Internet Marketing Tips and Freebies

85 Healthy Tricks for Treating you Holiday Goblins

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:12:07 -0500

With Childhood obesity and diabetes at an all time high and since I lost 35 pounds in the past 6 months and I don't want to be tempted by candy.

I decided to put on my thinking cap, do some research and come up with some alternative treats to the traditional candy for this years goblins.

To turn this into a Marketing opportunity. Attache a business card, or wrap your items and attach your business card with black and orange ribbon.

Print you name, company information, phone number on the bottom of the activity books (courtesy of...). Use this opportunity to introduce yourself as a real estate professional. Dress up as a Realtor to give out your treats.

I have assembled a list of 85 items food and non food. Some ideas are better than others and I bet you all have some to add to the list so here goes...

Food Alternatives to Candy at Halloween

Crackers and Peanut butter snack packs

Cheese and Cracker snack Packs

Juice boxes

Fruit roll-ups (if healthy)

Fruit snack mix (Trail Mix packs). Stay away from ones with nuts many children are severely allergic to them.

Cereal Bars (healthy ones stick with the fruit ones and make sure there are not nuts)

Fruit cookies or ginger snaps in small packets

Small bags of pretzels

Small Boxes of healthy cereal

Hot Cocoa mix

Popcorn (microwave bags)

Dried Fruit individual packs or snack size boxes

Small bags of baked chips

Mini boxes of Animal Crackers

Sugar Free - Drink Mixes

Small bags of Gold Fish crackers or Oyster Crackers

Graham Crackers

Turkey Jerky

Pudding snacks

Small containers of applesauce

Small containers of sugar-free Jello

Pretzel sticks with cheese

Yogurt covered raisins

Cracker Jacks or Carmel Corn

Non-Food Alternatives to Candy at Halloween.

Stickers

Rubber Creepy Critters (snakes, worms, spiders, skeletons)

Crayons

Pencils

Markers

Puzzles - jig saw, plastic puzzles or printed puzzles

Nerf toys

Small games

Glow Sticks (they usually have these for Halloween and the kids can use them right away)

Small flashlights

Bookmarks (use wide craft or Popsicle sticks and decorate them in a Halloween motif)

Coloring books or coloring book pages and crayons or markers

Halloween Word Find puzzle

Colored pencils or fancy pencils

Paint brushes and paints

Bubbles

Balls (super balls)

Jump Ropes

Stuffed Animals (small ones)

Pencil toppers (look for a Halloween theme)

Plastic Jewelry (bracelets or rings or crowns, spider or skull rings)

Small plastic cars or planes

Temporary Tattoos look for a Halloween theme

Anything that makes noise (Whistles, noise makers)

Harmonicas

Sidewalk chalk

Parachute men

Balsa wood planes that you put together

Paper Dolls or small party favor sized dolls or doll babies with bottles

Pirate treasure (bag of fake money or other booty)

Mini Frisbee

Pony Tail holders or barrettes

Wax teeth or lips

Pinwheels

Jacks

Marbles

Yo-yo

Paddle-ball

Water guns

Note pads

Write on rub off boards for drawing

Spin tops

Fake glasses and Noses

Masks

Trading Cards

Charms

Plastic Animals

Small Craft packs (make a packet of enough craft items to make a bead bracelet)

Mood Rings (yes they still sell them)

Pins (or create a craft packet for a butterfly pin or skeleton pin or bat pin)

Silly Putty

Finger puppet

Sock puppets

Bat, ghosts or pumpkin magnets

Comic books

Stamps and stamp pads

Construction paper packs

Halloween Stories (type up some Halloween stories and make them into small books and give them out)

Halloween Jokes (same thing type them up, add some clip art and tie them together with some black and orange ribbon and give them out.

Activity books - Kaboose has some you can print

Miniature games or make your own such as a tic tack toe game Kaboose has some you can use and give you directions on how to make them.

Face Paint

This list should give you a lot of great ideas for treats that are sweet but not candy!

