because that’s not where I initially meet the clients I want to work with.

And the point of this post is to get you to ask yourself that question – Where do you meet the people you want for your customers, clients or supporters? You need to answer that question then prioritize your marketing channels. If you are spending all of your time on social media, but people are finding you from other sources, focus on those sources and use social media as a supplement. If you are spending tons of money on direct mail when all of your audience is online, focus on social media.

Could I get more clients if I had a more structured social media marketing plan? Probably. But I like to help people who help people help people (get all that?) and I am doing just fine finding those clients right now. When that changes, I’ll change my approach. If you can get more supporters from an awesome social media marketing plan, then go for it. I can even help you out with it. But you need to realize there is no secret formula. You have to find out what works best for you or your organization, then adjust as time goes on.

I have found my best marketing tool is doing a great job for my current clients, so that other stuff can take a back seat…for now, anyway!

Thanks for reading,
Kris

*Note: I am going to use the word “brand” to mean your Facebook page (that thing on Facebook you set up for your organization) to help differentiate it from your personal Facebook profile (that thing on Facebook you use to play Farmville and wish your friends “happy birthday”). If you think the word “brand” is too markety sounding, then substitute it for organization, cause or business.

So, you set up your Facebook page and are getting some folks to like your page. You’ve read the million blog posts and articles on how you have to post great content and engage people in order for your page to be a success. You have a plan, but you aren’t quite reaching everyone you want to reach. What can you do? Use your page like you would your personal profile! Here’s how:

Don’t be a spammer. I am going to give you some tips to help you get your brand out there, but I am hoping you won’t use those tips to spam other pages. Spamming is ugly. Don’t be ugly.

Find where your audience IS hanging out on Facebook. Think about the kind of person you really want to reach. Now think about other pages those people like already. Chances are, they are pages you are already personally involved in – just not as your brand.

Like those pages as your brand. How do you that? Simple. You can use Facebook as either your personal account or your page account. Follow these steps: 1. Switch to your page by clicking on “Account” then “Use Facebook as Page.”

2. If you are an admin of more than one page, find the page you want to use and click “Switch” button.

3. Now search for those pages you are interested in and “like” them as your brand. (You can’t make friends with people as your brand, but that’s a little creepy anyway.) You can then comment on those pages using your brand. For those of you easily confused, you can tell whether you are using your brand or personal profile by looking at the thumbnail picture before you comment.

Unless, of course, you used the same picture for your page as your did your personal profile. Then you're on your own, buddy.

Now. Like I said before, do not abuse this feature. Post relevant and helpful content and don’t try to sell yourself. You’re just part of a conversation. This isn’t a bullhorn.

Bonus! If you ever want to post to your page as yourself, you can do that too! Make sure you are using the page as yourself (go back to “Account” and switch back) Go to your brand page, then click on “Edit Page”

Then go to “Your settings” and see below:

Now you can do this:

Red arrow: Brand - Blue Arrow: Me

As you can see, I went a little crazy with SnagIt today. Let me know what your Facebook tips are in the comments section.

Thanks for reading,
Kris

I am sure most of it has to do with my kids being home with me a good bit. I also didn’t establish enough of a schedule. I did work a lot more for my clients too. Netflix added Battlestar Galactica to their instant viewing list.  I had to plan birthday parties. I took a few long weekends. I got called to sub in a tennis league. The dog ate my password…

Excuses, excuses, I know.

But summer is over now, and it’s actually only 63 degrees here which is pretty darned fall-like (did I just use “pretty darned” twice in the same post? Be patient. I’m rusty). Anyway, it’s time for me to get back on it.

I will probably stick with basic “how-to” posts – those seem to be the most popular. And, as always, I am open to any suggestions from you.

I won’t make any promises this time as to how often I write, but it will be more than every couple of months.

Although, soccer season is starting this week and I am (hold your laughter) helping coach my daughter’s team. Plus, I have a tennis tournament this month. I will have to help my kids with their homework too.  Oh, and college football has begun.  I have a big project for a client coming up. I need to clean my kitchen…balance my checkbook…clean out my inbox…..No, really, the dog did eat my password!

Thanks for reading,
Kris

1. Open your Google Calendar (duh!). If you are in your inbox, there is a link to the calendar in the upper left corner.

2. VERY IMPORTANT: If you will be using these appointments for more than one group of people, you will want to create a new calendar for each group. ALL of your appointment slots in a single calendar will be open to anyone who is invited. So if you are offering coaching calls for an e-clinic, you will want to create a calendar specifically for that e-clinic so people from a different e-clinic won’t be able to see those slots. Create a new calendar by clicking on the “add” link in the left sidebar where your calendars are listed. Name the calendar something related to your coaching program so you can easily keep up with it.

