Social Media Edge Radio

* Because they are real. A couple of days ago I received a text message (SMS) to my phone informing me that my site was about to be de-listed from Google. It went on to say I needed to contact the sender within 3 days to keep my Google listing active. The good news is it would cost only $40 and they can assure me it won't happen if I hire them because they are Certified Google Search Partners. Yes, there are Google Partners. No, they do not have any special powers. Today Mike and Ken (that's me) will discuss these types of scams and how to avoid becoming a victim. Today's show is 30 minutes and you can either ask a question in the chat room or by calling in. Both require us to be live. Ken is @thekencook Mike is @mikemueller http://areweconnected.com Always a huge thanks to Kevin MacLeod of INCOMPETECH for most of the music used during the show.

Today we're talking about how to have your small business prepared for disaster.

It's true, Ken met his granddaughter on Facebook a week before he met her in person. Today Mike and Ken are discussing how deeply social media infiltrates our personal lives and how we can leverage that for our campaigns. While we never suggest hijacking someone's life for your business purposes, it is important to know and understand how weaving into today's framework of living can help all of use together.   Ken is @thekencook Mike is @mikemueller http://areweconnected.com Always a very special thank you to Kevin MacLeod for the use of his great music available at incompetech.com

So, you're going to launch a new website and dominate the market! Possibly. If you really are then I bet there already has been a lot of planning, consulting, and even hiring of professional development teams. Not all ventures are huge, multi-million dollar launches--but even a solopreneuer needs to follow some simple guidelines to help reduce the likelhood of early termination. Everything from message development to method of sharing the message can be critical for an early stage venture. Clarification and simplification of your message (you'd be surprised how many businesses I [Ken] have worked with over the years who cannot tell me in a short sentence what they do). Branding--colors designs--also is very important because it's the instant image of your message. Flow chart of how the process from interest to prospect to customer to referal agent progresses. And much more! Both Mike and Ken have many years of experience working in business development with small to medium organizations. What we've learned

It happens. You leave a comment on a business's page and they promise to hunt you down and destroy you. Or, you own a business and another business stalks your social media and pokes at you constantly. Here are some things Mike and Ken suggest you may try. STARTING NEXT WEEK! Rapid Fire is going to become a "game show" segment. You'll be able to play along by Tweeting your answers to the Rapid Fire questions. We will announce the prizes sometime before that show on our Facebook page so be sure to LISTEN LIVE and have a chance to win! Ken is @thekencook Mike is @MikeMueller and http://areweconnected.com Always a huge thanks to Kevin MacLeod of incompetech.com for any awesome music we use from him.

Ken rates Mike's show idea 5 stars. Ken was going to talk about Business Bullying (like 1 star ratings for no apparent good reason) but Mike wanted to talk about the importance of and how to get Five Stars. It's going to be fun because Ken is going to confess his star rating criteria. Mike and I are both small business development professionals. Much of what we do revolves around public perception of our clients. We talk with them about things like Yelp and Facebook ratings. I have just completed a fairly involved online ratings system for real estate agents which has a couple of twists and curves. Last year I developed a pretty intense condo review site for Toronto which allows star ratings. Today we're going to discuss the importance of understanding the power of ratings, why the BBB is still in business, and what you can do to increase your likelihood of getting 5 stars. Not 4, not 2, but 5. So basically all of them. All the stars.

Whether you are using WordPress or any other Content Management System (CMS), a development framework, or just good old HTML, you're going to need a 24/7 on computer to serve it to your visitors. First we'll define what a server is--many people don't understand. Then we'll discuss how the HTML on the server you are using gets to the people who are viewing your pages and content. Then we'll discuss other attributes and services that come on the web server. Did you know, for example, there are mutliple "servers" on the one computer we call a server? Join us LIVE to get in the chat room or phone in your questions. Ken and Mike have been doing this show for many years and we, along with our core group of loyal listeners, welcome you to listen and participate. Ken is @thekencook http://thekencook.com Mike is @MikeMueller http://areweconnected.com ALWAYS! A very special thanks to KEVIN MACLEOD for his great music used in spots throughout the show. Kevin is at http://incompetech.com