For puzzles visit Kaboose Printable puzzle pages.

For some craft ideas for the kids visit the Kaboose Halloween Crafts page.

Clip Art was downloaded from Kaboose

Corral you desktop icons with Fences

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:40:06 -0500

“Fences” by Stardock is a free desktop management program for you desktop shortcuts. If you have to spend time looking for things on your desktop, you have way to many shortcuts and should consider downloading Fences.

One way to better manage your shortcuts is with an small app called Fences.

Here is my desktop before fences. I don't have a lot of icons but I like grouping my icons by use. Which is exactly what Fences allows you to do.

Perfect!

Fences corrals your icons into windows on your desktop making things easy to find.

Fences are just windows that you create and label to keep your programs, documents and other shortcuts organized.

Transparency settings allow you to make the borders seamless, so the desktop looks neat and is organized the way you want it.

You can choose from an existing fences layout (there are several)or create your own as I did. This appealed to my sense of design.

To create your own use your right mouse button to create new fences. On the desktop, depress the right mouse button, drag it to draw a rectangle and release this creates a fence.

Then select create fence and give your fence a name. Then drag your Icons into the fenced in area. You can edit how your fences look (color, text and transparency). You can also select which fences to hide and which to never hide.

This is my desktop nice and organized!

If you want to hide your fences double click on the desktop and they disappear to make them reappear double click again and they return.

If your icons don’t fit in the fence you created, the fence will put a scroll bar so that you can scroll through your icons. If you need a scroll bar, maybe you really do have too many shortcuts.

The desktop background is a photo from the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton New Jersey taken early this spring.

On my wish list for improvements;

I wish it took less steps to create a fence.
I wish that you could create rules that would allow you to add certain shortcuts or program icons to fences you have already created without dragging them.

Stardock are you listening?

Otherwise I really like this little program and recommend it to help contain desktop clutter.

You can download it from the Stardock's website or download.com.

How do you feel about posting the same message to all your social networking sites?

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:06:17 -0500

Over the last few weeks I have been trying out new tools to post to all my social networks at once.

The tool I have settled on and am using is PingFM.

I have mixed thoughts about doing this since sometimes I want to post diffrent things to diffrent groups but for ease of posting when time is thight it seems like a great idea.

It is working well and it appeals to the FREE in me.

I am wondering two things.

How do you feel about posting the same thing to all your networks?
Do you have a favorite tool that you are using that you can share with me?

Thanks for taking the time to respond in advance.

A Fun, Free, Customized Video to Send to Your Mom - Happy Mothers Day

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:53:51 -0500

This week I take a break from my usual blog to give all the Moms and Mom fans reading this a gift.

Mom's rising - an organization of Moms dedicated to bringing together a group of people who are concerned about building a more family friendly America.

To learn more about Mom's Rising you can visit their website.

For a customized video gift for your Mom visit this link. This is fun and Mom will appreciate it!

Special thanks to Justin Ruben, MoveOn.org for sharing this video with me.

Updated spelling error:)

Live Mesh update - Using it is easy and fun!

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:07:14 -0500

I promised you a review of Microsoft's Live Mesh so here goes...I love the file sharing and as long as you don't use the mesh as a file cabinet and clean out your folder, the free 5 MG is plenty of space.

Three of my coworkers and I are using the mesh on a regular basis and it is working out very will for file transfer and sharing.

Now we send files back and fourth from computer to computer with ease.

1. First set up a Mesh using a windows live ID (valid email and password).

2. Download and Install Live Mesh on any device you wish to add to the mesh.

3. Go to the on-line desktop area and create a folder for your stuff.

4. Invite others to share the folder here is how.

Note: You don't have to be in the same mesh to share folders. You just have to be invited via email to have folder access and sign in with your windows live ID - One Windows Live ID gets you into Hotmail, Messenger, Xbox LIVE as well.