3. Click on the day you want to open up available times – just like you would to create any event.

4. Click on the drop down menu to select the calendar you want to use. Then click on the “Appointment Slots” link.

5. You will then enter a title and pick the block of time you have open and the length of each slot. For example, if you had a two hour block of time from 12p.m. to 2p.m. where you could take 30 minute calls, you would enter this:

6. You can then save, or enter the email addresses of those you want to offer the slots to and then save. If you don’t want to invite people through Google, you are provided with a link you can also use on your website, etc.

Just add a new appointment slot for every day you want to make time available.

That’s it! Pretty simple, huh? Those you invited then choose which slot they want by simply clicking on it. It is removed from your available time and you are sent an email letting you know who scheduled what time. You can also check it on your calendar itself because when someone books a time, it creates a new event in your calendar. It will look like this:

The shaded part is your block of time and the solid smaller box is a booked time.

If all of the slots are filled, the invitee will be asked if they would like to search for later appointments. This is why it is so important to create separate calendars for each group. You don’t want people booking times who aren’t supposed to be.

After that, it pretty much acts just like any event in Google Calendar. You can edit the times or dates or delete it and are given the opportunity to notify those who have booked of any changes.

Thanks for reading!
Kris

1. If you’re like me, you have more than one Gmail account, but now Google will not let you open more than one at a time. Or so they think! If you use Chrome, just open an incognito window and you will be able to keep both accounts open at the same time. To open an incognito window, click on the wrench next to the address bar and you will see the “new incognito window” option. You can also open one account in Chrome and another in Firefox, etc.

2. Sick of having to cut and paste email addresses into your Gmail account? Want your Gmail account to be your default email program instead of Outlook, etc? Download Gmail notifier or, for Chrome users, add the Send from Gmail extension. Now, when you click on an email link, your Gmail account will open.

3. If you have other email addresses forwarded to your Gmail account and find that it’s taking too long for those forwarded emails to get to your Gmail inbox, go to your Mail Settings and then Accounts (or Accounts and Imports). Under “Get Mail from Other Accounts,” find the address you need and click “Check Mail Now.”

4. I often have to answer the same questions over and over again through email, or send the same email to a group of people with slight modifications. This can be quite time consuming – unless you have the Canned Responses lab enabled. This lab lets you save those responses you use again and again. So when composing an email, now all I have to do is click the “Canned responses” link and find the template I want to use. It can be easily edited to individualize the email and, if you want to get real fancy, you can coordinate it with your filters to create automated replies.

5. Have you ever sent an email and forgot to attach a file? It can be a little embarrassing. But with Gmail, if you type “I am attaching…” or “I have attached…” in the body of your email and hit send before you have added the attachment, Gmail will alert you. So get in the habit of using either of those phrases and you won’t have to send that “It would help if I actually attached the file…” email again.

So, Gmail users, what are you favorite tips to make the most of your Gmail Experience?

If you would like more ideas on using email, especially filters and labels, check out my previous blog post, 7 Ways to Clean Up Your Inbox.

Thanks for reading!
Kris

(In fairness, I don’t know the actual date I published my website, but this is when Google started noticing it so I’m going with that. Work with me, people.)

Thanks are definitely in order!

To my family who have supported me until I could stand on my own two feet with this gig even though 99% of you had no idea what a Virtual Assistant was.

To my friends who stood by me and encouraged me to press on even though 100% of you had no idea what a Virtual Assistant was.

To my clients who could all be considered friends too at this point (and one who fits all three categories), I would obviously be nowhere without you! You ladies are all definitely an inspiration to me and I thank you for your support from the bottom of my heart.

Now that the mushy stuff is out of the way, here are a few fun facts about Kristina Leroux.com in its first year.

• First Client: Kivi Leroux Miller, President, Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com
• First Client not related to me: Nancy Schwartz, President, Nancy Schwartz & Co.
• Number of visitors: 1,099 from 49 countries
• Page views: 4,360
• Blog Post with most views: Trying Something New: How to Use Twibbon and Why followed by Droid X: A Review for the Rest of Us
• Blog post with most hits in first day: Don’t Believe Everything You Read: Anatomy of an Internet Rumor (Thanks, Hotties!)

This past year has definitely been crazy on so many levels. But I know it’s also one that has defined me – professionally and personally. Here’s to the next 12 months!

