Category Archives: Social Media

#Hashtags Have Arrived… To #Facebook

(Picture Source: www.empowernetwork.com)

If you know anything about Twitter or Instagram, you know all about hashtags. They are Twitter’s unique creation which Instagram uses as well, to help identify keywords or trending topics. They are Twitter and Instagram’s key feature and many have argued they have no place on Facebook and should not be added to statuses. However, many people have their social media accounts linked that ultimately set up posts to auto sync and go out to Twitter and Facebook at the same time which includes the hashtags.

First, if you are not sure their purpose allow me to explain a bit. A hashtag is identified by the # symbol. They can be used anywhere with a status that is posted, when the # symbol is placed in front of a word or phrase, it becomes a clickable term and if used widely enough they can actually become a popular trending concept.

Well, Facebook has officially launched their support of the hashtag. While hashtags had always been a tool for discovery and conversation on Twitter and Instagram, it now can make Facebook a much more robust platform for discovering shared trends and interests amongst your connections. Furthermore, this feature definitely makes the need to leave Facebook far less appealing for all those thinking about it or turning to Twitter for their social media needs.

How Facebook #hashtags work:

Facebook #hashtags appear as clickable links in desktop posts. Engaging with the #hashtag will open a separate feed that organizes conversations from Pages and people who have used the same #hashtag. Additionally, users can find posts related to specific topics or interests by searching on Facebook for relevant #hashtags.

Some other key points:

#Hashtags will now be hyperlinked to a “page” with a history, and a “status update” window to join the conversation.
#Hashtags when clicked in the newsfeed will create an “overlay”, but the URL generated can be used for direct linking: www.facebook.com/hashtag/AlpineSmallBusinessSolutions
#Hashtags do not impact the distribution of content on Facebook’s news feed process, but have the potential to increase engagement and discovery.
You do not have to create #hashtag pages on Facebook; Facebook will automatically go through every page’s history to determine the links. (Less work for you)
#Hashtag results include posts that are first related to your friend graph, but then show public results from pages and people.
#Hashtags currently are only clickable on desktop, not mobile. (I’m sure that will be coming soon)
#Hashtags do not change your current privacy settings so if your posts can only be seen by friends, then your posts with #hashtags would also only be seen by friends.

Implications:

#Hashtags combine platforms: If you are currently using a #hashtag for a campaign, whether on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter, that #hashtag campaign will work on Facebook. Any #hashtags that are posted through linked third party sites will automatically populate on Facebook.
Don’t go #hashtagging (is that a word?) everything (yet): #Hashtags to this point have been primarily on Twitter and Facebook communities may not understand their usage right away when they appear on Facebook. With this feature only being rolled out to a small percentage of users at this time, we recommend waiting until there is more widespread adoption before implementing a Facebook #hashtag strategy in your content plan.
Potential for increased engagement: Just as it is on Twitter and Instagram, being part of a relevant and current #hashtag conversation on Facebook could have the potential to increase engagement. Brands can leverage #hashtags to create real-time content and stay relevant in conversation. Content can be adjusted based on what people are saying in reference to #hashtags for specific events, brands or announcements.
Significant SEO implications: Currently, when a user searches a #hashtag for a brand, Twitter results will be the first ones shown. The inclusion of #hashtags on Facebook could lead to more traffic on a branded Facebook properties as well.
Conversation and listening reporting and analytics: Insights and trending topics are not yet available, but Facebook expects to roll out more updates to the product in the near future. So stay tuned!

Admittedly, we are seeing the hashtag used widely, even on television shows so for Facebook to adopt the twitter hashtag really just means that it is keeping up with the latest trends. Having said that, Facebook continues to reinvent itself and stand-alone. All successful businesses have a point of difference. But for now, Facebook hashtags are live, clickable and searchable.

And as always, if this stuff makes you dizzy and you just don’t want to take the time to learn all the ins and out of Facebook and #hashtags, remember that Alpine Small Business Solutions, is your one stop shop for all your social media, Virtual Assistant, Online Business Manager and business building need. We got your back, so give us a jingle or shoot over an email anytime we’re here to help.

Thank you for visiting our blog. We hope you enjoyed it. As a friendly reminder don’t forget to share this blog on your social networks and please comment, we love hearing from you!

