Who: Me. Local Social Media Expert who happens to be frugal.

What: Need cheap Social Media marketing tactics.

Why: I must constantly market myself and my network of community websites.

How: Business Cards!

Ok, you don’t have to be involved in Social Media to use business cards effectively. All of us should carry them everywhere we go.

The most effective and simple marketing tool that each of us should possess are simple business cards. I give them out everywhere I go.

I just had 250 of these cards printed for me at VistaPrint. All I paid was around $5.67 for shipping. I designed the card with their online template. It was easy and fast. The cards arrived about a week later. They are perfect and high quality.

I receive weekly emails and offers from Vistaprints now. I do not mind because the offers are mostly free and I only pay shipping. Last week I ordered 100 postcards for free and paid $6.56 in shipping.

For $12.23 I’ve ordered 250 business cards and 100 post cards. (I know it’s not free if you pay for shipping but free your mind on this one)

I wholeheartedly recommend Vistaprint.

Go to VistaPrint and order your business cards today for cheap.

This has been a “No Fluff, Common Sense, Direct Help” article from a guy who actually practices Social Media in his community.

2010 BloggerLens.com

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1. What I Would Like To See From Social Media Marketing Experts If you are sensitive, you may want to leave here now and find someone who will stroke your ego and offer empty promises instead of speaking to you honestly. If you are curious and decide to stay, I am just asking what any Social Media Expert can offer to me or my business and how [...]...
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3. More Marketing Tips For Your Hyperlocal Blog I’m always looking for ways to market my hyperlocal blog in my community. I’m a simple man or at least I try to be and I love simple ways of doing things. Simple just strikes me as being effective. Today I would like to show you the latest thing I’m doing to market my website. [...]...

If you are sensitive, you may want to leave here now and find someone who will stroke your ego and offer empty promises instead of speaking to you honestly.

If you are curious and decide to stay, I am just asking what any Social Media Expert can offer to me or my business and how it will affect my bottom line.

Simple right?

Well, not really. I haven’t been able to find solid evidence or case studies of how the experts do what they do. I haven’t found the CEO of a company giving a testimonial about how the expert changed their company.

I haven’t found a plumber explaining the virtues of the services of these experts. I have not found any evidence that the puffy “Law of Attraction” BS crap that these experts push, actually changes the lives and business of real people.

I do find Amazon links, fluffy book reviews and which blog theme I should use. Oh Boy, that’s helpful as I’m trying to figure out how to use these tools to feed my family.

During the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed a little “stirring of the pot” in the circle of friends I hang out with online. You know, all the bloggers who are on the D-List. Seems the D-List had a go at some of the A-Listers this week. Might I say it was well deserved also.

I will not mention any names of the A-Listers in this post, I don’t know that it will serve any useful purpose. You can figure it out on your own.

My plea to the Guru’s of any category. Tell me what you have done for someone else and how you or your methods can help me. Show me what you have done for a business that helped them. Tell me why I should follow you, re-tweet you and subscribe to you.

Don’t tell me how I should follow certain etiquette about trying to make contact with you.

Do you have an actual client list that you could post on your site? I think that would be awesome.

Don’t tell me what you learned about Chinese midget thong washers and how it helped you blog.

Please teach me what I need to know. Speaking as a guest of a marketing company who puts on some sort of summit is cool. I know what that would do to my ego.

I have certainly seen what it has done to your ego. I congratulate you. The problem is that you were a guest speaker of a marketing company. You were simply a tool of a real company trying to get real business. When you leave the auditorium, you are done. It’s the marketing company who signs deals and get paid.

When I look at your About page, you tell me that you work with real companies, yet you never list these companies. I see Summits, Expos and Podcamps.

I want substance. Can I please have some real substance?

Personally, I don’t care what Wordpress Theme you are using. I thought you were big time?

I know how to start a Facebook page and a Twitter account. I pretty much have a handle on all that.

If I’m a Florist and I have payroll to meet and families depend on me, can you tell me how your Amazon Affiliate link to a puffy cloud book will help get customers through my door? I know how it will help you, I’m not stupid.

Certainly you can write about how you personally helped a small business in your local community. I can’t seem to find how you personally affected the lives of people and business for the better on your blog.