It's the age old question: How to I get people to buy my ____? The Internet changed marketing forever. It will never be exactly like it was in cold-calling, post-card mailing, Yellow Pages days. Even that we had nearly 100 years to figure out and people still struggled with it. So let's talk about the carnival barker or the hot-dog hawker. You'll see a common thread there and it's plainly seen: Sell what you have and nothing else. "Hot dogs! Get your fresh red hots right here! Hot dogs!" That is *ALL* the hot dog hawker says. "Cold beer! Get you ice cold beer here! Cold beer!" That is *ALL* the beer hawker says. "Peanuts! Peanuts! Get your salty, crunchy peanuts!" "Step right up, step right up! See the bearded lady! There's no one like her anywhere else in the world. She's the real deal, a one of a kind. Step right up!" I think you're getting the point. Join Mike and me today as we discuss how these age old methods still work in the Internet age and why we've seen many people flop because they don't use

Most likely you have heard the acronym CMS. In case you did not know that stands for Content Management System. We're speaking about Web Content, of course, and really CMS - whether the big ones like WordPress, Drupal, Geeklog, Joomla, etc. or custom created ones as I do for many clients - are the rule instead of the exception today. We generally no longer need to have a web developer or content developer on hand to "make changes to our webpage" because it has become so simple to do so ourselves. In fact even though Mike and I perform a preponderance of services to WordPress users, we don't often get the chance to create many static websites. It does happen and we will discuss the why and what for about that. Join us today as we discuss more indepth what a CMS, how it works, why they are valuable, and maybe even if you should have one or not. Listen live and get in the chat room or phone in to ask your questions during the show. Ken is @thekencook thekencook.com Mike is @MikeMueller areweconnected.com

Today Ken and Mike will be discussing why we all need to disconnect; to step back and let things clear before re-engaging. We will address some of the fears of letting go of the control we believe connectivity provides us. We will also discuss how to deal with clients who expect you to be instantly available, 24/7 and how to prep all of your clients for your away time. Both Mike and Ken spent the past weekend disconnected from the internet and fully engaged with nature. We will talk about how we handled that with our clients and prospects and how it affected us not only in business, but emotionally. Ken is @thekencook Mike is @mikemueller http://AreWeConnected.com Always a big thank you to Kevin MacLeod for incidental background music used in the show and spots.  

Join Ken and Mike today as they talk about scenarios wherein something toxic has poisoned business relationships and caused a loss of revenue either for the short term or the long term. We will be discussing some real world happenings and some theoretical possibilities of what to do when it happens to you, how to avoid it happening to you, and a good reason for not doing it to yourself! We'll talk about "transparency", being "genuine", and simply being yourself .... with the appropriate filters! Ken is @thekencook Mike is @mikemueller As always, very many thanks to Kevin MacLeod for the great music used in the intro, outro, and bumpers.

Podcasting is Broadcasting! Ken & Mike are definitely veterans of the podcasting world. Today they will discuss why you must include a podcast in your marketing strategy and how to do it. Everything from tools, tips, and techniques. It doesn't matter what your business or line of work is, if you depend on getting information out to the public it's great to do it through a podcast. How do you pick a topic?Should you have guests?How do you find guests?Should it be live or just recorded?How should you distribute your content?What equipment do you need?Should you use a paid service? Join us while we're LIVE and get in the CHAT ROOM! Always a very special thanks to Kevin MacLeod for the great bumper and background music. Ken is @thekencook Mike is @MikeMueller

Season 9 Episode 21 Listen LIVE and get in the chatroom. That's where the "fun" happens. This week Ken and Mike will reveal their Tool Of The Week, cover the latest news and be joined by another excellent guest in a long line of top industry experts. Brian Meert is the CEO of AdvertiseMint and will discuss the latest features coming out from Facebook/Instagram and discuss best practices. Brian is an expert in digital advertising with over 15 years of experience. Three years ago, he founded AdvertiseMint and it has recently become on of the top Advertising Agencies specializing in Facebook & Instagram ads. Brian has been featured on Inc.com (https://www.inc.com/samira-far/top-20-tools-every-agency-needs-to-succeed.html) and was recently rated one of the top 20 advertising blogs by Feedspot.com. In addition to Facebook advertising, he is a seasoned entrepreneur and has been through an amazing journey of building and selling a business, then building and failing another. When he’s not doing Facebook ads,