This blog is brought to you by Alpine Small Business Solutions, Your Virtual Assistant and Online Business Manager Solution. Delegate. Grow. Prosper

3 Features Google+ offers for Businesses

Google Plus was launched in June 2011 as a social network operated by Google. The service was first introduced as “invitation only” but after such high demand, Google+ was opened to anyone over the age of 18, and later to the public. It has been suggested that G+ is Google’s greatest attempt to compete with Facebook.

Google identifies G+ as a “social layer” that encompasses its many other online services. The social network integrates features including Google Profiles, Maps, Circles, Hangouts and more. Businesses already depend on several of Google’s services and social media marketing, so why not take advantage of all the benefits at once.

Google is considered the preferred search engine with over 75% of search users worldwide. This aspect alone makes Google+ valuable for businesses and brand promotion. Businesses who utilize Google+ pages will not only experience an increase in visibility for local searches but will also benefit in rankings as it is indexed by Google. As one of the newest social networks, many businesses have yet to discover and take advantage of all Google+ has to offer.

Google+ can help current and potential customers find your business page easier. Google provides the benefit of linking your G+ Business page with your G+ Local Page through the use of Google Maps. Users are able to interact with your business by posting reviews about your service and their experience. Google+ offers three main features for businesses: share, promote and measure.

Google+ pages help businesses form relationships with their customers by communicating through sharing posts, photos, videos and links. You can make your page private and offer promotions exclusively to your followers or you can make posts public and users can find you by simply searching online. Google+ also allows users to manage circles. You are able to target specific information to certain groups of followers based on their interests, location or demographics. It is important to interact with your followers by responding to their comments, questions and complaints. Google also provides the ability to communicate with customers or fellow employees face-to-face by video through the use of “Google Hangouts.”

The second main feature Google+ offers to business users is the ability to promote their page with the G+ badge. Similar to Facebook, viewers are able to promote your website and Google+ page through the “+1” button. “+1” buttons are automatically added to brand pages encouraging viewers to “follow” your Google+ page. Searchers are able to make personal recommendations to their “circles” of friends and family by clicking the “+1” button.

Most importantly, Google+ lets you measure your results. Businesses are able to see what users are saying about their brand, the number of “+1’s” their pages receive and how this affects their online traffic. Gaining an understanding of what people are saying about your business lets you reward your fans with a gift or address an issue you may not have known existed. You are also able to learn who is sharing your posts and use that knowledge to recognize their interests. Google Analytics’ Social Plug-in provides social reports to help you measure how “+1s” influence your site’s engagement and what pages of your site interests viewers the most.

Many businesses’ think the best thing about Google+ is its connection to the Google search engine. Google, which has long been the holy grail of SEO, is using information and statistics obtained from Google+ to affect search results. So using the platform to the fullest advantage will absolutely benefit your SEO campaign. Conclusion being, if you have a business, you NEED Google+!

And as always, if this stuff makes you dizzy and you just don’t want to take the time to learn all the ins and out of Google+, Remember that Alpine Small Business Solutions, is your one stop shop for all your social media, Virtual Assistant, Online Business Manager and business building need. We got your back, so give us a jingle or shoot over an email anytime we’re here to help.

Thank you for visiting our blog. We hope you enjoyed it. As a friendly reminder don’t forget to share this blog on your social networks and please comment, we love hearing from you!

This blog is brought to you by Alpine Small Business Solutions, Your Virtual Assistant and Online Business Manager Solution. Delegate. Grow. Prosper

4 Cool Tools for Managing Your Twitter

Social media has become such an essential part of businesses marketing strategy these days and there is sooooo much information out there it can be a bit overwhelming. BUT, there is hope for those that get dizzy just thinking about their social media marketing and strategy…it is called a Virtual Assistant!

A Virtual Assistant can set up and manage all social media for your business. It is now possible to reach out to hundreds or even thousands in a matter of seconds all through the power of a tweet or a wall post. Maximizing interaction with potential clients and increasing sales is the idea of managing social media profiles of many businesses.

Now take a deep breathe, don’t freak out, and find peace of mind that there is hope in managing your social media and keeping your Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, etc. active daily. Just like email (which I know some feel like is an overwhelming task as well) you need to pay attention to the messages that come floating in through your social channels. Just like email you need to respond to messages and responses, interact through all the groups you are a part of, and keep a happy line of communication to ensure you control your reputation of a good person to do business with. Therefore, keeping up with all your online accounts can take up hours of your time that we know you could be working and making money during.

