Marketing Strategy Experts

Are you a busy professional that is finding it daunting to keep track of all the blogs you read?

Well your savior is here! We will show in a few simple steps and how get the True You Marketing Blog into Microsoft Outlook 2007. Once you master this simple process for our site, you will be able to add as many sites as you want.

The benefit of aggregation of content from multiple Web sources is that you no longer have to visit different Web sites for news, weather, blogs, and other information. You can see if there is anything of interest for Microsoft Outlook which most professionals are in all day, anyway.

To get started with the process you will need to open Outlook 2007 and an Internet Explorer or FireFox Window.

1. Step one is to get the URL for our Blog Feed (http://www.trueyoumarketing.com/feed/rss )

Open Internet explorer and type in our website http://www.trueyoumarketing.com . You will then see a page that looks similar to the one below. Now weed need to discover the RSS or BLOG feed for our site.

You can discover new RSS feeds on Web sites that offer this feature by looking for , or, . In some Web browsers, such as Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 7, when you click these buttons, you can subscribe to the associated feed and find the link.

Click on the link at the top right of our site and you will be taken to a new page that looks like this:

In the address bar of Internet Explorer is the link we want to use with Microsoft Outlook 2007. (http://www.trueyoumarketing.com/feed/rss) Now, right click on the URL in the address bar and select Copy.

We are now ready to add the link to Microsoft Outlook 2007.

2. Go to Microsoft Outlook 2007. You should be in your default mail view. On the left menu under mail you should see RSS Feeds.

Right click on RSS and Select Add a New RSSS Feed

You will then get a prompt for the feed to add. Past in the URL we copied earlier (http://www.trueyoumarketing.com/feed/rss) and hit Add.

You will then get a second prompt warning you to add only BLOGS that you know. Hit Yes to add the BLOG to Microsoft Outlook 2007.

You have now successfully added True You Marketing’s BLOG to Microsoft Outlook 2007!

To read a post, just click on the Headline and click View Article. This process will work for any RSS capable BLOG.

If you have any further questions remember you can always email us using the contact form on our site.

Why do I love to share freebies with you? I don’t know, I just really get a big kick out of it. I hope you enjoy them too! Just remember, I won’t pass along anything I don’t think is a great value and opportunity – there’s plenty of ‘free’ stuff out there; the trick is finding something free and valuable!

If you’ve been thinking of writing a book or anything remotely resembling a book, this is something you will definitely want to check out! Our book, and the books of many of our clients, have been greatly helped by Gail Richards and Jan King’s assistance. If a book is in your future, you will want to know these publishing gurus!

Gail Richards, a creative whiz and veteran in all things publishing and the founder of Authorsmart.com, and Jan King, former publisher, author of numerous business books and founder of eWomenPublishing, invite you to participate in their 11-Week course FREE just because you are in our inner circle!

For more information go here, and click here to register. Use Discount Code FREEFUEL.

Mindmapping is not a new concept. I believe I first came into contact with it as a freshman in college. It’s a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radial around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.

Mind mapping can really help you dump your mind out on paper and organize it as you go. If you organize it in one way and would like to rework it, no problem, you just move this string and add another one. It’s super easy, takes no instruction, and if you think in a connected or circular way, it will be extremely easy to use.

I have some clients who work best in this way and we pass mind maps back and forth as we brainstorm. I can put my information in it and then they can ask me questions and we can fly back and forth very quickly moving toward our goal.

If you think it might help to get your jumbled thoughts out of your head, your hunch is probably right. Why not download the software I use and take it for a complimentary test spin? Download FreeMind now.

There are other packages out there, too. I have another client that recommended Mind Manager (and this site has a tour you can take), plus there’s a free trial.

I can’t speak for these other packages, though here are some others to choose from – Visual Mind, Open Mind and Nova Mind (definitely the coolest looking package I’ve seen and haven’t sampled).

Back in the late 90s, I worked as a marketing director in a large accounting firm in Dallas. Our ‘big thing’ was doing things differently than other firms. I’ll never forget the day that the bookie (that’s the partner that everyone regards as the scholar in the firm) and I planned out this entire marketing idea around creating a video game for the firm. Our marketing genius surrounded creating a viral video game similar to the game, Frogger. In our version, we would have a taxpayer that had a goal to get across a swarm of cars to deliver his tax return to the post office. There would be all kinds of excuses printed on the cars just for laughs and such. In a little under 10 minutes, our creative gizmos churned out a good video that probably would have attracted scads of publicity.

We never did it. J

But that doesn’t mean you couldn’t.

Check out Blockdot.com for inspiration!

I remember the old days. They were so long, long ago (about eight years to be exact). In the old days, we had to charge clients a fortune for stock photography and a king’s ransom if the client wanted rights-protected images (that would be harder for another company to use the exact same image).

Today, there are lots of options for free images and inexpensive images.

My favorite right now (for so many reasons) is istockphoto.com. Istockphoto.com is part of Getty Images and, so far, the partnership hasn’t changed everything I love about Istockphoto. Which is:

1. It’s a social network of really great, talented designers who love what they do

2. The site tells you exactly how many other people in the world have used the photo you want to use (this is a big deal if you don’t want your book’s artwork (or company images) to end up in a Ford ad! This actually happened!)

