The Ink Slinger, a newsletter from Social Squids

Welcome to the new monthly newsletter, The Ink Slinger by Social Squids. View this email in your browser

You are receiving this monthly newsletter because of a relationship with Holli Friedland and/or Social Squids. I hope you enjoy it and find some value in what you read here. Feel free to pass The Ink Slinger along to anyone you think might enjoy it. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– To succeed with your social media accounts, be consistent and post often. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Handy app of the month PayPal Here If you use PayPal, adding PayPal Here is a helpful addition. The regular PayPal app only allows you to accept payments from people who have a PayPal account. With PayPal Here, you can order a free card swiper that allows you to accept payments on the spot from anyone with a credit or debit card. There is no monthly charge, just PayPal’s normal fees for accepting a payment.  ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Why blog? Blogging… do I have to? I hear this often from business owners. Blogging is a critical tool to market your business. One goal of every business owner is to have a website ranked highly by Google and other search engines. An inactive page, even if it is highly ranked today, will fall if it is not updated regularly. By having a blog on your website, you are adding content and making the search engines take notice. Keyword saturation used to be the end all of SEO (search engine optimization). It is a little less important to the ranking process now, but using keywords or key phrases in your blog and web pages, will certainly help your website gain popularity. In the beginning, pick topics that are easy for you. These topics are critical to your business and you already know them inside and out, making the writing easier. Here are some other blog ideas: Successes and how you achieved them Failures and how you dealt with them Common problems in your field and how you overcame them Tips, tricks and shortcuts (everyone loves these!) Find well-know people in your field for guest blogging Something fantastic you discovered and would like to share Your blog can serve you in multiple ways. After a blog is written, the major points can be used for social media posts. Larger chunks of blogs can be used in newsletters. Some businesses will even take blogs or newsletters and put them together for a book to give away or sell. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Social Squids offers writing for newsletters, web content, blogs, graphics for print or online, social media, website design and updating. We have far-reaching tentacles! Holli Friedland, Owner Social Squids socialsquids@comcast.net 410-580-0250 www.socialsquids.com Share Tweet Forward +1 Share

Facebook Twitter Website Email LinkedIn Copyright © 2015 Social Squids, All rights reserved.

What would you do?

Last week I found myself in an awkward situation. Maybe you have been there a time or two yourself. Here is my story...

This morning I am sitting in Starbucks for the second time waiting for someone who has not shown up. It is my second attempt on an appointment with this person and getting together was his idea. He seemed rather embarrassed when I talked to him after he missed the first appointment and here I am again. I really thought he would show up this time.

How many appointments do you make with someone and how long do you wait before you bail? This is someone I’ve known for over a year, but we will not be working together at this point. And, I feel like I can't refer people to someone who doesn't feel I am important enough to keep an appointment.

To make matters worse, one guy is talking loudly on his cell phone and a couple is having a conversation with someone on speaker phone. The loud guy is  talking to his appointment who did not show up either. I clearly heard him say, "That's okay. Whenever you can get here is fine."

I have resorted to my headphones, which I don’t like to do because I’m liable to start singing without realizing it. That will not be good in any way.

What is the protocol for being on time? 

In my opinion, you should always be 5-10 minutes early. Then you are never late. I get into panic attacks if I am stuck in traffic and I think I’m going to be late for anything, even if it’s just dinner with good friends and there is no time constraint. Maybe that’s just me.

In the age of cell phones that have alerts to let you know an appointment is coming up or reminders that can let you know you need to do something, there is really no excuse. 

When I first contacted the guy after missing the first appointment, he doubted me, checked his phone’s calendar and admitted I was right. Ouch. Doubting me? That hurt right off the bat. I should have just said forget it, but I was hoping that we could at least share referrals.

If I’m going to be late, I text or call the person to let them know. I had an appointment last week and the guy was 30 minutes late. He messaged me three times letting me know there was an accident on the beltway and that he was trying to get to the appointment. However, this time I have been disrespected – and for the second time.

Last night I considered sending a reminder email, especially because he missed the first appointment, but I figured we're all adults here and should be able to keep an appointment. Seems like I got that wrong.

