For me, the year started off quietly, then picked up very quickly about midway through the month.

As planned, I’ve been devoting more time to finding great content and sharing it on Twitter. I’ve discovered the Buffer app which allows me to spread my posts throughout the day rather than flooding my followers with a bunch of updates in a row or tweeting in scattered pockets of time. I’m also posting at least five times a week on the Organized Assistant Facebook page, with a variety of discussion questions and links (others’ as well as my own).

I took two sites I’d already created in WordPress and gave them each a polished new design – check them out!

Before

After

Before

After

And to see some of my latest website projects for professional organizers, take a look at Three Kinds of WordPress Websites.

As a guest blogger for Promotion Career Solutions, I tapped into my former roles as an employment counsellor and a professional organizer, writing about Paper-based Tools for Organizing Your Job Search. I was also quoted in Cool Gadgets Every Business Should Have, thanks to an idea I got from GHVA member Jacquie Manore last year.

How are you making out in terms of the goals or resolutions you set for yourself at the beginning of the year?

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on January 2012 in Review.

I was on People in Connection Internet TV earlier this month, and invite you to watch the video:

It seems that people like what I write, because NewsClipTV featured my Tips for Organizing a Business Event, and Linda Samuels included an excerpt from my review of her book, The Other Side of Organized on her website.

Even better, people like my work, as evidenced by Kathy Stinson’s post, Did you create your own website?

I’m sorry to be hogging the spotlight – please feel free to brag about your recent successes here in the comments!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on There I am again!.

You can avoid the madness by doing at least some of your shopping online, and some e-tailers are making it even easier by offering special deals for “Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday.” Here are just a few that might be of interest:

Calendars.com – Save up to 60% on all orders (plus free shipping in continental USA)

Everyone needs a calendar, and this site offers an extensive selection of both wall calendars and desk calendars for everyone on your shopping list – including yourself!

momAgenda Day Planners – Save 20% on all orders (plus free shipping in continental USA)

• Save an additional $10 on orders over $75 with coupon code MOM10OFF75
• Save an additional $10 on orders over $65 with coupon code MOM10OFF65

These beautiful planners were designed especially for mothers, but are great for other busy women too. Read my review of the myAgenda Day Planner here.

Mom PLR eBooks – Save 25% off all PLR (excluding sale items and monthly membership options) with coupon code BLACKFRIDAY

If you’ve ever wondered if private label rights content was a good source of information products for you to resell on your website or use in your blog, here’s your chance to find out without spending a whole lot of money.  Although the focus is on the mom niche market, many of the topics would apply equally to other audiences.

HostGator – 50% off your first invoice

HostGator provides excellent service, and if you sign up with them today, you’ll pay even less than their usual low prices.

iThemes All Access Theme Pass – Save 28% with coupon code FREESHIPPING

I was introduced to iThemes in 2009 through one of my clients who requested my assistance setting up their Flexx Blog Theme which she had purchased for her new WordPress site. I was so impressed at its flexibility and how easy it was to use that I purchased the All Access Theme Pass, and it was one of the best investments I’ve ever made for my business.

The package includes over 100 themes, including my personal favourite, Builder. With Builder, you create your own layouts, even using different layouts for different sections of your WordPress site.

PluginBuddy Developer Suite – Save 28% with coupon code FREESHIPPING

This is another tool that’s been really valuable in my website design business. The suite consists of a number of my favourite premium WordPress plug-ins including BackupBuddy, Billboard, Slideshow, LoopBuddy, and many others – not to mention any new ones that are released in the coming year.

WebDesign.com Premium Annual Membership – Save 28% with coupon code FREESHIPPING

One of the reasons WordPress is so popular is that it’s so easy to use, but if you really want to make the most of it, you need to delve beyond the basics. Since I joined WebDesign.com last year, I’ve completed a number of their courses, covering such topics as Event Management and Calendars, Designing for the Mobile Web, and How to Write Better SEO Content. Courses are offered every week, with new topics being developed continually.

What’s really great is that members have access to every course that’s ever been offered, so not only do you not have to miss out if a particular session doesn’t fit into your schedule, if there’s something you need to know for a current project, you can simply download the slides or watch the video for that topic.

These are just a handful of the great sales on right now, and of course there are thousands more. I have dealt with all of the businesses listed above and am pleased that they will pay me a commission if you buy anything through my links, but would be happy to recommend them regardless.

If you’re offering a deal on your website right now, feel free to promote it in the Comments section!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Of course, I know it’s not a real award, not like the Thomas Leonard International Virtual Assistant of Distinction Award I was nominated for in 2009. It’s really just a meme, but memes can be fun, so I’m happy to have an excuse to use one in my blog, and thank Erika for thinking of me.

There are four simple rules for The Versatile Blogger Award:

1. Post a link to the person who gave you the award.
2. Tell your readers seven random things about yourself.
3. Award 15 newly discovered blogs.
4. Send them a note letting them know you nominated them.

So, here are seven random facts about me:

1. I won second prize in the Discover Mississauga Photo Contest several years ago for this interior shot of Mississauga City Hall.
   
