Hedgeschool Training, Leitrim, Ireland

Creating a Facebook fan page can be a great way to promote your website or business although it is not very obvious how to create one. The following video illustrates how to do so and once you where to go to create your fan page, it's actually quite easy.

How to add photos, video and audio...

and a more detailed video on adding images...

For more videos on how to do stuff in Wordpress, check out WordPress TV...

When adding a comment to a blog or forum or indeed adding your website address to your signature in a forum that you have joined, you will often need to create a link using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), the language used to create web pages. The following example should help in most cases:

To create a link in HTML, type the following in your comment or signature:


<a href="http://www.mysite.com/">My Site Title</a>


substituting in your own web address in the href="..." part as well as your own site title instead of "My Site Title". It is important to use proper keywords for the title rather than just "My Website" as links with relevant keywords are far more useful for both the reader and search engines.

So, if I was to create a link for Hedgeschool Training, I'd do something like this:


<a href="http://www.hedgeschool.ie/">Hedgeschool IT Training, Leitrim, Ireland</a>


The link would then appear in my comment or forum signature like so:

Hedgeschool IT Training, Leitrim, Ireland

This link contains the keywords, (IT, Training, Leitrim, and Ireland) for which I would like my website to appear on search engines results pages (SERPs, to use the techie acronym).

One little proviso though is that if after submitting your comment or signature, all you see is the HTML code, then the site to which you submitted your comment is filtering HTML, i.e. they are not allowing users to submit HTML in comments etc. If this is the case, then the best you can do is just to add your web address e.g. http://www.hedgeschool.ie/. In some cases, (as is the case on this website) the website to which you are submitting your comment might make your web address into a proper link or at the very least it will display your webaddress which users can copy and paste into their web browser's (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari etc.) address bar and then visit your website - a little more cumbersome for them but better than no web address.

Alternatively, some forums might not allow HTML but they do allow bbCode which is slightly different in format, but will generate the same link as above:

[url=http://www.hedgeschool.ie/]Hedgeschool IT Training, Leitrim, Ireland[/url]

You've probably heard of social networks like MySpace, Facebook and Bebo. They are great for staying in touch with friends and connecting with old friends. Some might argue that the're great for wasting time aswell but they certainly have their utility and can be very useful for promoting a business, a product or good cause.

There are also many lesser known social networks out there that have more productive uses. LinkedIn is one such example and is a profeesional network useful for finding work, developing business partnerships, getting expertise and so on. Here's an introductory video on LinkedIn from the folks at CommonCraft

LinkedIn

Another example is Delicious, a website that allows you to store your bookmarks. It allows you to access your bookmarks from any computer connected to the internet, organise your bookmarks using tags and connect with other users or friends who have similar interests. CommonCraft oblige again with another entertaining and informative video...

Social Bookmarking In Plain English

If you'd like to connect with me on either of these networks, visit the contact page for more details... :)

"If only there we're more hours in the day" is a common refrain for most people these days. Even with the prospect of being more time rich and cash poor due to economic conditions, I still find myself with an ever expanding list of things to do and a sense of being swamped by it all.

Over the years, I've come accross various time management gurus, adopted their techniques to some degree but have usually fallen back to some of my not so useful habits over time. David Allen's approach in his book "Getting Things Done - The Art of Stress Free Productivity" deals with both the bigger picture and the nitty-gritty and has insights into the benefits of self-management that are fresh, unique and enlightening. I've just started reading the book, inspired by the video below. The prospect of becoming a master of the "martial art of life and work" seems much more achievable now. Well worth 45 minutes of your time - enjoy!