Create or open the Live Mesh folder you want to share.
In the mesh bar that appears alongside the folder window, click Members, and then click Invite.
Enter the e-mail addresses* of people you'd like to invite to share the folder, and then click OK. Your invitees will receive an e-mail inviting them to share the folder with you.
Once they sign in to Live Mesh and accept the invitation, they'll be able to access the folder on their Live Desktop and start synchronizing it with devices in their mesh.

For remote access to computers or other devices they have to be added to the mesh by downloading and installing software on the device you wish to add.

Here is how we set up our mesh.

The first thing we did was set up a mesh account by creating a windows live ID (valid email address and password). Next we downloaded live mesh to all the computers desktops that we wanted in the mesh so we can access them remotely. Then we created folders for each (on line on the desktop) and invited each other to use the folders then we synced the folders to our computers (they now appear on the computer desktop the same way other shortcut folders appear. When the folders are synced they turn blue in color instead of the yellow you usually see.

To the left is a Screen Shot of our desktop and below a Screen Shot of the devices in our mesh. (All computers are off except my laptop which I am currently using).

When a client or co worker needs me to work on something they put it in my folder I do the necessary work and then add the completed file to their folder. Each of us posts a message to the other telling them that the files have been transferred from folder to folder. Fast, Easy, Sweet.

Once the mesh is set up and the folder synced, even if you are at home and not connected to the mesh you can still add a document, application, photo or file all you need to do is drag a copy to the folder of choice. Like magic, it appears in the folder.

The second part of the live mesh experience is accessing your computer remotely

I must confess this is slower than I would like but since it is free, I deal with it. I was able to log onto my computer at work (which was turned on but not logged into the mesh) from my laptop off-site and access the data I needed and put it in my mesh folder so I could share it with a client I was on my way to see.

You can add Macs, PCs and Mobile devices to the mesh and share data and files with ease and the file sharing is quick and works great.

Remember, don't use this as a file storage center, just transfer or share what you need. This week I was able to share my photos of the grounds for sculpture with all my friends on the mesh and they could view them at their leisure.

I love live mesh and you will too. Give it a try.

The affair is over and things will never be the same again.

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:26:34 -0600

I knew that my affair with print media was ending when PC magazine stopped printing their magazine in January of this year.

The reason? Nicholas Carlson at Business Insider.com (Silicon Ally Insider) reported in November of last year, “Gadget and PC shoppers stay on-line now, preferring sites such as AOL's Engadget, Gawker Media's Gizmodo or CNET to print.”

With the escalating costs, loss of ad revenue and the advent of twitter and live blogging, news hits the blog sphere before the AP can even report it. The newspapers and magazine publishers are dropping like flies.

Which brings me to the point of this blog, is on-line marketing really better?

I think so, and so do others who at some point in the not to distant past worked for print media. To illustrate my point…this weekend I was tuned into HubSpot TV on-line and they did an Interview with Paul Gillian, in his words, “long-time technology journalist who’s worked almost exclusively on-line since 1999”, and they talked about a blog he had posted “Why on-line matters more than print” .

Because I have an insatiable appetite for all things marketing, I had to surf over and read the article. Once I read the article, I felt compelled to comment (leaving a link to my site of course). I let everyone know in my comment what I do for a living and that I had followed a link from Hubspot TV to the article. Because I loved the post and the writing style drew me in, I subscribed to the blog and newsletter.

Bingo! My behavior perfectly illustrates why on-line marketing is more effective than print marketing.

Yet, I still run into the print vs. on-line scenario every day. Many of my clients still insist that spending on an expensive ad in the newspaper or magazine makes their clients “happy”. No matter how much I try to persuade them to rewrite their marketing plan and focus on-line and no matter how many papers go under.

Why do sellers and some agents refuse to face reality why?

What does a “happy” client really mean?

Will seeing their home all glossy and in print really make them happy? What will agents do when there are no home magazines or newspapers left in which to place ads?

Is print marketing an ego thing with sellers or are we just doing a crappy job of selling them on reality?

