Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-30

March 29, 2009 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Twitter 
  • @QueSea Thanks for sharing: 400 Tools for Photographers, Videobloggers… http://bit.ly/eI8st #
  • I just updated my Squidoo page: Traffic Exchanges Bring More Visitors To Your Websites / http://tinyurl.com/6erlwo #
  • @Stazjia Hi Carol. Do you mean traffic exchanges? If so, it would take more than 140 characters to answer. Short answer, not directly. #
  • @Stazjia Hi Carol. I would not call myself a “fan” of traffic exchanges, but they do have their uses and can be effective. #
  • @ElevateYourAds Thanks for the invitation, but I’m decreasing the number of traffic exchanges I use this year, not joining new ones. Sorry. #
  • Ever since living in the desert, I’ve loved rainy days. It’s a cool rainy day and I’m going to take a break and enjoy. Later. #MurphyNC #
  • Have you seen the Local SEO Resource Guide? http://tinyurl.com/dnjc69 #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-23

March 22, 2009 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Twitter 

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-15

March 15, 2009 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Twitter 

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Post flyers to your Facebook profile from Vflyer

March 12, 2009 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Advertising, Dilbeck Marketing, Internet Marketing, Murphy NC 28906, Web Services 

Do you know about Vflyer.com?

I’ve been watching this site as it has developed over the last couple of years and opened a free account in 2007, but never did much with it. I created a test flyer, but never published it.

I think Vflyer.com is ideally suited for people who sell products and who want to create flyers with text and photos using templates that are pretty well designed.

For example, if I were a real estate salesman or sold cars, I’d be using this service on a regular basis.

Since I sell services, I haven’t found it to be all that useful for me, but I keep in touch with what they’re doing so I can pass it along to my consulting clients.

Today, however, when I was catching up on reading the blogs to which I subscribe, I ran across a very interesting post on the Vflyer blog:

New Feature! Post Links to Your Flyers to Your Facebook Profile.

That caught my attention!

I’m always looking for ways to leverage my advertising on social networking sites.

Since I hadn’t visited my Vflyer site in awhile, I went there and saw how pathetic it really was. Now that I was aware of it, I couldn’t leave it like that, so I spent a half-hour or so updating the information and creating a new flyer for my local marketing consulting.

Just as their blog indicated, it was extremely easy to post a link to my new flyer on my Facebook profile.

Not only that, Vflyer automatically posted the flyer to my Google Base account and could have posted to other sites, but, since this was mainly for testing, I chose not to do that.

Another nice thing about Vflyer is that it is easy to create a PDF of your flyer that you can print, email, or otherwise distribute, even if you know practically nothing about PDFs.

There are a few things I don’t like about the flyer I created.

At the top of the flyer, where I’m describing my service, it does not put a blank line between paragraphs, or even indent new paragraphs, and I think that is just bad form.

Otherwise, I’m pretty happy with the layout and the ease of creation of the flyer.

I could have done it myself using Pages or a word processor, but it would have taken much longer and probably would not have looked as nice.

The other thing I am not happy with is the wording in the attributes section of the flyer. I know that it should talk to my clients and should not be about me, so there are some things I will be changing before I start distributing it seriously.

Still, it’s not bad for a free service and about a half-hour of work.

If you’re my friend on Facebook, you can see the link to the flyer.

I know I don’t use enough photos on my blogs and other publications, and this flyer is no different. If I had more talent in that area, I’m sure I could have found a good photo, but I didn’t.

However, if you’re renting property, selling homes, selling cars, or running a service business that is more appropriate for photos, Vflyer makes it easy to add them.

As a free user, you obviously don’t have all the features that paid members enjoy, but it still does a very good job. Paid accounts start at less than $15 per month and I believe their service would easily be worth that amount if I sold high-end products, especially if I lived in a larger town that had a local Craigslist or Kijiji site.

All in all, this was an unexpected, yet very interesting diversion from what I had planned for my morning.

I already know of a couple of clients I’ll be advising to start using the services provided by Vflyer.

What do you think?

Act on your dream!