   (This is a photo of the photo, through the glass of the frame, so doesn’t really do it justice.)
2. I usually carry the same purse for months, and sometimes don’t even switch with the change in seasons, but I love shopping for purses. Shoes, not so much.
3. I love to play trivia games and am pretty good at them too.
4. I was a matched Big Sister for many years, and am still friends with my Little Sister, who is now all grown up and recently gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.
5. I have signed up for Google+, but haven’t yet figured out what, if anything, I will do there.
6. I was into Reduce-Reuse-Recycle before it was even a trend.
7. I make my own granola.

And here are the 15 blogs I’m nominating for the Versatile Blogger Award, in alphabetical order:

1. LinkedLearning by Margarita Ibbott: Help with using LinkedIn and other social media.
2. Daily Blogging Ideas by Michelle Shaeffer: Wonderful inspiration for both personal and business blogs.
3. Fabulous After 40 by Deborah Boland and JoJami Tyler: Fashion advice for those of us who aren’t as young as we used to be.
4. Garious Blog – Up to date information about social media.
5. Grow with Stacy: Tips for personal development, as well as blogging and social media.
6. The Lady Bloggers Society headed by Stepfanie Cuevas: Once a week they hold a Lady Blogger Social Tea Party to give readers a chance to share their blog posts – a great way to connect with other bloggers!
7. Marian Schembari: More goodies on social media and blogging.
8. MS Outlook for Business: Valuable tips for using email and discovering features of Outlook you never knew existed.
9. The Other Side of Organized by Linda Samuels: Explores the emotions connected with making changes in your life.
10. Site Sketch 101 by Nicholas Cardot: A wealth of information about blogging.
11. Solo-E.com by Terri Zwierzynski: Articles on all aspects of running a small business, including marketing, productivity and more.
12. Sunday Stealing hosted by Judd Corizan: A great place to find out about different blog memes of all types.
13. Teatime with Tina by Tina Chase: All about food and cooking.
14. Virtually Yours by Joanne Burgess: Fabulous tips about social media and small business topics.
15. WordPress Jedi: Information about WordPress themes, plugins, and security issues, as well as SEO and social media tips.

If you enjoyed this post, why not nominate yourself for a Versatile Blogger Award? If you do, please leave a link to your post in the Comments, so we can learn more about you and the blogs you read.

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on The Versatile Blogger Award.

No?

Maybe you’re just not keeping your eyes open for chances to get your name out there!

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m always seeking out opportunities to be a source for other bloggers, and here are a couple of posts I’ve contributed to lately:

Creative Uses for 3M Post It Notes (I’m #16)

Where To Find Great Sales People (I’m #50)

It’s an especially nice surprise to see my name in someone else’s blog when I haven’t even responded to a query, and my friend Julie Bestry (AKA Paper Doll) has mentioned me TWICE recently!

Paper Doll Sends a Summer Postcard

Paper Doll Rejects the Fair but Embraces the Carnival

Yesterday I received an email letting me know my recent post on Avoiding Automation Overkill had been featured on NewsClipTV, a news hub for the Hamilton area.

So yes, I’m feeling pretty good about myself these days, but I’d really like to turn the spotlight on YOU!

If you’ve had any media exposure lately – whether online or in print, local or national – I’d love to hear about it? Don’t be shy – tell me about it in the Comments!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Are Your Ears Buzzing? Mine Are!.

Content Curation can be defined simply as the act of searching, grouping, organizing and sharing the most significant content on a particular topic on the Internet.

Source: What is Content Curation?

It’s becoming more and more popular for two reasons.

For creators of content (bloggers, for example),  it can be challenging to come up with unique topics to write about on a regular basis. Even when there’s something we know our readers will be interested in learning about, if we’re not terribly knowledgeable about that subject, doing the research and writing it up effectively can be as much work as writing a term paper. On the other hand, most of us devote a certain amount of time reading blogs and articles that are relevant to our target audience, and we can serve them more efficiently by simply sharing that information with them.

To a certain degree, we are doing this when we share something on Twitter, Facebook, or another social media site, but many are taking this a step further. New tools such as Scoop.it! are emerging that enable users to collect relevant information and publish it to their social media or blogs.

For consumers of content, content curation can also be a real time-saver. Instead of spending hours searching the web or reading through pages of chit-chat on various social media sites to find useful information, they can now count on content curators to find the most valuable stuff and pass it on to them.

Now that September has rolled around, many of us will find ourselves facing a busier schedule and a heavier workload, making time even more precious than ever. So, for your benefit and my own, I’ve decided to make content curation a regular component of From the Desk of Janet Barclay. I will still share news and original content from time to time, but at least two posts a month will be dedicated to great resources that relate to one or more of my blog categories. If there’s a particular topic you’re interested in, please let me know!

In the meantime, I’ll continue to write regular posts especially for professional organizers, posts about virtual assistance, and posts about introversion on my other blogs, as well as occasional guest posts elsewhere.

What are your thoughts on content curation, as either a creator or a consumer of content?

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Organizing the Web.