As a matter of fact, I don’t see a lot of comments by your readers and yourself considering you claim to have a Gazzilion readers and followers. I have looked for your nuggets of wisdom hidden in your comment section but sadly, you must be too busy speaking at an Expo.

Guess what? I speak to local groups. It’s not big time like you, but I layout specific concrete ways for local business to market, and use Social Media for their business.

I love to make fun of Social Media and the way people use it. It’s what I do. It doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing. It would be a mistake to underestimate us D-Listers.

I promote individuals and their business everyday. I built a platform for these businesses. I actually share my platform and encourage my readers to submit their info to me. More often than not I promote for free and sometimes for money.

I put thousands of readers on people and businesses in my community using the network I have built from the ground up.

I am contacted everyday by people using Twitter, Facebook, email and the telephone. Not once have I ever admonished a single soul for double-tapping me (stupid term). I like it. Triple & Quadriple tap me, I dig it.

Maybe I’m more of a Social Media expert than you are. I guess that’s not for me to decide.

Can you teach me how to rank on the first page of Google in my town for Florist? What’s the best way to use Twitter and Facebook if I’m a florist or a plumber?

I know some D-Listers who can tell me how to effectively use Social Media for my business. I personally make money every week because of a Canadian D-List blogger who does not use Thesis. He uses an ugly free blog. You should see his comment section. He shares more knowledge in his comments than in his posts. I don’t see the A-List experts being very social in their comment section.

If I hire you, do you have the resources to help me get ranked? I think it’s cool to Think Big And Get Rich but Google usually looks for links pointing to my Florist business. Can you teach me or send me some juice from your network?

Maybe I am asking too much. Maybe I’m acting like a black sheep in a lily white conforming herd of sheep.

Maybe next time I am asked for Social Media advice I should just point them to my Thesis theme which contains an Amazon link that sells a book about Chinese midget thong washing bloggers who speak at rah-rah seminars and pass it off to my zombie followers as substance.

2010 BloggerLens.com

Thanks for subscribing to articles from: Blogger Lens.

If you thought this was awesome, check out these articles:

1. How To Buy Cheap Business Cards To Use As Social Media Marketing Tools Who: Me. Local Social Media Expert who happens to be frugal. What: Need cheap Social Media marketing tactics. Why: I must constantly market myself and my network of community websites. How: Business Cards! Ok, you don’t have to be involved in Social Media to use business cards effectively. All of us should carry them everywhere we go. The most [...]...
2. The Dark Side Of Social Media, Miami Vice Style. The following video is the unfortunate result of too many beers and a silly idea. I should have been a good little soldier and sat at my computer re-tweeting the A-listers. I should have been on Facebook engaging my network. I should have been increasing the number of people I follow on Twitter. Yea right. [...]...
3. The Truth About Social Media Traffic And The Hype Surrounding it My Final Traffic Update This article and video were written and produced based on my opinion of what I call Social Media Hype. You may have a totally different opinion. I base mine on actual events that happened to me and my blog. Please join in the discussion whatever your viewpoint may be. I thought I would [...]...

Establishing yourself as part of the local media has it’s personal advantages. As time has progressed for me and my hyperlocal blogging efforts, I’m able to do things now, that a year and a half ago would not have been possible.

I write about a lot of things here on BloggerLens but my main job and focus in my real life are that as a citizen journalist in my hometown. The relationships that are possible when you become a hyperlocal blogger can certainly open doors and opportunities if you will only pursue. When you establish credibility in your local community as a citizen journalist or blogger, you will begin to see opportunities present themselves to you. Your site, social media presence and your content can take you a long way in this day and time.

I want to share with you today an event I was part of back in November. My local town sponsored the Warriors & Warbirds Airshow. I was invited to participate in a media flight with the T-28 Trojan Horsemen Flying Team. It was one of the biggest thrills of my life. The video below is my flight from start to finish, shot in HD with my Canon XH A1. I added very little music to this video as to capture the natural sounds of this flight. If you have never experienced close formation flying, you will be amazed at the skill of these pilots. I was required to wear a parachute during this flight. That get’s you to thinking a little and wondering if you made your last life insurance payment.

The benefits of being a citizen journalist are many. I hope you enjoy the video.