3. You can upload photos you’ve taken and get credit to purchase other photos

4. The site offers illustration and photo images – and so many of them are awesome!

5. There are many ways to search the site – by artist (if you find an image you like, then you can look at everything by one artist with one click), by type of image, by keyword, and by popularity

6. It features a really cool plug-in that allows you to mouse over an image and see it larger without having to click on difference pages over and over again – TIME SAVINGS!

I’m sure there are more, but those are my top picks. Images are inexpensive, the collection is amazing and different than other stock sites.

If you are looking for quantity for cost, try ablestock.com owned by Jupiter Images. Jupiter has other annual memberships where you can get unlimited downloads for a set price.

If you are looking for clip art, animations and PowerPoint templates and other cool add-ons, visit the Animation Factory.com.

For FR*EE images, try these sites:

• http://www.freeimages.co.uk/
• http://www.freestockimages.net/

Be aware… image sites can take lots of time! Decide what you are looking for before you go!

If you have patience and want to do SEO (Search Engine Optimization) yourself there is only one source we trust on the topic, Aaron Wall and SEOBook.com.

SEOBook is a leading SEO blog covering the search and search marketing space. It offers marketing tips, search analysis, and whatever random rants come to his mind. The first version of his popular SEO Book came out in December of 2003 and has been updated about 50 times since then. In addition to SEOBook, Arron continues blogging, speaking at conferences, and participating in many search marketing communities. He consults for clients large and small.

The other advantages of Arron’s work include his vested interests in both the paid and free search engine optimization space. This allows him to give you the big picture of both spaces and can save you many hours on research.

So, next time you are wondering why you are on page 15 of GOOGLE, get some rest and head over to SEOBook and let the education begin.

Brandie Collier Geiger is a wizard at all things admin. If you have an ongoing need for a virtual assistant or need reliable, top-notch help for a one-time project, get in touch with her through her site.

I’ve worked with Brandie for many years and she is a busy entrepreneur’s dream. In fact, she’s already working with four of our clients, and she just launched her very own entrepreneurial venture less than three months ago!

What makes Brandie so wonderful? Her ability to get everything complete, on time, and with a cheerful attitude is second to none.

If you are headed into the world of blogging, you will definitely want to add Windows Live Writer to your toolbox. This is the coolest and most exciting addition to the world of blogs.

Windows Live Writer is a desktop application that makes it easy to publish rich content to your blog. You can use it with most blogging softwares, including WordPress, Blogger and many others. And, if you don’t have a blog yet, this snazzy program will help you set one up!

What exactly is ‘rich content?’ you ask. Well, it’s pretty much anything your creativity can conceive to support your text. Live Writer makes it super easy to add photos, videos, maps, tags and loads of other content – all with just a few keystrokes. Mark is raving about Live Writer and I have to admit that it is pretty impressive. What used to take several tries, formatting changes and the like is easily achieved by letting Live Writer do the heavy lifting.

The program allows you to preview before you post, and includes tools such as spell checker and quick hyperlinks. It is definitely the wave of the future in blogging, and will make your blogging experience so much more hassle-free.

When you are ready, snag it here for free!

I planned to add this to my gift list, and totally forgot about it. I first saw that Shutterfly.com has a cool way to create books when Candace Fitzpatrick shared a book she created for the kids her company worked with last year. The book was like a printed scrapbook and looked like it popped right off of a printing press. The quality was amazing.

Since then, I’ve seen others recommend Shutterfly.com’s books for holiday gifts that are more than unique – they are a memorable treasure. For less than $50.00 ($39.99 for leather with 20 pages, $29.99 for other options with 20 pages), you can have a gift that will last a lifetime.

Companies can use this for capturing a year in the life of their company, special employee outings, retreats, etc. For those who work with clients in an environment where a camera would be appropriate, this might be just that little something extra that gets people talking about your company.

On the personal side, this is sure to thrill grandmas and grandpas for sure. And, with buy one, get 25% off the second one, it’s priced right too.

Our new site is just about to launch, and with it, the blog I’ve been so wanting to write! What was the holdup? Well, uh, I’ve got this teensy weensy issue with not liking cluttery, ugly or downright blah websites.

So one night I get the brain flash to look up “clean, minimalist wordpress template” and my whole word changed!

Enter Brian Gardner. We love his simple, elegant WordPress templates and they are just so easy to use! He’s just released a few more, and if you’ve ever been through the web design process (which can often take months and months), you will be delighted to hear that WordPress sites can be modified in short order – usually taking less than 10 hours tops! Simple changes can be made in less than 10 minutes. Even a novice can do it!

What’s not to love about people like Brian who make the e-world a less cluttery place to live? Plus, his themes are ridiculously affordable! Be sure when you check out the theme that you also look through the Showcase so you can get some ideas about how they can be modified. Bravo Brian – we love you!

Feeling the itch to get a blog moving…go with it!