JD

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-08

March 8, 2009 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Twitter 
  • @calgreg Hi Greg. I agree, Koyaanisqatsi is a movie that will make an impression. I can’t think of escalators without thinking of hotdogs. #
  • @calgreg I just saw it a few months ago. I kept waiting for a narrator. It felt weird watching it and I had to start it over. Great movie! #
  • @Moonvine Good morning, Joan. Hey! You got my snow! (grin) We didn’t get any. It went south and east of us. Glad you have heat and coffee. #
  • @obilon Happy birthday to your little snow angel. I hope she has a wonderful third birthday. #
  • Cafe’ Bella Luna – Get your second night for 1/2 price! – Expires 05-30-2009 – #MurphyNC http://tinyurl.com/acq4c2 #
  • Mountain Spirit Essentials – Go for the 3 Pots of Gold – Expires 03-17-2009 – #MurphyNC http://tinyurl.com/ak88pr #
  • @KEvoy I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying your Caribbean winter. You earned it! #
  • Douglas Johnson offers advice on living in a log home. #MurphyNC http://tinyurl.com/log-home-care #

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Biltmore opens new suite of rooms on April 4, 2009

March 7, 2009 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Heritage Tourism 

One of my favorite places to visit in western North Carolina is the Biltmore House, which is located just south of Asheville.

I could live in the library!

I just now learned that they are about to complete a restoration project and open four more guest bedrooms next month. Here’s what they say on their site:

In July 2006, The Biltmore Company began a major preservation project—restoration of four guest bedrooms on the second floor of Biltmore House. Having been restored to their original splendor, these rooms will open to the public for the first time on the self-guided tour beginning April 4, 2009.

Their website has an interesting article describing the four rooms that have been restored.

Have you seen the Biltmore House?

Act on your dream!

JD

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Hand-crafted Steel Roses

March 5, 2009 by JD · 4 Comments
Filed under: Arts and Crafts 

I love blacksmithing. There is something almost magical about heating iron to a nice red heat and then reshaping it with precise hammer blows.

One of the things I like to make are hand-crafted steel roses.

However, for a couple of reasons I won’t go into here, I’m not able to do it right now.

Since I still get requests for steel roses now and then, I’m always happy to meet someone who creates them.

Today, I received a nice email from Travis Rankin, and he introduced me to his hand-crafted steel roses.

You can learn more about Travis and his steel roses at Wroughtenart.com.

In a couple of ways, I like his roses better than mine, especially the way he makes the leaves.

This isn’t a personal endorsement, because I don’t really know Travis, but if you’re looking for steel roses for a special person, you may want to contact him.

Act on your dream!

JD

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Murphy, NC online community growing

March 3, 2009 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Business, Groups, Murphy NC 28906, Social Networking 

I always enjoy creating something new and watching it grow. That’s what’s happening with our new online community for Murphy, NC – a website designed for business networking and social networking for people who live in our charming little mountain town or who are interested in the area.

Our Murphy, NC Social Networking Community is less than a month old and already we’re attracting visitors from four countries, including the United States, Canada, China, and Australia.

Over 17% of the visitors to the site are coming from the search engines, so that indicates that we’re getting indexed and found for both local and general searches.

Over time, as we get new members and increased participation, more visitors will find us and learn about what is taking place in Murphy, NC. I believe this community will be even more useful for the people who live here and join in the fun.

I am happy to do all I can to help promote our community, but I can’t do it all by myself, so I encourage you to join and participate.

Tell us what you are doing and keep us up to date on what’s happening with your business, organizations, churches, and other interests and activities.

When you join, you can customize your profile page with information about you and what you’re doing.

You have your very own blog there and can join in, or start, discussions in our forum.

I’ve been busy creating new groups to make it easy for people who share common interests to meet and interact with each other.

I don’t want to create too many groups, but I’m always listening to what you want, and if you want a new group created for your interests, just let me know.

The following groups are active and ready for you to join and participate in, and are presented in no particular order:

If you visit the groups page, you’ll see all the groups and a brief description of their purpose.

I am happy to do what I can to help promote Murphy, NC and the people who live here. I can cover a small part of the activities in our area, but your participation is required if our online community is to reach its potential.

Don’t be shy. Join in the fun and tell us what’s happening in your corner of the Murphy area.