Shhhhh, here is a little secret….ideally, you should not spend more than 30-60 minutes replying and posting online daily on Twitter. How do you do this? Is this possible, you ask? I have found four Twitter services to make that online work more efficient and allow you time for other tasks in your already busy life.

Hootsuite

A reason people spend so much time on social media is because they have to constantly switch from screen to screen, search for important information to post, think of new ideas, etc. every day. With Hootsuite, possibly one of the most used social media tools out there, allow you to register up to five of your social media profiles to permit interacting with your Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn followers easy.

The interface on all the different accounts has unique designs to allow for less confusion and quick recognition. If you want to send a message to all your profiles, this can be done with one simple click of a button. The messages with automatically appear on the profile(s) you chose.

Another awesome advantage of using this tool for social media is the ability to schedule your posts on specific dates at specific times during the future. This is especially helpful if you won’t be able to tend to any of your social media outlets due to other obligations and commitments. Once you schedule the messages they will post even if you do not log in that day.

InboxQ

Did you know there are Twitter users who are waiting to become your followers, or possibly even clients? The problem is, they just don’t know it yet. When people ask questions about products and/or services that your business offers, InboxQ perhaps the most helpful when it comes to generating leads for your business, allows you to find them.

The application can be downloaded and installed on your browser or Hootsuite dashboard. Once installed, you enter keywords that are relevant to your business and InboxQ will then search questions asked on Twitter. There is no limit of keywords, as long as they help you receive returned questions. From that point, you answer the tweets with relevant information about what your business can offer them in answering their questions.

Commun.it

This is another social media service that allows your virtual assistant or online business manager to build more Twitter leads, which in turn will increase your sales by focusing on your list of high-value followers. Any user who mentions your business name will
appear on a special list, which will make it easier to engage with those who are truly interested and allow you to strengthen your relationships. The service also automatically populates your different followers into groups for segmentation purposes. Similar to InboxQ you can enter keywords that will then be used to discover new leads for your business. You can sign up for a free account that will allow you to engage 30 times with a single user but then requires payment.

Topsy

Along with social media you are guaranteed to have customer feedback. This will be great for possible clients of your business since most research on the Internet prior to shopping with any specific business and making any purchases. Obviously, positive feedback draws them to your business and negative with repel them. Searching for posts on Topsy and retweeting, liking and commenting on them is important.

If you receive a negative comment make sure you provide a solution and answers. If possible find a way to correct the mistake this way even if you receive a negative comment on social media the manner you resolve it will speak high volumes.

There are a myriad of selections out there that can be used from your online business managers or virtual assistant to help keep you known out there and allow for optimum social media engaging. Your time is your most precious asset and social media should not eat into your business and personal time on a daily basis. Carve out specific time, get these and other great tools and use your time wisely and receive the most value for your minute!

And as always, if this stuff makes you dizzy and you just don’t want to take the time to learn all the ins and out of Twitter, Alpine Small Business, is your one stop shop for all your social media needs. Give us a jingle or shoot over an email anytime we’re here to help.

Thank you for visiting our blog. We hope you enjoyed it. As a friendly reminder don’t forget to share this blog on your social networks and please comment, we love hearing from you!

This blog is brought to you by Alpine Small Business Solutions, Your Virtual Assistant and Online Business Manager Solution. Delegate. Grow. Prosper

5 Ways to Use LinkedIn for Business

When is the last time you sat down just to browse LinkedIn to see what people were saying? LinkedIn is often viewed or thought of as the step child on FaceBook where businesses focus limited social media efforts but can use many of the features available to answer questions regarding their business or the capabilities and qualifications present.

When companies are looking for a specific job to be done they can easily look for it by going into the questions that were asked and responses shared to see who has the most ability to complete this task and see the employees that will be working to know what certification they have in the area they need. They then have the option of contacting the business of their choice to get the best outcome possible.

There are many ways to use LinkedIn for your business but many do not know how. Here are a few ways to use the answers you find on LinkedIn for your business.

Learn what questions your prospective clients have and use this to generate content for a blog post, videos, or email content
Identify and connect with key influencers who are asking questions to help build your network
Develop yourself as a thought leader in the industry by providing helpful answers without sounding salesy
Set your company up as a resource for your clients and prospects without pushing a sale so they come to you organically
Build brand awareness and generate leads

LinkedIn answers provide a great opportunity to engage with your market during their initial research phase and begin lead nurturing and build brand awareness.