2010 BloggerLens.com

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1. How To Download Youtube Videos To Your iPod How many times have you watched a youtube video and wished you could install it into your ipod? For me, a lot of times. It’s actually quite easy to put a youtube video into your iPod. I’m going to give you the steps below if you are working on a Mac. If you have a [...]...
2. Hyperlocal Blogging Can Be An Adrenaline Rush When You Are Kicking In The Doors Of The Bad Guys Being a “Hyperlocal Blogger” carries with it certain benefits. Since I started my community website back in December of 2008, I have been fortunate enough to meet a lot of local leaders. I’ve gained quite a few friends and I’m on first name basis now with a lot of our local community leaders. I have [...]...
3. Hyperlocal Blogging and Time Commitment Making decisions are sometimes hard for all of us. Especially since it’s not always easy to predict the outcome. Most of us fear failure. All of us dream of success. Making the decision to leap into hyperlocal blogging was not an easy decision for me and I doubt it will be an easy decision for [...]...

How many times have you watched a youtube video and wished you could install it into your ipod? For me, a lot of times. It’s actually quite easy to put a youtube video into your iPod. I’m going to give you the steps below if you are working on a Mac. If you have a Windows PC, I’m sorry, I can’t help you. I’m sure there is a way though.

I actually have QuickTime Pro installed on my MacBook. It’s a $30 program that you download directly from Apple. It allows you to edit, save and trim clips in QuickTime. If you have a newer version of QuickTime installed on your computer, be sure to click the “Share” tab at the Quicktime Tabs and it may offer a simple iTunes one-click conversion. As with everything techno, this is more than just one way to get a youtube video into your iPod.

Step 1: How to download youtube videos. Go to Dirpy.com.

The next time you sync your iPod with iTunes, if you have movies checked, your youtube movie will download to your iPod. Best of all it’s free. The entire process as I have described it takes only a few minutes.

2010 Bloggerlens.com

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If you thought this was awesome, check out these articles:

1. How I Get Cheap MP3 Music For My iPod & Videos I enjoy listening to music while I’m tapping away at this blogging gig. Sometimes I’m listening to iTunes but more often than not, I’m streaming music from the internet. I love finding new and cheap mp3 music or podcasts for my wife’s iPod. We only have one iPod, so we share. The reason we only [...]...
2. The Perks Of Being A Citizen Journalist Establishing yourself as part of the local media has it’s personal advantages. As time has progressed for me and my hyperlocal blogging efforts, I’m able to do things now, that a year and a half ago would not have been possible. I write about a lot of things here on BloggerLens but my main job [...]...
3. iPod Nano Video Review This is a review sort of, of my new favorite tech toy. The iPod Nano. I’m not going to go full bore into a detailed iPod review but rather show you a video clip I shot today at the pond. The Nano is my new favorite tech toy given to me for Christmas by my [...]...

Here is an event I was part of over this past weekend. This is something that I have not written about yet but may in the future. I was selected to take part in a year long news experiment with the Charlotte Observer, one of North Carolina’s largest newspapers. This is due to the hyperlocal community websites that I publish in my community.

The news partnership is described a little better at this page, Networked Journalism Project. My hyperlocal sites are one of 5 local sites selected by the Charlotte Observer to participate in this year long experiment. To say I was honored, would be an understatement. There are 5 newspapers across the country participating and funded for this joint venture between newspapers and hyperlocal bloggers.

The Charlotte Observer held a Social Media conference this weekend to a sold out audience and I was on the panel speaking about building community websites. It was a lot of fun and the questions from the audience were fast and furious. There is a lot of interest and the audience was quite diversified.

Of course I carried my iPod Nano 5th Generation and shot a clip of our closing session. One of the interesting things I noticed about the event was that I saw several local media celebrities attending and they were even a part of discussions in my workshop. The interest in Social Media at all levels is extremely high. I certainly have my own issues with the way so many people use Social Media and have written about it much to the chagrin of others. Since I have now officially spoken at a Social Media Conference, can I claim that I am a Social Media Guru now? Don’t laugh out loud Allyn & Josh & Griz.

2010 Bloggerlens.com

Thanks for subscribing to articles from: Blogger Lens.