Thanks for reading!
Kris

First off, I will tell you what I told them – I don’t think people who protect their tweets really get what Twitter is all about.

As many have said before, Twitter is like a giant cocktail party. You have different groups of people having conversations about different things. You may be talking to friends when you overhear another conversation that interests you. You decide to chime in and the discussion continues. Afterwards, you may never talk to those people again. But then again, you may become life-long friends or start doing business with them.

The point is a conversation happened.  Thoughts and ideas were exchanged. Connections, however brief, were made. And that’s what I think Twitter is all about.

Think about the following type of people you encounter at almost every party:

• The Host – Great at bringing the right people together to have the best conversations.
• The Gossip Hound – Always has the latest news and gossip and isn’t afraid to spread it.
• The Social Butterfly – Flutters around between conversations easily.
• The Networking Guy – Always talking about business and is trying to make that one big connection.
• The Geek – Talks about the latest tech trends and no one really understands what he’s saying half the time.
• The Politico – Gets fired up about the mere mention of the opposite political party.
• The Drunk – Interjects completely random thoughts into a discussion.
• The Wallflower – Stays on the sidelines and doesn’t really contribute to the party.
• The Snob – Only considers their clique worthy of conversation and looks disapprovingly at you if you try to join in.

I’m sure you can find every one of those types on your Twitter feed. Where do you fit in best? What kind of partier are you? Well if you’re protecting your tweets, you’re basically a wallflower or a snob. You aren’t really contributing to the conversation as a whole, and you should honestly just stick with Facebook where your friends are.

Also, from a business point of view, that’s just bad marketing. One of my clients has me follow back people who engage her on Twitter in some way. But before I hit that “follow” button, I check out their profile and read their tweets to make sure they aren’t of an unsavory nature. Well what if they have their tweets protected and I can’t see them? They don’t get followed. It’s as simple as that, and a lot of people employ this same policy. You’re losing followers and connections.

Another reason and perhaps the most important reason a business should not protect their tweets – people who do follow you can’t retweet you. Add the number of your followers to the number of all of their followers to the number of their followers and so forth – that’s the audience your losing.

So if you are protecting your tweets, you should probably step back and take a look at why you are on Twitter in the first place. Why bother?

Thanks for reading,
Kris

Do you protect your tweets? Let me know why in the comments section.

If you are using tags and categories regularly then this tip should be a no-brainer, but I found quite a few regular bloggers who were not doing this for posts about events.

If you are going to be live blogging from a conference or other event, or if you are planning on writing more than one post about an event, create a tag or category specific to that event. That way you can link directly to that tag to get all your great insight about the event in one convenient place.

It will also help others who want to provide a list of posts from the event as well. Instead of linking to 4 different articles from you about a conference, they can just link to your tag from that conference.

For example, Nancy Schwartz created a tag called #11NTC to use for her posts concerning this year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference. She used the same hashtag people were using on Twitter which is a great SEO strategy as people who are searching by that hashtag will also come across her posts.

(If you aren’t regularly categorizing your blog posts, then you need to take some time to do so. Or if you don’t feel like you have time to go through all of your posts, I can help out with that too! Just contact me and we’ll get started.)

Thanks for reading!
Kris

But before I left on my trip I had to turn down a project helping a client who was handling donations for the victims of the earthquake in Japan. And as I sit here trying to finish the laundry, get a handle on my inboxes and  figure out how to make do without a week’s worth of wages, I wonder if it was worth it. A whole week away from work. I missed out on an opportunity to help with a major disaster relief effort. And I won’t have any extra cash next month when it’s time to invoice folks. So, was it worth it in the end?

Well, of course, the answer is yes. I need to spend quality time with the kids. I need to take a break from work. I need to take time for myself and be silly and have fun.

But after everything is unpacked and you’re faced with the “Real World” again, it’s easy to start second guessing yourself. Maybe I should have taken the laptop and done some things after the kids went to bed or during our afternoon breaks? Maybe I should have taken less time off?

Me and my oldest. See how happy he is cause Momma isn't working?

Now, as I think back to my oldest looking at me as I was packing and saying, “No work while we’re down there, right, Mom?” and as I upload my pictures to Facebook and remember all the fun we had, I know I did the right thing.

Who’s ready to start planning a summer vacation?

So does anyone else have “Vacationer’s Remorse” when you get back from a trip? Or is a complete vacation unthinkable? Let me know what you think in the comments section.

Thanks for reading,
Kris