Do you want to shake things up and get the word out of what you offer and do to your connections? Check out these action steps to help those connections notice you.

Ask for Advice. The absolute best thing you can do on LinkedIn is to ask for advice. Don’t go in and promote a blog post or something specific. Instead, go in and ask for advice by asking, “What are your best social media tips?”, “Do you still make cold calls? If so, what works?” or “How do you use LinkedIn for B2B lead generation?”

Update Your Profile. This is an easy way to get on people’s radar screen. Each time you update your profile, LinkedIn lets other users know. When people see your updates, they know you’re active, vibrant and still in business. Reminding people you are still there is all they need to refresh their memory of who you are and what you do.

Add a Turner Box Around Your Profile Photo. This is a neat little way to grab people’s attention. It’s based on the fact that the human eye notices the color red more than any other color. By adding a red Turner Box around your profile photo, you can make your LinkedIn profile stand out more, which will result in more engagement.

Follow Thought-Leaders on LinkedIn Today. LinkedIn Today is a great tool that keeps you up-to-date on the latest industry happenings. Sign up and stay fresh in all the news and happenings going on in the LinkedIn world.

Use the Alumni Tool to Connect with Friends. The Alumni Tool is one of the better features on LinkedIn. Go to CONTACTS in the menu bar and drag down to your college or university. There, you’ll see your old friends and, more importantly, their jobs and their companies. These connections already know you so if they are following you they are more likely to help promote your business to their friends, for FREE!

Do not go into LinkedIn expecting great results, especially instantly. It is not like FaceBook in the manor that you go in with an idea and expect certain immediate results. It just doesn’t work that way. Go in knowing you are ready and willing to give and all information and watch how people slowly start to follow you and want to know more about what you offer.

And as always, if this stuff makes you dizzy and you just don’t want to take the time to learn all the ins and out of Linkedin, Alpine Small Business, is your one stop shop for all your social media needs. Give us a jingle or shoot over an email anytime we’re here to help.

10 Pinterest Tools for Business

I am a huge fan of Pinterest and am finding that I’m using it more and more. There are a lot of skeptics out there that think it’s just for girls, or don’t see the business value, but for you Pinterest virgins out there, I really recommend you try it out.

It’s a great tool for businesses (when used effectively) and I’m seeing more engagement, sharing and traffic back as a result.

As Pinterest has grown and become more popular unsurprisingly we have seen a rise of tools that have popped into the marketplace to help manage, measure and enhance the Pinterest experience. Without further ado, here are my favorite Pinterest tools and the reasons I love them:

1. PinAlerts

PinAlerts is a very useful Pinterest tool that allows you to find out in real time whether someone has pinned something from your website. It allows you to quickly respond and say thanks to those who are promoting your work, as well as helps increasing your followers by asking your pinners to follow some of your other boards. PinAlerts is still in its infancy (aka beta version) and they have plans for more features to arrive soon, such as the possibility to broadcast the number of your repins on your website.

2. Pinreach

Pinreach helps you understand better where you stand on Pinterest and how well you’re doing, by calculating your Pinterest “score.” Another useful feature is that you can see the daily trending members and trending pins. This is great for boosting your engagement: repins, comments and increase in followers to your boards.

3. Hootsuite

Ok, I admit this one is a slight cheat as I use Hootsuite predominantly for Twitter and Facebook but I thought it was worth a mention here particularly as they have now included Pinterest tracking to their portfolio.

4. Followers on Pinterest

Followers on Pinterest is a smartphone/tablet app that costs £0.69. It’s very similar to another one of my favourite Twitter tools, ManageFlitter. You can use it to find out who isn’t following you back, track new followers, follow and unfollow users and discover new people and boards to follow. One of the most interesting features of this app is that it allows you to keep track of everyone who has everunfollowed you!

5. Pin Search

If you use Google Chrome and Pinterest, then you may find this tool very useful. It’s a Chrome extension that allows you to Google search using any picture on Pinterest. This way you can get all the information there is on a picture as well as similar pictures. A great discovery tool for Pinterest!

6. Piqora

Piqora (formerly known as Pinfluencer) is a great tool for anyone who is serious about using Pinterest for marketing reasons. You can use it to start any promotions on Pinterest, to track your results with their analytics and manage your content (including pin scheduling). Another great feature is Pinner360, that helps you identify your most influential pinners, your brand advocates as well as who engages the most with you. A very useful tool and a must for those using Pinterest for their business.

