Life as a WAHM

So you love Twitter!
You love that you can connect with a special group of friends or co-works.

The problem is, you can’t connect with just that group. You send a tweet & it goes to everyone whether they are friends, family, or co-workers. Not all of those people may care about your special project at work (or your family reunion).

Maybe you are working on a special team project (like the Thirty Day Challenge) so Twitter just won’t be private yet you want the ability to have the constant short fast post at meeting time.

You may want to have total control over who is allowed to see, join, or post in your ‘area’.

Maybe you don’t want people to be able to post pictures or links (you really don’t want your mom posting pics).

Then again maybe you have a cool group and want to share all your links, pics, and video’s either privately or publicly.

Have you checked out Shout Em?

Free and Easy to set up!

This simple video shows how
**you choose a name for your ‘site’ (a family or team name),
***Pick a background theme,
****Choose Private or Public settings,
BAM – you have a great place that you can invite that special group.

You can also log into Shout Em with your Twitter or Facebook accounts.
NOTE: Using your Twitter or Facebook log in MAY make your post visible on those sites (I have not tested it so be sure to check).

OK, let us know if you have a Shout Em site set up – if it’s not a private room we may want to take a look.

They do have a Premium account that allows you to have your own domain name, extra storage, and your own ads.

Sheryl Loch

ps. I am not an affiliate! I just found the site and wanted to share it with you.

Here is a simple and free Twitter Search widget for your site or blog. Many of the widgets only show what you are tweeting. This one allows you to set search terms.

You can search by username by placing the @username

Pull tweets to your widget from # tags

Do an exact phrase match just put your phrase in “’s “Super Cool”

I can also pull Tweets such as “Blog” near:”Las Vegas” – If a person near Las Vegas sends out a tweet and it contains the word Blog – Bam it is in my widget.

I’ll show you in a minute where you can find more neat ways to pull specific tweets.

This Twitter Widget can be sized to match your side bar, you can also match the colors with your blog!

Here is one I made – I am using the Internet Marketers Guild as an example.

My search parameters are – "Internet Marketers Guild" OR @TIMGuild OR "Spam Free Forum"

I told you it was cool.

Simply go log into Twitter,
At the bottom of the page you will see “Goodies”
Or click this Twitter Goodies link.

Pick Widgets – choose from Website, Myspace, or Facebook depending on where you would like to place your widget.

In the setting to build your Website Widget just fill in the blanks –
Search Query - try some advanced queries (See Advanced for Better Search Queries)
Title
Caption
Loop old results?

Change your widget colors in the Appearance Tab – Click in the #number box, put in your own numbers or pick colors from the color bar.

HINT- You can go back to the SETTINGS tab & click Test Your Settings and the widget will show your new color choices. If they aren’t what you want try again.

The Dimensions tab will allow you to size your widget to fit your sidebar.

Now grab your code –
If you use a Wordpress blog you can add a TEXT widget to your blog sidebar & insert your new Twitter code.

With a B2evo blog you can add your new Twitter widget in a Free HTML sidebar widget.

If you find the size you picked is not working – no need to go back and remake your Twitter Widget you can adjust Height and Width right in the code with no problems.

Go on, you know you want one of these on your blog!
See who on Twitter is talking about your favorite search terms!

Sheryl Loch

PS. Before you ask, I placed the widget in my post rather than on a sidebar so people could find it with the “How To” rather than me trying to point it out on a sidebar.

Yes, Add a Live Google Map to Your Website!

That’s right!
If you are planning any type of event to market online this is a must have.

If you do direct marketing parties, planning a conference, charity gathering, or even a Tweet Up you will save your attendees time, No need for them to ever leave your site.

What I am showing you today is revolutionary. Ok, maybe not but, it’s freakin cool.

As an example-
I am advertising that I am holding a conference in the Las Vegas area!
I can simply say that it will be at
M Resort,
12300 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Henderson, Nevada

(Yes, Henderson is a run on city to Las Vegas but, most people would not know that)

I could also give brief driving instructions but, that leads to a problem. Do I give the directions for people coming in from the North, South, East, or West?

What about attendees that are from out of town (staying in a hotel) and have no idea which direction to even start from?

Here is where the Google Map Gadget comes in.
You go and create your live map gadget, it’s free and easy.
All you need to do is put in the location of your event, pick a boarder color, and size it.
Hit Get The Code – now place that code on your site with your event announcement.

Now all your guest need to do is place their starting address in the box and they will be given directions from where they are right to your super cool event.

Go ahead – try it! -

Want something really neat?
Put in Your City and State - It will give you cross country driving instructions. Just don't let your family know or they might be able to show up at your door. LOL!

I think that even sites like churches, stores, parks,…could benefit from this map gadget.
Why make someone work harder to find you?
Keep them on your page and let them get the information they need to show up at your door.

If you use this gadget and make HUGE money at your event – I would like a finders fee please. LOL!

Get your own Google Gadget Map

Sheryl Loch

Also see - How to Make a Survey Using Google Docs