Of course, it’s free!

I hope to see you there.

Act on your dream!

JD

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Updates at GeorgiaDragRacing.com

March 3, 2009 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Georgia Drag Racing 

Over the weekend, I finally made the time to update GeorgiaDragRacing.com and add something that has been bothering me for some time.

Bogan Renfroe continues as Top Sponsor

First on the list was thanking Bogan Renfroe for sponsoring GeorgiaDragRacing.com for the seventh year in a row.

My brother, David Dilbeck, is the real force behind his Georgia Drag Racing site. It was his passion and life-long interest in drag racing that led me to start the site for him almost a decade ago.

It is unfortunate that he developed physical problems that make it impossible for him to work without constant pain, and he can no longer go to the drag racing events that are so important to him.

Still, we do what we can to help others learn more about drag racing history in Georgia and even some updates for what’s happening currently.

Bogan Renfroe’s support has made it possible to continue building this site and presenting information to many thousands of readers every year.

Thank you, Bogan, for all your support. We could not have done it without you.

If you’re in Georgia in the area north of Atlanta and need mining and grading help, you should contact Bogan. His phone number is 770-457-2655.

Georgia Drag Racing Photos List

Over the last seven years, David has found hundreds of rare photos showing parts of the history of drag racing in Georgia. He took some of them, and others were submitted by a variety of photographers and racers who let us publish photos from their collections.

Now, we have 444 Georgia Drag Racing Photos, but until last weekend, there was no list nor index to make it easier to find them.

On Saturday afternoon, I decided the time was right to create such a list and add it to the Photo Gallery page.

After all, I had all the information stored in a database, so how long would it take to go through it, do some simple copying and pasting, and create a list that will be helpful now and in the future as we add more photos?

I could knock that out in a couple of hours, right?

It’s a good thing I didn’t know how long it would take when I first started, because it may not have been completed.

The couple of hours turned into the rest of the day, all night, and most of Sunday, with a couple of time-outs for short naps.

In this case, my stubbornness proved to be an asset. Once I started, I wasn’t going to stop until it was completed.

I don’t know if it will help you find photos that interest you, but I know that it reminded me of photos that were added years ago that I completely forgot about.

I hope there are few or no errors in that list, but if you find any, please let me know.

Decluttering the announcements

Over the last few months, as I’ve been tied up with more pressing things and David has rarely felt like working on the site, all the announcements we show on the top of every page became more and more bloated.

David and I talked it over and have dramatically decluttered the current announcements. We’re still linking to two drag racing reunions that took place last year and we’ll be updating both of them when the information for this years’ reunions becomes available.

Hopefully, we’ll be able to continue updating the site over the coming years and do our small part to help spread the word to drag racing fans in Georgia.

You can stay up to date with at least a part of Georgia Drag Racing news on David’s site, which syndicates his blog.

Don’t forget, you can see lots of new photos uploaded to the Georgia Drag Racing albums on Webshots.com.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the photos and information we can present on the site. We hope thousands of readers will learn more about Georgia Drag Racing in the coming years.

All the best,

JD

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-01

March 1, 2009 by JD · Comments Off
Filed under: Twitter 
  • I enjoy shopping locally, in person. Socializing is as important as convenience. #local http://tinyurl.com/agv3bl #
  • @CCGAL Good morning, Janelle. I know what you mean about being busy. Come on back to Squidoo Marketing when you get your ducks in a row. #
  • @hellams Good morning, Nancy. I started a group for Merchant Circle on my Murphy NC community. We can talk about it there, if you want. #
  • @cjbart Good morning, Chuck. Doing well on this end. I hope you are too. #
  • @cjbart Yes, Chuck. I think now is an excellent time to help local businesses expand their marketing on the Internet. #
  • @cjbart If I ever get broadband access here, I’d enjoy joining you in your marketing classes. Do you have any low-bandwidth classes? #
  • @cjbart Hi Chuck. I looked at the site and thought it was online, only. I’ll visit again and look more closely. #
  • @martinbigler Good morning, Martin. I appreciate your kind words and comments about the Aweber affiliate marketing program changes. #
  • @cjbart What kind of system for clients with no Internet? #

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