I will admit, I missed a doctor’s appointment once. I spent the day with that nagging feeling that I was forgetting something, but couldn’t remember what it was. Two hours after the appointment, it hit me. I was embarrassed and felt terrible especially since I would probably be charged for it. Granted, that was years before Siri was around to remind me. I made absolutely sure I did not miss the second appointment!

Should I be insulted? I am. Should my feelings be hurt? They are. Should I just chalk it up to experience and enjoy my Starbucks latte? I should, but I can’t.

OMG. The guy I’m supposed to be meeting just walked in the door and sat down with someone else six feet away from me. Now I’m really mad and in a completely awkward situation. I have no idea what to do. I feel like a complete idiot. I am embarrassed, although I should not be. This is crazy. I should not have started writing this and instead left when I had a chance for a clean break.

Life sure does throw me curve balls. Did he see me sitting here with my headphones and typing away at my keyboard or was he focused on his OTHER appointment with the loud guy I heard talking on the phone earlier. Apparently, he forgot that appointment too. I am seething…

This has become too angry to be a blog. It has become a rant.

The guy didn’t even go up and get coffee, offering me an escape route. I am trapped like a wounded animal. Being generally non-confrontational, I am at a loss. I just want to escape with what little dignity I have. At least his back is to me as I contemplate my predicament.

What would you do if you found yourself in this situation?

To trade or not to trade...

I am currently trading services with a client and considering doing it with another. Over the 26+ years of being in business, I have had the opportunity to trade with a lot of people. It does not always work out to be an even trade, and it doesn’t always end well.

So, trade or no trade?

Personally, there have been things that I could not afford that I really wanted. Every now and then, I found a situation where I could do work in exchange for whatever it was. Sometimes my clients had the same issue. They needed someone to write a newsletter or create a logo or for their company, but didn’t have the money to pay for the service. Usually, these were fledgling companies, like my own at the time.

Back when I first started my freelance business, I could almost always work a trade to my advantage. I traded for veterinary services, pet supplies, baseball tickets and plumbing work. Once I traded for maid services for about a year. That was beautiful, except the woman was always complaining that my house was dirty. Really? Isn’t that why you need a maid? I admit, I definitely got the better end of that deal!

Once I traded typesetting work for restaurant gift certificates. I used one gift certificate to take out a friend for her birthday. I used another to take another friend out to dinner. In exchange, she gave me a tv, a garden hose caddy and a tetanus! Yes, she was fully qualified to administer a shot (I had no insurance at the time). Things were a lot simpler back then. Ah, those were the days…

Not sure if trading organizations still exist, but I was a member of a one in the early ‘90s. The problem was, the monthly fees were due in cash and there was a cash charge for each transaction. I never did very well within that organization. I had hoped to trade for a chain link fence, but that didn’t work out for me. Direct trades worked better for me. The IRS says you have to pay taxes on any income, including trades. You are supposed to declare the value of the traded item.

Trading is a little different for me now. I rarely do it and only do it when I really want or need something. You might considering trading for your business, it can be a way to buy something when there is no cash handy.

Eight ways to attract viewers to your blog

Here is a list of eight ways to raise your popularity. In the comments section, feel free to add any ideas of your own.

1. Post as often as possible. Make your blog entries become a permanent fixture in your readers’ lives. There is something be said for consistency.

2. Add links to some of the old blogs within a new blog. Invariably, you will write about a similar subject to one you wrote about in the past. Connect your older blog with your new one and you will certainly add page views.

3. Use images. Whenever you can, add images, videos, infographics – anything that will attract the eyes of people scanning through pages of information. The image will grab them, and great writing will keep them.

4. Answer all comments people post on your blog. Also, comment on other blogs. This increases your credibility.

5. Give timely and useful information. A blog that says nothing has no reason to be read. Relate big news items like the election, hurricanes, sports victories or other popular trending topics to your blog.

6. Write a great headline. Sometimes the headline is an afterthought. Make sure your headline is as engaging as the rest of the blog.

7. You have a sense of humor – use it! Even if you are writing about a serious topic, being clever and witty will keep people reading.

8. Don’t forget other social media! This probably should have been the first thing on the list. Spread your wealth of information all over the internet. Use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and all of the bookmarking sites to get as many viewers as possible.