7. Pinstamatic

Pinstamatic is a great Pinterest tool that helps you make even better boards. Regular images are just not enough anymore to stand out, and with this tool you can get that extra edge over your competition. For example, you can add quotations to your board, which has a much better chance of attracting users to it as well as fun sticky notes. Another great feature is that you can share music on your boards and your friends can play them right from there – a great tool that helps you create more diverse and more fun boards. You can also use Pinstamatic to add a map to your Pinterest board, so that whenever someone clicks on it they are directed to your location on Google Maps.

8. Pinterest Right Click

Pinterest Right Click is another browser extension, but this time for Mozilla Firefox users. Once installed, it adds a “Pin Image” option to your right-click menu, so whenever you find an image that you would like to pin, you can do it very quickly by right-clicking.

9. PinBooster

PinBooster is a great tool for those who want to advertise on Pinterest. It works simply by compensating popular pinners to endorse your business on Pinterest. They can share your photos and videos and promote your hashtags and events to their followers. It’s a useful way to grow your follower base and even get some leads out of it. And if you are a great pinner yourself and have lots of followers, you can sign up on Pinbooster and actually get paid to pin.

10. Snapito

Snapito is a tool from the Pinstamatic family that has a very simple, yet useful feature. It allows you to pin your website easily, by entering its address on their website and with the click of a button you get a screenshot of the website that you can then quickly post to your Pinterest board. Another very similar tool is a Google Chrome extension called ShotPin, which pretty much does the same thing!

So there you have it a list of my 10 favorite Pinterest tools! I can’t wait for more tools to pop up so I can try them all and do a more extensive list. Until then, Happy Pinning!

And as always, if this stuff makes you dizzy and you just don’t want to take the time to learn all the ins and out of Pinterest, Alpine Small Business, is your one stop shop for all your social media needs. Give us a jingle or shoot over an email anytime we’re here to help.

Top 5 Facebook Tools for Businesses

I was part of the social revolution before social media was even cool. I remember sitting awake on Myspace (remember Myspace?) for hours learning about people, friends and colleagues. It was captivating to have so much information at your finger tips and such a easy way to promote your passion and lifestyle.

Then over the years , Myspace went by the wayside and Facebook became a common household name. Currently Facebook has passed the 1 billion active users mark, and is said to be the largest social network in the world. Furthermore Facebook isn’t only for connecting with friends, family and co-workers, but also a powerful place for , many brands and businesses. Many small and large sized businesses have flocked to Facebook to connect with and market themselves with their target audience.

A large number of social media marketing tools have surfaced to help assist those companies with effectively managing their Facebook marketing activities to help gain the most from their time.

So, being that we love to help folks and businesses, we went out and found 5 of the top Facebook tools that are on the market for your use to help make your life easier. There’re simple tools to assist in engaging with your audience to the more complex tools for the more advanced marketing needs.

Hootsuite

A reason people spend so much time on social media is because they have to constantly switch from screen to screen, search for important information to post, think of new ideas, etc. every day. Hootsuite is a social management platform for managing multiple social accounts. It separates engagements and keywords monitored by columns known as streams.

Wildfire Interactive

Wildfire Interactive is a platform for brands to quickly create and launch Facebook marketing and promotional campaigns such as contests. Sweepstakes, group deals and competitions. Wildfire simplifies the process of Facebook promotions for your Facebook page. With their customizable templates featuring an easy drag and drop interface, you’ll have you promotion up and running in no time. It’s perfect for marketers who do not have their own development team to create campaigns from scratch.

Socialmotus

SocialMotus is a great alternative for those who want a less cluttered interface than Hootsuite, while still being able to manage multiple social accounts from one platform. With SocialMotus you’ll have everything you need to build, manage and measure your social community in one simple interface. Additional features include the ability to get Twitter followers fast, handle priority messages quickly, track conversions and stats from Twitter and Facebook post and more.

Conversocial

Conversocial focuses on helping businesses moderate and quickly respond to customer service and support messages through Facebook and Twitter. Conversocials key feature is its Priority Response Engine, similar to the SocialMotus priority messaging system. This allows priority messages containing specific keywords to be placed in a special priority inbox, making it easier to handle high volumes of customer service and support questions sent through your Facebook and Twitter channels.