If you thought this was awesome, check out these articles:

1. The Truth About Social Media Traffic And The Hype Surrounding it My Final Traffic Update This article and video were written and produced based on my opinion of what I call Social Media Hype. You may have a totally different opinion. I base mine on actual events that happened to me and my blog. Please join in the discussion whatever your viewpoint may be. I thought I would [...]...
2. The Dark Side Of Social Media, Miami Vice Style. The following video is the unfortunate result of too many beers and a silly idea. I should have been a good little soldier and sat at my computer re-tweeting the A-listers. I should have been on Facebook engaging my network. I should have been increasing the number of people I follow on Twitter. Yea right. [...]...
3. How To Buy Cheap Business Cards To Use As Social Media Marketing Tools Who: Me. Local Social Media Expert who happens to be frugal. What: Need cheap Social Media marketing tactics. Why: I must constantly market myself and my network of community websites. How: Business Cards! Ok, you don’t have to be involved in Social Media to use business cards effectively. All of us should carry them everywhere we go. The most [...]...

You know you are wonderful when your wife buys you a Mr. Wonderful doll. That’s right, I have a Man Doll. This is all the proof I need to show everyone what my wife thinks about me. If Allyn Hane can wear a snuggie while video blogging, I can show you that I own a doll. We are both fully secure in our manhood.

This also gave me an excuse to make another video blog post using my iPod Nano 5th Generation. If you are thinking about adding video to your blog, this is one of the easiest ways to do it.

2010 Bloggerlens.com

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If you thought this was awesome, check out these articles:

1. iPod Nano 5th Generation Review I’m back with yet another iPod Nano Video. The new iPod Nano 5th Generation is a great tool for the video blogger, hyperlocalblogger or just about anyone who wants to add to their video arsenal. I think it can be a very effective toy with many features available, not just video. You can add special [...]...
2. iPod Nano Video Review This is a review sort of, of my new favorite tech toy. The iPod Nano. I’m not going to go full bore into a detailed iPod review but rather show you a video clip I shot today at the pond. The Nano is my new favorite tech toy given to me for Christmas by my [...]...

When you have some cold hard cash to spend and you can’t find the product you want to spend it on, that may be a sign that it’s a pretty good product. In my case, I’m looking to buy 2 Kodak Zi8’s. This is the updated version of the Kodak Zi6 in which I already own. I love the Kodak Zi6. You can watch the video of my Kodak Zi6 Review if you are so inclined.

The main reason I’m going to purchase the updated Zi8 is because of the new capabilities to use a wireless microphone with the Zi8. As a hyperlocal blogger, I have a lot of interview type situations and need the wireless mic. Your viewers will forgive you for crappy video, but they don’t like crappy audio.

My local Best Buy store has them in stock for $230. Amazon and B&H Photo carry them for $179 and both are out of stock as you can see below in the screenshots. I’m not going to pay full retail. I checked the Best Buy website and they state that they will not match prices for online items. Personally, I think that’s a stupid policy from Best Buy. Read their policy below. They will only match their own prices against themselves. It’s stupid mainly because I could have walked out of the store yesterday with my 2 zi8’s and saved $100. Hey, I’m selfish and frugal.

With the $100 savings I could join Amazon Prime for 1 year. That would get me free 2-day shipping on just about everything that Amazon sells.

Amazon is sold out of Kodak Zi8’s. I can go ahead a order one and it will be sent when they are back in stock.

B & H Photo is also out of stock but I like the options they give me better than Amazon. Take a look. I can get an e-mail alert sent to me when they have some in stock. I like that very much. B & H does not make me go through with a purchase.

At Best Buy, I should have been able to walk over to the Geek Associate Table, and after being ignored for 10 minutes, they should have looked up the online price at their competitor and matched the price on the spot. I would have walked out with 2 Zi8’s and they would have a happy customer eager to return again to spend some more money. Instead, I am now re-evaluating how I will shop and will probably avoid my local Best Buy Store unless it’s extremely urgent on my part.

2010 Bloggerlens.com

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1. Tools For The Hyperlocal Blogger | My Video Review Of The Kodak Zi6 HD Flip Camera Good morning or good afternoon to all of my friends here on Bloggerlens. I trust that all of you had a great weekend. It’s now time to get back to business and see what we can discover together about making a strong hyperlocal blog. Today I’m going to feature just one of the tools I use [...]...

I’m back with yet another iPod Nano Video. The new iPod Nano 5th Generation is a great tool for the video blogger, hyperlocalblogger or just about anyone who wants to add to their video arsenal.

I think it can be a very effective toy with many features available, not just video. You can add special effects to the video but I have not played with that feature yet. I work on a Mac and it records video in the .mov file format. That is my preferred format.

