A new site for artist and illustrator Randy Rumpf to showcase his portfolio.

I’m using the free Gallery Theme based on Thematic and powered by Wordpress to feature Randy’s artwork. Visit the site here.

After 8 months, the book is here!

Or rather – the ebook version, which I’m going to expand into softcover in the next two months.

My goal with this book is to help people learn how to manage their own Web marketing initiatives, and by that I mean build their own Web site, blog, social media accounts, develop an e-mail marketing strategy and then tie them all together into one powerful campaign. Oh – and to be able to do it all quickly. Like in 24 hours.

In ‘24 Hours to a Powerful Web Presence’ you’ll learn:

• The basics of Web marketing
• How to create your own well-design, professional Web site
• Best blogging practices
• How to set up a payment system
• How to use set up social media sites to help your brand
• How to set up an e-mail marketing campaign to connect with readers
• What search engine optimization is and how to capitalize on it
• How to tie everything together into a powerful Web presence
• And much more

For those of you who like a challenge, I’ve broken the book down into chunks of hours, so each block is devoted to a specific topic. If you follow it closely, you’ll knock it out in 24 hours.

In addition, your purchase of this book gets you access to our resource center where you’ll gain access to everything there related to online marketing. This includes very detailed step-by-step instructions on how to hone your online marketing efforts.

So who is this book for?

Anyone with a business, a brand, a hobby — something you’re passionate about, that you want to share with the world. You could be an artist, musician, athlete, coach, business owner, entrepreneur or any individual with a passion to become their own online marketing and PR agency.

A portion of the proceeds of the sale of this book benefit Under the Same Sun.

To preview the book, click here. To buy it, click here:

I’m more and more amazed at the amount of information available to anyone interested in doing even the slightest research. This thought struck me when I was driving recently and a car passed me with a vanity license plate clearly intended to draw attention. I tweeted it (at a stoplight) through my phone (text message — I don’t have a smart phone). Later I realized that the driver of this other car, having never met me or even known I had seen his license plate, could find out about it and even be at my doorstep within 30 minutes.

Here’s how: When I sent my message to Twitter, I mentioned the license plate # (or, word would be more like it). The driver could have set up some software on his phone to alert him whenever a keyword appeared on Twitter — in this case, his license plate. He could look at the source of the tweet, which would lead him to my Twitter page. My Twitter page links to my personal blog. That blog links to this site, where my name’s mentioned. A quick search on Whois.net would reveal my full name and home address (assuming it hasn’t been made private). Absent that, a quick search on Google based on info on this site and other details would end up showing my address. And there you have it.

Interesting to think about. Twitter search could prove to be a gold mine for bounty hunters or intelligence services. Assuming the people they’re after are on Twitter — or tweet-worthy.

I have a personal blog called Binza, where I talk about things like athletic training, movies, music, books and other things. I get a fair amount of comments — but mainly from family and friends who’ve been on the scene for a while. When I started the blog, in 2001, I kept it strictly anonymous. I didn’t know much of what I was doing and even knowing that it was “my eyes only” I still felt as though I was giving a part of myself up to the public.

A couple years down the road I decided to tell my family about the blog and they’ve been involved ever since — checking in, commenting and sharing their own links. I realize now, however, that in the time that I went from anonymous to public, my approach to the blog and the content has changed. I write with an eye for who will be reading. I edit posts and even re-think before I comment. Not always, of course. But because my name is attached to these things I clearly need to bear in mind the effect certain comments will have. I really prefer not to have something come back to haunt me.

So recently, I started another blog focused mainly on my personal finance goals. I talk about how much debt I’m paying off, what my billable hours were for the day, my fears associated with money, debt, expenses, etc. The fact that this blog is anonymous allows me absolute freedom to share everything on my mind related to each post’s purpose and the goal of the blog. In other words, I’m not out to just rant about things. I’m out to share specific information about my day and my feelings associated with it.

