Playing Nice

I love the fire and energy of the dragon! I grew up in Seattle, WA, where there is a large Chinese community. At all of the major parades, the community brings out a beautiful dragon. They run quickly along the parade route, moving the dragon up and down, and from side to side. It is absolutely fascinating to watch the runners move in and out as they relieve each other at their stations. This is done on the run, of course, so one person is timing themselves in as the one carrying the pole is timing their way out. Focus, attention ... and a huge amount of caring is going on here!

I think that we need to place this same focus and intent into all that we do. Many of us blog, Tweet, have pages on Face Book, personal and/or business sites, and are generally putting ourselves out there. We know at least a little bit about SEO, can upload photo's, and perhaps even play around with video's (at least at the Animoto level). Then we sit back and wait for life to happen.

People, we have to interact to make life happen! So we have a (usually expanding) RSS feed. We actually even read the posts. Good, yes? Good, to a point. Read the blogs, then (if you have something to say) comment on the blog. This is polite ... it shows respect. And ... if you comment on someone else's blog, they may even become inclined to comment on yours! Also ... look for the Google Plus One button, the Face Book "Like" button, and any share buttons that might be there. If the post is a good one, please help promote it. Put that energy out there, and someone will be there to do the same for you.

One last thought here. Please comment on the content ... that should be your focus. Commenting on blogs is not the place to promote your own work.

I have made a commitment to watching for all of the above on any blogs/sites that I visit. The Internet is a bold new territory, and we are being gifted with some awesome tools for navigation! May we each have the common sense to educate ourselves about these tools, and use them wisely.

(c) July 2011 Bonnie Cehovet

Google Plus, Google Plus One, Webinars & More

Most people that I know are putting out work in more than one venue. They need to maintain a network of contacts in more than one world, as well as promote their work in the best manner possible. The new Google Plus app appears to be a very good way to go. People are taking to it very well ... it is easy to sign up for, and there is the availability of creating "circles" ... i.e. putting people with the same interests in the same circle. You are notified when someone puts you in a circle - but not which circle you are being placed in. IMHO, this is a benefit - no one feels left out, and the information t hat you want to get out goes out to the people that it is meant to get out to. The issue that is coming up is that people are signed up for it, but not yet conversing much. My thought on this is that we want to view it in the same manner that we view Twitter - there needs to be a sense of sharing, so that a connection is made with other people within our circles. In that way, when we send out promotional posts, they are part of the overall picture, and not just promotion. If that were the case - why bother with Google Plus?

Google Plus One is a big part of the promotional picture, in that when people click on your Plus One icon you move yourself into a better place in the Google ranking. IOW, you have a better chance of being seen.

Google is doing something that I am not sure about - not sure what it is connected to. The Google Plus One icon is appearing on the right hand side of the pages that comes up when you run a Google search. Now there is also an icon that brings up (in most cases) a view of the page that is being linked to. It seems good, but it also seems a bit "Big Brother" to me.

With all of this running in the background, I am about to start setting up Internet time to promote my upcoming book, "Tarot, Birth Cards, and You: Keys To Empowerment". There will be a webinar this coming October with Linda Marson (http://www.tarotjourney.com.au/), where I introduce the concept of using the Birth Card pairs as a counseling and meditation tool.

Another avenue of promotion will be Internet seminars with Mary Nale (http://naleandcompany.blogspot.com/). The focus here will be how to place the Tarot Birth Cards in day to day life - whether you are reading for yourself, or reading for someone else.

My site page is quasi "set up" ( http://www.bonniecehovet.com/?page_id=125), and I have a preliminary Animoto video out on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kk_CsBezoA). I am doing a short write up of one Birth Card pair each month on my Tarot blog, and plan to do a short Animoto video for each of the Birth Card Pairs. I will also be setting up a Face Book page - once I get those logistics figured out! Oh ... I have a contest to figure out for my Tarot book. Talking archetypes? Sherlock Holmes take on the archetypes?

Other directions for me? My mystery novel in process, and my work on a friends music site. There will be some interesting promotions coming up there, you can be assured!

(c) July 2011 Bonnie Cehovet

The Road To Promotion

What a day this has been! It started out very nicely - I started adding friends to my Google + circles, and did a fairly good job. Next stop - add Google +1 to my blogs and site. Easier said than done. Hours later I finally had it up on my Wordpress.org site ((patting self on back, and sending kudos to Theresa Reed and Abela Arthur.), but I still need to figure out how to add it to my blog sites (Blogspot.com and Wordpress.com).

Being the social network maven that I am, my next foray into surrealism was to attempt to add Twitter and Facebook follow buttons to my site, and to both blogs. I did manage to get both on my site - although there is a link-back to the button creator. I cannot seem to "adjust" a plugin for those buttons on my site. I am dangerous with coding ... I really am! ;-) Note to self: Please start a fund to get a real webmaster in to dust off your site and blogs!

I am a Cappie - I will go back and work on the Wordpress.com apps. There has to be a way to do this! LOL

I also edited the page that I had set up on my site for my upcoming book (Tarot, Birth Cards, and You: Keys To Empowering Yourself). I had put some examples of content on the page, but was not comfortable with it - the text was too long. So I took most of the sample text out - it reads much better, and my site visitors will not be bored out of their minds!

Once I get all of the above taken care of, I am going to follow the advice of my good friend Mary Nale, and put an audio message on my book page. I may also put an audio message on my landing page for my site. Things are definitely starting to open up here!

Now ... off to write an outline of the material that I will be presenting in my webinar with Linda Marson!

(c) July 2011 Bonnie Cehovet

One Day At A Time

I am taking this promotion thing one day at a time! I have a book entitled "Tarot, Birth Cards and You: Empowering Yourself" due out from Schiffer Books this coming September. I contacted a friend that conducts webinars this am, to see when I can schedule time with her. My initial webinar will be discussing what Birth Cards are, and how they can be used for personal empowerment. If that goes well, I will do one or more follow-up webinars that discuss specific birth card pairs,their themes, and how to work with them.

I also put a page up on my site this am promoting my book. Please take a look at this page, and let me know what you think. Tarot, Birth Cards, and You: Keys To Empowering Yourself. Do I need to add information? Take information away? What would you like to see there? I took away the option to comment on the page - do you think that it would be useful to activate that option?

My next foray - when I have recovered sufficiently from this one - will be to set up a page on Face Book. For you authors out there - how far ahead of publication did you set up your Face Book pages? Is there anything that you would like to share about the process of setting up a page on Face Book? As you can probably tell, I am not a techie! Any and all info will be helpful!

I will be sending my book out for review, to reviewers that I know and respect. They don't have to like the book, but I know they will give it a fair shot. There is also a genre specific media company that I would like to get my book in with. Crossing fingers there! And I will be planning a book giveaway. I really don't like contests, but I will have to invent a fun one to give a book or two away! Then I need to think up a really good promotion for the holidays.

I have arrived! At least ... I am pretty sure that I have arrived. ;-)

(c) July 2011 Bonnie Cehovet