I am interested to know what you think and what you tell the client who thinks they can advertise their listing on line so (so in their mind, for your exorbitant commission) they expect print advertising.

I am a little sad that magazines and newspapers are going away because I will need to find something else to read at lunch. The affair is over, I just have to accept it. We all have to accept it.

Vote Earth! - Switch off your lights during Earth Hour- Saturday March 28, 8:30 PM.

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:19:40 -0500

“In December 2009 world leaders meet in Copenhagen to agree on a post-Kyoto policy for tackling climate change. One billion people voting with their light switch during Earth Hour will create a powerful mandate for our leaders to take strong and decisive action on climate change in Copenhagen.”

“Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, leaving them on is a vote for global warming.”

Earth hour is Saturday March 28, 8:30 PM – Wherever you live on the planet.

I am asking you to do your part to show our world leaders in a very visible way that we want them to take decisive action on climate change.

It’s easy, you don’t have to leave home, give any money or devote hours of your time.

All you have to do is turn off your lights for one hour on Saturday evening.

Here is what I have planned for my earth hour.

I will be turning off all of our computer equipment and shutting down my network, unplugging all of our other power consuming devices, turning off all the lights lighting a few candles and having a glass of wine (organic of course) by candlelight to toast mother earth.

This is the perfect opportunity for all of us to unplug!

Take advantage of it and spend time with your family. Light a candle, have some conversation and let everyone know that you are committed to positive climate change.

As Active Rainer's and contributors to this group I am sure you have things planned for earth hour already. Share them with us by commenting. Better yet, video, photograph or otherwise record your experience and blog about it on Sunday!

It is imperative that we present a united stance on a global scale on March 28.

The Cathedral of Notre Dame, l’Elysée, the President’s residence (in France), the Senate and the French National Assembly, The Eiffel Tower, Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Table Mountain in Cape Town, Merlion in Singapore, Sydney Opera House, CN Tower in Toronto, Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, The Great Pyramids of Giza, Acropolis, The Empire State Building in NYC, Petronas Towers and over 377 cities in 74 countries will be switching off for Earth Hour March 24, 2009. For more information about earth hour, visit http://www.earthhour.org/ What have you planned for earth hour? Share them with us all buy commenting or Take pictures during earth hour, shoot video and blog about it!

For more information about earth hour, visit http://www.earthhour.org/

source earthhour.org website- Vote Earth! Image created by Shepard Fairey for Earth Hour 2009

Take the easy way out - synchronize your digital life with Live Mesh

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 10:44:42 -0500

It is interesting to wonder what the Internet will be like in 5 years much less 10.

The more applications are developed and the more information we are willing to share the more interactive the web will truly become.

When remote desktop access was first introduced, I was blow away by the fact that no matter where I was I could get that file I left at work or home.

Then along came, on-line file and information sharing. Once again, I was in awe.

Now, welcome Live Mesh developed by Microsoft. Live mesh is a combination of both plus more... It just keeps getting better and better.

Right now, Live Mesh is in beta and the 5 GB “Live Desktop” is free.

Live Mesh allows you to access all your devices, including your mobile devices, and even your Mac (you need to install some software) from the Internet (most browsers are supported).

You can share files with others and get notified whenever someone changes a file.

When you sign up you get what Microsoft calls, your “Live Desktop”. This is 5 GB of storage on their server to put your shared files.

Manage your files, access, changes, post messages, chat with members (using messenger) and change synchronization settings from an area called a “Mesh bar”.

If you only need a quick snapshot of what is happening with your mesh you can use “Notifier”. It gives you a status of all of your synced devices and folders.

“News” gives you a continuous feed detailing everything that is happening on your mesh. You will know when someone has viewed, changed, or posted a comment.

“Live Mesh Remote Desktop” – Just what it says, it allows you to access a desktop or mobile device remotely. The nice thing about this is say you have a Mac laptop at home, a PC at work and your blackberry. Live mesh allows syncing to share and access your files. Receive mesh updates on your blackberry or any other mobile device.