In the week that I’ve been doing this, I actually feel happier. I feel I’m unloading certain fears from my mind as I write things down, and each night I’m tallying up my day’s earnings. This has motivated me to focus on working more. I look forward to posting each night. I don’t have any links on the blog that allow readers to comment. I also have not publicized the blog and don’t plan to. I love the anonymity and feel that this blog is my tiny corner of the world to work towards a specific goal.

Do I still hope for readers? Sure! There’s a lot of validation in growing a following. But I don’t want anything to get in the way of how I write. I don’t want to hold anything back and I believe that sometimes, when you have your name attached to them, you’re forced to consider every post, every word, every comment.

I’m excited to say that I’ve got a book coming out soon, an ebook that’ll also be available in soft cover. The book is called 24 Hours to a Powerful Web Presence. It’s about 80 pages long and it’s designed to help anyone create their own Web marketing campaign — in 24 hours. This includes the following:

• Buying a domain and Web hosting package
• Setting up a (professionally-designed) Web site/blog
• Establishing accounts on relevant social media sites and linking them to your blog
• Picking an e-mail marketing service
• Using SEO strategies
• Tying it all together

It took me about 1.5 years to learn how to do all of this professionally. The information is out there on the Web, of course, but it’s scattered to the high winds. Plus, I have my own opinions on how to best approach Web marketing. Not that my I’m the best or most experienced! Not by any means. But I’ve learned how to do these things and they work. The book is set up so that anyone can do it all themselves rather than spend thousands hiring an agency or freelancer to do it themselves.

The book’s coming out Feb 1, 2010. Watch this space!

Here’s a brochure we created for Elham Menhaji’s Healthy Wallet coaching business. Our goal was to use clean, tidy copy and colors to explain what her business does, and include her rates. We kept the colors and images consistent with her Web site.

Outside

Inside

We used Apple Pages to layout and design the brochure, and VistaPrint to print it.

Lis Calandrino’s book Red Hot Customer Service: 35 Sizzling Ways to Heat Up Your Business and Ignite Your Sales was published in August 2009. We took Lis’s rough draft and, over the course of 10 months, got it into a polished, published format, and shipped 1,000 copies.

Since Lis is a voiceover artist as well, she came up with the idea to include a CD with the book, which we produced. She recorded her “10 Rules for Red Hot Customer Service” at a studio and sent us the tracks, which we finalized by adding music and breaks. We designed the CD and oversaw the publishing process.

The book is excellent, the CD is very informative, and there’s no one more capable of guiding a business to better customer satisfaction than Lis.

Launched December 6, 2009, Your Tax Strategy is a site managed for business owner Matt McMorris, of MJM Tax Consulting, LLC., located in Clifton Park, NY. Matt was looking to upgrade his site from an earlier incarnation, and I was looking to pay him for tax work his firm did for me this year! So it all worked out. We’re running on Wordpress using a theme by StudioPress. We designed the logo and will be expanding the content to include management bios, and eventually a blog.

Here’s a video we created earlier this year for the Freihofer’s Run for Women, an elite 5k race held annually in Albany, NY.

I used my Canon Powershot SD1000 to capture the interviews, then a JVC handheld with stabilizers while I was on the press truck in front of the runners. Two team members provided additional footage — one positioned among the runners and another at the start/finish line. After jumping off the press truck at the end I positioned myself behind the finish line as well, which is why we’re able to have two angles of women coming in.

I edited the footage on my iMac using iMovie, and mixed together Coldplay’s Life in Technicolor 1 and Life in Technicolor 2 using Garage Band to round out the video.

Here’s an extended version that captures the kids’ race.

Hope you enjoy.

Chris McCormack, aka Macca, is one of the best-known triathletes in the world. He won the 2007 Ironman World Championship after six attempts, gaining notoriety as perhaps the hardest working and most singularly-focused athlete in triathlon.