Per normal Mike and Ken will be discussing their tool of the week as well as news relative to your online presence. Any small business, medium business, or enterprise can benefit from what we have learned and are learning. This is our 9th season and we're happy to have you join us. Please make sure to subscribe so you know what's coming up and also be sure to join us in the chat room if you're listening live! Calie Waterhouse is an accomplished speaker and owner of ProGen Agency providing training, social media classes, marketing and promotional support to locally owned companies who offer services/products that encourage healthy living, outdoor adventure, happy lifestyles.  ProGen is an earth conscious, locally focused company who strives to create awareness of a sustainable Earth for generations to come. It is our mission to work with locally owned companies who offer services/products that encourage healthy living, outdoor adventure, happy lifestyles. https://www.linkedin.com/in/cwaterhouse/ https://tw

It's the perfect show for this episode because one of us will be on the road during the show. We all travel or have busy schedules from time to time so let's discuss how we keep connected to our clients when we are away from home base. Ken is @thekencook  Mike is @mikemueller This is our 9th season and we're stoked to still be around with you! As always, thanks to Kevin MacLeod for the great bumper music.

On Friday, 12 May 2017, a ransomware attack named WannaCry was launched. It began on a single, compromised computer in Europe and almost immediately spread to over 230,000 infected computers in 130 countries. Three things made WannaCry an especially successful infection: (1) it made use of stolen National Security Agency (NSA) technology called EternalBlue (2) it focused on Windows computers which had not been security patched and (3) in addition to the worm it also made use of automated Phishing emails. Although Microsoft had issued a security update on 14 March 2017 which would have stopped the worm, there were still enough systems which had not been properly updated to allow the attack to proliferate. It all could have stopped before it started if everyone simply followed the basic rules of personal cyber defense: (1) Always keep all software and your operating system updated (Mac, Linux, and Windows are all exploitable) (2) Use extreme caution when dealing with email    (a) Never open an attachment

* sorry for the link bait but not sorry. There are links you are so compelled to click you either have to click them or move away from them to keep yourself from clicking them. They aren't all click bait. Some of them are simply great titles designed to play on YOUR emotions. Not everyone is compelled by the same words so a shotgun approach is used by link writers. Yes, there are link writers who get paid to write ... link titles. Ken is @thekencook and http://thekencook.com Mike is @MikeMueller and http://areweconnected.com As always, thanks to Kevin MacLeod for the great bumper music. http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/

Facebook Post Privacy and Sharing Changes - you may have notice the "Share" button on Facebook posts seems to have a mind of it's own. Here's how to understand a little better what is happening and how to make sure your posts can be shared. We talk often about Landing Pages but really, do you need them? Here's why you probably do, what they should do for you and how you should use them. Keyword Monitoring is still a thing, right? "Be number one on Google - call me now!" Riiiiiiight.

If you're on Twitter your DM inbox is probably hit regularly by people thanking you for following. Of course it is accompanied by a link to check out their special offer for Twitter friends. Likewise you probably get tagged or included in a group message on Facebook about someone's Open House...five states away. Or, someone has downloaded all of their LinkedIn contacts into email and sent out blasts about their job opening or the company they are recruiting for. Maybe you have WordPress or some other contact form on your website and you receive a constant stream of people who can get you into first position on Google. Yeah, we know because we do too. Some people are quite sensitive about getting unsolicited messages. Others may not be. Some even turn them around for marketing purposes. "You market me, I market you back." If you have a story to share or would like to voice your comment please join us in the chatroom or phone in. Well It Has Happened Again This time it's a landscape company out of Marietta,

Mega churches don't get that way for beating people up. Superior organizations aren't known for abusing employees or customers (and if it happens, they fix it). Amazon did not come to be a giant (THE giant) by making demands but rather by meeting demands. Today, Ken and Mike will be discussing methods they have used and seen used to successfully attract and keep customers and in return receive kind words and even successful referrals. While the term "social" is still the first name of "Social Media" it is possible for a business, your business, to positively impact the online community by brining knowledge, a peaceful experience, and generally "the warm fuzzies" to the stream. Especially at points of high turmoil, it is possible for even small business owners to make a big difference in how people feel about themselves and therefor doing business with that business person. Join us LIVE on Tuesdays at 11AM Eastern/8AM Pacific (virtually) every week. If you would like to be a guest or if you know someone who