I see amazing possibilities for this in our business.

In the days to come I will tell you how Live Mesh is working for me.

Client Calls from the Internet - Web Stie, Blog or Ad to your phone for FREE

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:22:31 -0600

This week’s freebie is Jaxtr a calling tool that allows potential clients to call you on your cell with just the click of a button.

Jaxtr: Links your phone to the web so anyone visiting your site, blog, and ad…can call you and your number remains private.

I have been using this with success and like the fact that I can easily put a widget or call me button on my blog or site. I can also include a link in my e-mail signature. The service and calls are free (even international calls).

Callers do not need skype or any type of headset. They simply click on the widget or button and are asked to enter their phone number. Then a call is placed to their landline and when they answer their phone, your cell phone rings.

Some things I don’t like about Jaxtr:

1. Limited customization of the widget (can change the color and size) and no customization of the ugly orange button.

2. By default your calls are sent to your voicemail if you have not approved the phone number. So you have to change this setting in your account so that every call rings your phone. Not a big deal you just need to be aware of this.

How it works:

Enter your number to receive calls.

Jaxtr will send you a voice mail to confirm that things are correctly set up.

Choose your Widget.

Put it on your site or blog.

Wait for the phone to ring!

Want to try it? Call me now!

Move over RoboForm, This 100% FREE and secure Password Manger rocks!

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:51:34 -0600

I have now exceeded the 10 passwords the free version or RoboForm allows. While I love it, I decided to see if there was a free equivalent I could find to manage my growing number of passwords for FREE.

As often happens, when I really need something it comes to my attention via my inbox or RSS feed.

This week when I was going to search for this kid of program my favorite freebie finder, Gizmo Richards just happened to review LastPass. It sounded good so I installed and began using this tool and I must say I am more than happy.

LastPass can be used on your iphone, ipod, mobile device, or any computer by accessing your lastpass vault via the web. You passwords are encrypted and you use a screen key-board (image) to enter your lastpass vault password.

Features:

Prompts you to save new passwords to LastPass as you enter them.
When you return to a site where the password is saved the icon appears in the log in area to indicate that your password already saved. § Strong Password generation.
If you want to view your passwords you can log into your on line lastpass vault.
Store Confidential Information using secure notes (I an not trusting enough to use this feature).
Automatically fill in form information with one click.
Drag a bookmarklet to your tool bar and log in to your accounts with one click. If you have multiple profiles a menu will appear and offer log in choices.
Protect yourself from keylogging software by logging in using a screen keyboard. This is very useful if you need to log on at work or the library, a hotel room to access your lastpass vault. You use your mouse to point and click the keyboard that appears on your screen.
Finds and asks if you want to add existing passwords to your encrypted vault.
Create one-time passwords to potect your LastPass vault from key-logging software when using an untrusted computer.

Want learn more? They have great video tutorials. So throw away that paper in your desk, delete the password file from your computer, ditch that dirty business card in your wallet (I recommend shredding it) and download LastPass and simplify your life!

Photo by: Frank Köhne - Stuttgart, Germany- courtsey of Stock.xchng

Wish you could email a folder full of photos - You can for FREE with this program

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 19:58:03 -0600

How many times have you taken pictures of a property you have listed and needed to send them via email to someone? If you have, then you know that all to often your email is returned to you or not sent because the files are too large. Sometimes zipping them is the answer but oftern it is not enough if you have a lot of larger photos to send. Ever wished for an easy way to reduce the size of all of your photos at once?

Well I have a frebie for you called Fotosizer.

This program is easy to use and you don't need a degree in computer science to figure out how to use it.

There are three basic steps to use this program.

1. Find the photos or folder full of photos you want to re-size.

2. Select the resize settings that you want.

3. Start resizing the photos. You can choose which photos to re-size and where to save the re-sized photos.

I recommend putting all the re-sized photos into a folder with the same name as the original images - re-sized That way they are easy to find and send.