In addition to his Ironman glories, Macca is well-known on the social media scene. He’s an active Twitter user and will soon be launching MaccaX, a Web-based community and training initiative. In this interview, the Aussie talks about his use of social media and how it helps him professionally.

Macca finishing 4th at the 2009 Hawaii Ironman World Championship. "I have probably not ever raced a better Ironman in my life."

b.0: What social media channels do you currently use?
CM: I use a Web site, blog, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

b.0: Is there any one platform that you prefer over the others?
CM: Web site and Twitter and Facebook are great mediums. I probably enjoy or spend the most time on Facebook catching up with friends, but i think I get the most hits and responses from my blog through my Web site.

b.0: When did you start using each of these platforms?
CM: I’ve had a Web site since 1999 and kept a blog. I started Facebook about 18 months ago and Twitter now for about 6 months.

b.0:What are your objectives with your online marketing campaign?
CM: Really to keep people up to date of my movements and what I am doing and also to pass my message across to a broad range or audience. These online platforms are a great way to not only advertise yourself and what you do, but also to create communities who have like-minded opinions or interests as you do. My objective is to give people an insight and a feel into who I really am outside my sporting persona. This is a positive thing within my sport and good for the brand Macca. It gives people a perspective that they might not otherwise have of myself because they have never met or spoken to me. These platforms allow people to get a feel for you, which if you did not have them they would not otherwise been able to. We really try to focus on this and keep it real.

b.0: What strategies have you implemented to work towards these objectives? Are the strategies the same for each platform (blog, Twitter, Facebook) or do they differ based on the platform?
CM: We use video extensively and have really ensured to keep things as up to date as possible and our friends and followers and members. The strategies are very similar across all these platforms except that some of these platforms demand differing things. We use Twitter as an up-to-date reference point for people. We use our website as a more advanced and informative platform. Facebook is really used as a family platform that allows people to really interact if need be.

b.0: Have you noticed results thus far? If so, what are they?
CM: It is hard to measure results but to be honest I think these platforms have really added some strength to my brand and more so to my personality within the sport. Without question it has given us a bigger voice and more notoriety.

b.0: Do you do your own blogging/tweeting/etc. or do you have someone else do it — or a combination of both?
CM: I do everything myself. It is totally run by me.

b.0: How often would you say you blog/tweet/etc?
CM: Daily i try to update or change something on one of these three platforms. There is no use having these platforms if they are not used correctly. People demand this attention and I try to make sure to deliver this.

b.0: What have you found to be most effective in your use of blogs/social media?
CM: The most effective thing has been the ability to use these platforms as political tools within your sport. I can really push my objectives and my opinions on things and have an open audience to push this across to. This has been very powerful for my sponsors and for media who are trying to get information and opinions from me.

b.0: Why would other elite athletes find these platforms useful? Or, why might they NOT find them useful?
CM: For the very same reasosn I do. I think people are interested in what we do. As athletes we really live a dream lifestyle and this is appealing to people. I think these platforms are a great way to connect with people and are very powerful tools.

b.0: How savvy with blogging/social media sites would you consider yourself?
CM: Average

b.0: Do you use any Content Management System such as Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal?
CM: No i use my own developed content management system that my brother made when he made the Web site. It is great because you dont have to be a computer genius to get your information uploaded and up to date.

b.0: How do you plan to use your sites over the next year?
CM: Just continually use it to keep people up to date with what I do. We are launching a new site called MaccaX which will be a training platform built around our community. I will use my current platforms to really push the launch of this.

b.0: Do you have any favorite blogs or Twitter users that you follow?
CM: I follow Lance Armstrong on Twitter.

b.0: Is there anything else you’d like to add with respect to your use of online media?
CM: I hope this has made some sense. Cheers

Macca can be found on Twitter at @chrisjmacca. His Web site is here.

Chris Bowcutt is the founder of blue.0, an award-winning Web marketing and social media firm based in upstate New York. He can be found on Twitter at @cbowcutt or on his blog.