Today I’d like to share a few more collaborative blog posts in which I’ve been a participant:

• 7 Expert Tips on Getting Blog Traffic
• 39 Tips on Generating Ideas for a Blog Post
• Blogging to Build Your Business
• 118 Ways To Use Social Media In Business
• Paper You Should Probably Get Rid of – But You Keep Anyway

I think we’ll be seeing more and more of these opportunities, so do keep your eyes open for queries related to your areas of interest and/or expertise.

I’m also thrilled that someone blogged about me (and I didn’t even ask them to)!

• International Virtual Assistants Day

If you’ve had any exposure online (other than your own website, blog, or social media profile), feel free to brag about it here!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Collaborative Blogging.

Earlier this year, the founder of Introvert Retreat contacted me to let me know she was moving on to other things, and I’m happy to announce that I’m now the official owner! Of course, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to give it an updated theme, and I invite you to check it out:

The new look is based on the iThemes Builder Theme which I now use for all of my custom WordPress designs. For Introvert Retreat, I made a few modifications to the Blueprint Child Theme in order to maintain a feeling of calm and relaxation.

If you’re an introvert or think you may be, would like to better understand the introverts in your life, or don’t even know what introversion is, you’ll want to visit Introvert Retreat. There’s already a lot of great information there, with more to come.

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on Re-introducing Introvert Retreat.

Blog Carnivals typically collect together links pointing to blog articles on a particular topic. A Blog Carnival is like a magazine. It has a title, a topic, editors, contributors, and an audience. Editions of the carnival typically come out on a regular basis (e.g. every Monday, or on the first of the month). Each edition is a special blog article that consists of links to all the contributions that have been submitted, often with the editors opinions or remarks.

Source: BlogCarnival.com

One example is the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival at Your Organizing Business, which I’ve been hosting for two years. Every month, organizing consultants from all over submit their blog posts on a specific topic to the Carnival, and to date, over 70 have used this vehicle to generate traffic to their blog and gain new readers. Some use the monthly topics to generate ideas for their blog, and others seize the opportunity to bring attention to one of their older posts. This month’s topic is Organizing Memorabilia, and if you’re a professional organizer who blogs, be sure to consider participating!

Hundreds of different Blog Carnivals take place every month, so regardless of the subject of your blog, you’re sure to find at least one that’s a good fit. Many, but not all, are listed at BlogCarnival.com. Quite a few of the listed Carnivals are no longer active, so I find it most efficient to sort on the Next Edition date. You will probably find some that you’ll want to take part in regularly, whereas others might be good for specific posts you’ve written. For example, I submitted my review of Papermate’s biodegradable pen to the May Carnival of Pen, Pencil & Paper.

Blog Carnivals can help you expand the reach of your blog, but don’t just submit your link and sit back – take the time to read at least a few of the other posts in the Carnival. You’ll probably learn a thing or two, and you might also discover new blogs worth reading and find other bloggers to connect with.

Here is your assignment for this week:

1. Find a Blog Carnival that’s a good fit for you.
2. Submit one of your posts.
3. Come back here and leave a comment, stating the name of the Carnival and where and when it will be or has been published.

I promise to check out each one!

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on How to Benefit from Blog Carnivals.

Leave Comments

Locate and read the blogs that are likely to interest the people in your target market, and leave comments. Most blogs allow you to include a link to your website so other readers who may be interested in knowing more about you can easily do so. Make sure that your comments are insightful, not just self-promotional or something vague like “Great post!”

Answer Questions

Many bloggers occasionally post a question, and compile the answers in a future post. This is a great way to put your name out there! I’ve recently participated in a number of such posts, answering the following questions:

How do you organize business cards so that you can do the right follow up?

What is the worst networking faux pas you have seen?

If you could start your business over, what would you do differently?

What one piece of technology empowers you to conduct your business better?

What Internet App for business NEEDS to be created?

Keep your eyes open for opportunities like this on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for HARO to become a source for bloggers and other media.

Become a Guest Blogger

I’ve been invited by a couple of my clients to write the following posts for their blogs:

Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Virtual Assistant

Organizing Your Job Search Schedule

Organizing Your Job Search Workspace

Organizing Your Job Search Contacts

If you don’t have a blog yourself, your chances of being approached are slim, but there’s no reason you can’t make the first move. Contact someone whose blog is read by the people in your target market and let them know that you’re interested in writing about [your topic]. It could even be a colleague in your own industry, as many bloggers welcome the opportunity to take a break from writing and to give their readers another point of view once in a while.

Get Mentioned

If you treat your clients well, they’ll be happy to recommend you. I was just thrilled to see my name in these recent posts:

How to find and use a Virtual Assistant to get ahead

My Follow Fridays #FF and why

Most bloggers promote their posts on one or more social media sites, and readers also share them with their networks, so the potential for exposure is more than you might think. What’s especially great about being mentioned on a blog, whether it’s as a commenter, a topic expert, a guest blogger, or a recommended service provider, is that it stays there forever (or at least until the blog is taken offline), so you can continue to get noticed for many years to come.

Please visit From the Desk of Janet Barclay to read and comment on How to Benefit from Blogging, even if you don’t have a blog.