Yes, it really is that easy. You can reduce the size of the photos dramatically and make sending them via email a snap. No more messages that the files size is to large. You can shrink the size of JPEG and other supported formats.

You can re-size photos for email, websites, on-line printing services, slide shows (re-size all the photos in the slide show to the same size giving the show a better overall appearance) and photos that are going to be inserted into Word, PowerPoint or other presentation software making the overall document size smaller and easier to manage.

I have used this program often and recommeded it to the agents in my office and my clients. Everyone loves it.

Visit their site for a full list of product features.

Prevent Image Theft - Watermarking How To, FREE Services and FREE Tools.

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:09:37 -0500

Watermarking your still images, audio, animations or video is a great way to keep others from just taking them. There are lots of ways to accomplish this. Today we talk about still images (photos).

Watermarking still images using an image editor:

Most photo creation programs come with a watermark embed feature. However, if they don’t and you want to create a watermark you certainly can. Here is how you do it.

First of all you need to understand what a watermark is. A watermark is a transparent image (.gif or .png) that appears over top of the image you are using. You flatten or merge the image layers to create the embedded watermark. A Watermark can be text or graphics.

The way you choose to watermark your image is up to you. For example, in Photoshop®, you create a new transparent layer over top of the image. Then add your text or logo in the top layer and drop the opacity to the desired level (I like to use 45%). Flatten or merge the layers and save the image for the web and your watermark will be embedded. Here is an example of a watermarked image using this technique.

FREE watermarking programs.

There are two types of watermarking programs. On line services and software programs you download to your desktop.

On-line programs:

Watermark Tool – upload your image, add your watermarking text, choose the color, hit generate and you’re done.

PicMarkR – Upload your image(s) – apply your watermark and get your watermarked image(s). You can upload images from your computer, Flicker or your blog.

WaterMarkMagic enables you to impress, overlay and link images, pictures, photos, calendars, reports, maps, charts, patterns, designs, logos and icons. Results can be printed, saved and shared in PDF format. You can upload images from Flicker or your computer.

FREE Watermarking Software:

UMarkLite – Freeware - Adds a watermark, does batch watermarking, and saves your settings for later use.

VXEI picture uploader - This free program does a lot of things. Batch watermarks, uploads and resizes your photos before uploading.

WaterMark is an open source image-watermarking tool.

Protect your Images by disabling right click:

Now if watermarking does not work for you, you can protect your images is by disabling the right click. That way no one can right click and save your image. If you want to do that you can use a bit of java script, which you would place right after the head tag.

Here is the script:

From Java Script Source.

I hope you enjoy these freebies. If you have other watermarking software or online tools you use let me know! I am always looking for great software and services.

Add Language Translation to website and blogs for FREE!

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:02:52 -0600

This Weeks Freebies are Website or Blog Translation tools.

With people from all over the world visiting your site and blog doesn’t it make sense for them to be able to translate your site into their native language easily?

With any of the tools mentioned below, your site or blog visitors can translate your content into their native language by clicking on the flag that belongs to their country.

Remember that the translations are done by machine and are not always perfect. Expect online translators to give the gist of the translated text but not a quality translation. To improve your translations use proper grammar. Avoid long and complex sentences, slang, misspelled words, or improper punctuation.

Google Easy Translation Tools

The easy way for visitors to translate your site or blog is with the Google toolbar. Offer a download or link to the Google Tools Page on your site or make it easy add the Google Gadget to your site (see below).

1. You can add your native language button to the tool bar. When you want to translate the web page you click the button.

2. Translation with no clicks using the Toolbar. You just pause over an English word, and the Word Translator displays that word's meaning in the visitor’s own language (You can translate from English to Chinese, Traditional and Simplified, Japanese, Korean, French, Italian, German, and Spanish).

3. Add a Google Gadget to your Website or blog.

Just visit the tool link and copy and past the code into your blog or web page and your visitor can select the translation language from a drop down list in the gadget.