* 8 GB capacity for 2,000 songs, 7,000 photos, or 8 hours of video
* Up to 24 hours of music playback or 5 hours of video playback when fully charged
* 2.2-inch color TFT display with 240 x 376 pixel resolution
* Supports AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV audio formats; H.264 and MPEG-4 video formats; JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only), and PNG image formats
* One-year limited warranty with single incident of complimentary telephone technical support

It’s a pedometer, stopwatch, calendar, alarm clock, FM radio, clock, plays games & voice recorder. All of this and it’s only 2.2 x 1.8 x 4.1 inches & 4.8 ounces.

If you want to play Private Investigator, I think it would make a perfect spy camera. It’s a mini video camera and you could easily go undercover with it.

O yea, it plays awesome sounding music when I workout and blog.

Thanks for subscribing to articles from: Blogger Lens.

If you thought this was awesome, check out these articles:

1. iPod Nano Video Review This is a review sort of, of my new favorite tech toy. The iPod Nano. I’m not going to go full bore into a detailed iPod review but rather show you a video clip I shot today at the pond. The Nano is my new favorite tech toy given to me for Christmas by my [...]...
2. How I Get Cheap MP3 Music For My iPod & Videos I enjoy listening to music while I’m tapping away at this blogging gig. Sometimes I’m listening to iTunes but more often than not, I’m streaming music from the internet. I love finding new and cheap mp3 music or podcasts for my wife’s iPod. We only have one iPod, so we share. The reason we only [...]...
3. How To Download Youtube Videos To Your iPod How many times have you watched a youtube video and wished you could install it into your ipod? For me, a lot of times. It’s actually quite easy to put a youtube video into your iPod. I’m going to give you the steps below if you are working on a Mac. If you have a [...]...

This is a review sort of, of my new favorite tech toy. The iPod Nano. I’m not going to go full bore into a detailed iPod review but rather show you a video clip I shot today at the pond. The Nano is my new favorite tech toy given to me for Christmas by my wife. Remember, I gave her a new pair of tennis shoes? She gave me an iPod Nano.

Was that fair? Well, she could have given me more I guess.

I’ll be talking more about the Nano and going into more detail but for now, I hope you enjoy the great quality of video taken by such a small video camera.

Thanks for subscribing to articles from: Blogger Lens.

If you thought this was awesome, check out these articles:

1. iPod Nano 5th Generation Review I’m back with yet another iPod Nano Video. The new iPod Nano 5th Generation is a great tool for the video blogger, hyperlocalblogger or just about anyone who wants to add to their video arsenal. I think it can be a very effective toy with many features available, not just video. You can add special [...]...
2. Video Tip | How To Get Free MP3 Music & Audio For Your Video Blog Free mp3 music and audio for your videos and blog. If you work with video at all, you are on the constant lookout for music that you can use with your videos. I find myself always grabbing music and uploading to a music folder or putting it in my iTunes Library for my own listening pleasure [...]...
3. How To Download Youtube Videos To Your iPod How many times have you watched a youtube video and wished you could install it into your ipod? For me, a lot of times. It’s actually quite easy to put a youtube video into your iPod. I’m going to give you the steps below if you are working on a Mac. If you have a [...]...

I saw this on Fox News this morning and found it interesting. Since I never watch TV without my laptop warming my legs, I gave it a try because I am fair and balanced.

Fox reported that the Big G may be censoring some search results that have to do with Christianity and Islam. Google claims it’s a software error and will correct it soon.

In the Google search bar, type in “Christianity is” and here is the result from the autofill that Google gives you.

Now, type in “Islam is” and look at my results. That’s correct, there are no results.

I report you decide. What say you?

2010 bloggerlens.com

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1. How To Dominate Google With Your Hyperlocal Blog I would like to take a little more time with you today to talk some more about your selection of your domain name. If you missed the first article, here is the link again. Selecting your Hyperlocal web domain name. It’s important to select a name in which you will or can dominate the search engines. [...]...
2. How To Make It Easier For Google To Find Your Hyperlocal Blog Are you making it difficult for Google and other search engines to find your hyperlocal blog? Everybody needs a little help now and then, even the Big G. I thought I would write about the guidelines I use whenever I write an article for my hyperlocal blog, the Monroe Scoop. I have 2 things I [...]...