Edgerank Checker

This offers straight forward and easy-to-understand analytics of your Facebook page, providing you with an EdgeRank score that ranks objects in the Facebook News Feed. Your EdgeRank score is a great indication of the effectiveness of your Facebook page. Pages with high EdgeRank Scores will be more likely to show up in the news feed, than Pages with low scores. Its pro plans also offer comparisons between your page and the overall industry reports to help provide further insight into what is working across the board.

With so many options out there to help you manage your social media outlets it is much easier to have options available for what fits your lifestyle. We are all rushed for time and need something simple but with many benefits to help our business grow. Facebook is one of several social media interactive platforms that allow our business to be known and grow. Make the best of your time with these helpful tools.

And as always, if this stuff makes you dizzy and you just don’t want to take the time to learn all the ins and out of Facebook, Alpine Small Business, is your one stop shop for all your social media needs. Give us a jingle or shoot over an email anytime we’re here to help.

How Long Should A Blog Be?

In this big world of content management, social media and blogging, it is easy to get lost in all the details that are available. The beauty of the web is that it is never constant and is an ever changing environment. That means if you are a business or entrepreneur you need to be sure that you have flowing and updated information on your own website. This ensures optimal Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranking on such sites as Goggle, Bing and Yahoo. One way to ensure that you have fresh content on your websites is to be consistent in blog writing.

What is a blog, you might ask, well a blog is essentially a journal or diary that is on your website. It is a place you share information pertaining to you and/or your business. A blog can provide up-to-date news, technical information, political topics, business support, health, wellness, sports and other topics that burn passion in your heart. One of the most common question asked by businesses and new writers wanting to join the online social blogging community is, “How long should a blog be?”

Many professional bloggers have a different answer for this. The best way to put it is that there is no right or wrong answer! Some may say a blog should be 250-500 words while others say 500-750 words and there are even those who swear by 700-1,000 words! Then you have those that will not give a number and just say however short or long you need the blog to be in order to get your message across!

It’s actually quite natural to have blogs with different lengths. A blog post should be as long as you need it to be to make your point across to your reader. You want to keep your audience engaged. Your topic will determine the length of your blog. If you are blogging about where the best place is to buy eggs vs. who should one vote for, the length can vary greatly! You will also want to reflect on your blog once finished. Is it too wordy or is it too concise? If you don’t feel good about it you should change it!

You would not want to write 750 words on where to buy eggs. This will bore your reader and you will lose their interest! However, if you want to write that much when it comes to the heart of politics, especially if it is something you are passionate about, go for it! If you feel that a blog is getting too long and is becoming a book I strongly suggest breaking it down and creating a series of blogs. This will help with your SEO and will keep readers coming back for more.

There are advantages in both short and long blogs. Short blogs take a shorter amount of time to write so if you want to write everyday then a shorter blog would be the way to go. If you expect 800 words or more every day, you may lose interest in blogging soon after starting. However, as easy as short blogs are they will not implement On-Page SEO techniques, which are ultimately, what attracts attention to your page. While lengthier blogs do take longer to write, readers who appreciate the content will value the information and will draw attention to your site. Readers also enjoy images within blogs which allows them to connect more with the topic being blogged about.

Many bloggers like to change it up and have a short blog and later that week they may have a longer blog. I personally think a variety of blogging is good. You don’t want to be predictable. Readers often enjoy reading short blogs more often because their attention span does not stay on the subject, therefore when writing both short and long, you give the reader reason to check back frequently and even subscribe to your blogs. Keep your readers coming back for the variety you may offer them. As long as your keyword density is intact and you are getting your point across you should be set.

The more the blog is to the point, the easier it is for the reader to extract the information you are relaying. Readers tend to scan not read long blogs, keep the content compelling and strong. The first paragraph of any blog should grab the readers’ attention so they want to keep going. You could create a series of blogs to make your blog grow quicker. By doing this your readers will be looking forward to reading about what you have to say next. Don’t be afraid to use the thesaurus to find new vocabulary and be ready for the replies you may receive. Keep your own interests in mind; do you like long or shorter blogs? Remember to keep an optimistic mind and you will be a successful blogger! Most of all…Happy Blogging!!!!

Bored with the Same Old Skype Emoticons? Check this out!

Do you use Skype for business and pleasure? If you are like me, I am on Skype all the time. Chit chatting with my clients, my team and my family.