Not in Love with Google? Use a Widget or other tool

Widgets typically use country flags to indicate translation options. A visitor clicks on the flag of their native language and the page or blog is translated.

It is easy to add the tools and widgets to your site by cutting and pasting in the code provided. No excuse now for not translating your site or blog!

Widgetbox offers a Google Widget If you have an older version of WordPress you will want to upgrade because the content will not appear in IE7. Upgeading to the latest WordPress will solve the problem.

Other tools and other Widgets such as Babblefish (now merged with Yahoo) and many others including one that translates into 18 languages with a pull down menu.

I found a nice looking translation tool from the UK that you might like but it offers translation into ten different languages. The tool is customizable so you can use it vertically or horizontally and you can specify the background color.

Global Translations offers two options for translation. The offer a banner, which offers flags with the country, names under each flag (12 language options). They also offer a drop down menu like the Google menu I mentioned above.

These are just a few ways to add the global audience to your blogs and web sites.

If you don’t want to Ad’s for other sites on yours

You can use the code (PHP, Java Script and html or a combination) with images and link to the translation pages provided by Google.

If you want to see it work. You can go to my real estate site (under development) and see it in action. http://homes.carynwebb.com/

If you want help adding Ad free translation e-mail me at

Caryn@CDWebbDesign.com

Watch for more Freebies Next Week.

Warmly, Caryn

Edible Playgrounds

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 14:42:57 -0600

This weeks blog is a bit of a change from my usual tech tips. If you read this blog regularly, you know I am a big fan of a blog called Urban Garden Casual and an Urban Gardner myself. This weeks Urban Garden Causal had a blog written By Cindy Naas about Edible playgrounds.

What is Edible Playgrounds? It is a all about teaching kids to grow and cook their own foods. They have sow it, grow it, eat it projects.

They are involved in an ongoing movement to bring urban gardening to schoolyards everywhere all across the UK.

An awesome concept that we here in the US should embrace.

It is sponsored by Dorset Cereals ( a UK brand of healthy breakfast cereal) and there is a fun and inventive site called Edible Playgrounds. The site offers monthly garden activities that include protecting your beds for the winter, what crops can be planted now as well as pictures of edible playgrounds and fun activities for children like how to make Christmas Tag stamps from potatoes and win an apple tree contest.

If you are a gardening fan you owe it to yourself to spend some time at this site and poke around. Great tips for getting your kids involved in gardening even if it is not in your local school yard but you own back yard!

I grow my urban garden in containers on the deck of my condo.

The site is great and even includes a page dedicated to ideas for projects using the cereal box and each box gives kids a mission to make something. Below is a screen capture of the page(it is animated and worth visiting just to check out the animation).

Keep hackers out, update all your 3rd party programs on your PC for FREE the easy way.

Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 22:34:52 -0600

When was the last time you updated real player, quick time, media player, java run time or Adobe Flash Player?

These third party programs if not updated contain vulnerabilities that could leave your system open to hacker attacks and contain security threats that exploit software vulnerabilities and code flaws.

The Security patches for these programs are usually free and available for download from the program vendors. Visiting each vendor and downloading the latest patches could take some time and who had extra time to spend doing this.

I have a solution that will scan your computer for needed updates and provide the links for you to update the programs.

Secunia offers some free ware to scan your system and tell you what programs need updating and provides the links to the programs to make keeping your system security in top-notch condition. It is a great little program and worth checking out.

I was amazed to find out that I had several old programs on my computer that needed patching and uninstalling!

You can download Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI) 1.0 from downloads.com. It is Freeware and it is really easy to install and use.

If you want to check it out first, they have an online version that also works great! Find it here Secunia Online Software Inspector.

If you want to get it for your company network, they have a network version called Network Software Inspector (NSI) 2.0 This is not free cost is $30.00 per host seat (the host seat is the number of computers on the network). So, scan your computer today and download and install the patches the easy way.

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