It is such a great tool for business professionals and is totally free. It includes screen sharing, video calling, file sharing, Facebook integration and other really nifty add ons. Because I have unique needs I opted for the upgraded version and in my opinion totally worth the affordable yearly fee.

Now, if you use Skype you know that they are pretty limited on the amount of emoticons they have to offer…It can totally get boring . So I decided to head out on a search to try and spice it up a bit. After a few google searches I found these and since I am all about spreading the wealth, I just had to share.

Check out all the hidden and the secret smileys I found!

Use them often and have some fun with sharing your emotions!

		Finger	(finger)
		Bandit	(bandit)
		Drunk	(drunk)
		Smoking	(smoking)(smoke)(ci)
		Toivo	(toivo)
		Rock	(rock)
		Headbang	(headbang)(banghead)
		Bug	(bug)
		Fubar	(fubar)
		Poolparty	(poolparty)
		Swearing	(swear)
		TMI	(tmi)
		Heidy	(heidy)
		Mooning	(mooning)

		High Five	(highfive) (hifive) (h5)
		Face Palm	(Facepalm) (fail)
		Fingers Crossed	(fingers) (fingerscrossed) (yn)
		Lalala	(lalala) (lala) (notlistening)
		Waiting	(waiting) (forever) (impatience)
		Tumbleweed	(tumbleweed)
		Working From Home	(wfh)

Check out this list of Skype Emoticons and Smileys – Enjoy!

		Smile	🙂 :=) 🙂
		Sad Smile	🙁 :=( 🙁
		Big Smile	:D:=D:-D:d:=d:-d
		Cool	8)8=)8-)B)B=)B-)(cool)
		Wink	:o:=o:-o:O:=O:-O
		Crying	;(;-(;=(
		Sweating	(sweat)(:\|
		Speechless	:\|:=\|:-\|
		Kiss	::=:-*
		Tongue Out	:P:=P:-P:p:=p:-p
		Blush	(blush):$:-$:=$:”>
		Wondering	:^)
		Sleepy	\|-)I-)I=)(snooze)
		Dull	\|(\|-(\|=(
		In love	(inlove)

		Evil grin	]:)>:)(grin)
		Talking	(talk)
		Yawn	(yawn)\|-()
		Puke	(puke):&:-&:=&
		Doh!	(doh)
		Angry	:@:-@:=@x(x-(x=(X(X-(X=(
		It wasn’t me	(wasntme)
		Party!!!	(party)
		Worried	:S:-S:=S:s:-s:=s
		Mmm…	(mm)
		Nerd	8-\|B-\|8\|B\|8=\|B=\|(nerd)
		Lips Sealed	:x:-x:X:-X:#:-#:=x:=X:=#
		Hi	(hi)
		Call	(call)
		Devil	(devil)
		Angel	(angel)

		Envy	(envy)
		Wait	(wait)
		Bear	(bear)(hug)
		Make-up	(makeup)(kate)
		Covered Laugh	(giggle)(chuckle)
		Clapping Hands	(clap)
		Thinking	(think):?:-?:=?
		Bow	(bow)
		Rolling on the floor laughing	(rofl)
		Whew	(whew)
		Happy	(happy)
		Smirking	(smirk)
		Nodding	(nod)
		Shaking	(shake)
		Punch	(punch)
		Emo	(emo)
		Yes	(y)(Y)(ok)
		No	(n)(N)
		Shaking Hands	(handshake)

Skype Emoticons and Smileys, like all other Emoticons and Smileys, have evolved
over recent years. Initially they were simple graphics and about the same size as
the font text in the messaging service or website where they were being used.

		Skype	(skype)(ss)
		Heart	(h)(H)(l)(L)
		Broken heart	(u)(U)
		Mail	(e)(m)
		Flower	(f)(F)
		Rain	(rain)(london)(st)
		Sun	(sun)
		Time	(o)(O)(time)
		Music	(music)
		Movie	(~)(film)(movie)
		Phone	(mp)(ph)
		Coffee	(coffee)
		Pizza	(pizza)(pi)
		Cash	(cash)(mo)($)
		Muscle	(muscle)(flex)
		Cake	(^)(cake)
		Beer	(beer)
		Drink	(d)(D)
		Dance	(dance)\o/\:D/\:d/
		Ninja	(ninja)
		Star	(*)

Check out cool country flags Skype icons