Karen Skidmore's Kick-Ass Blog | CanDoCanBe

Another great gadget - Xobni for your outlook

For those of you who use MS Outlook, like I do, then you will love this little widget you can download for free.

If you are anything like me, you rarely take the time to keep emails filed neatly.  I find I have got in the habit of dumping emails that I want to keep in to a folder called “KOF” which has just expanded to enormous proportions over the past year.  I also find it difficult to track previous email communications with people, finding the search facility on Outlook just too slow and cumbersome.

I was a bit nervous about downloading some software to work along side my Outlook, to be honest.  But Xobni is worth its little weight in gold.  It has saved me hours of frustrated email searching, finding attachments, phone numbers and tracking. Go check it out now.

Video that is "flip"ping easy to do

I was speaking at the CanDoCanBe guildford business network last night about blogging and we got on to mentioning podcasting and video blogs. 

I have been recommended a little gadget called Flip, which is available here in the UK in the next few weeks, I believe.  It is an “idiot-proof” digital camcorder which automatically converts your video footage in to files ready for use on UTube, your video blog or just about any online application.

Just insert the USB stick in to your computer (no matter whether you have PC or Mac) and hey presto, instant videos to upload. 

And I thought I would blog about it as Anne Crotty emailed me a link on the Telegraph today who have just been reviewing it.  But get in line – I’m first!!

Google Alert yourself and never miss a thing

Ever wondered how some people find out where they have popped up and been mentioned on various blogs or websites? 

Leesa Barnes, of www.LeesaBarnes.com, promptly commented on a blog posting just this week.  In fact within 24 hours of the post appearing here on this blog.

How did she do it?  I am sure she had Google Alerts set up so that anytime her name was mentioned on a site indexed by Google, she would receive an email straight in to her inbox.

If you haven’t done this already, I recommend you do this right now.  Go to Google Alerts and set up notifications for both your name and your business name.  It’s not only free, it really is that easy!

So, thanks Leesa for dropping by and if you want to learn more about podcasting, I recommend you sign up for her newsletter!

Blog feeds can sprout like mushrooms once you realise how!

Today, being Friday, I have had several hours catching up with some well overdue blog reading and online forum cruising.  And one thing I have realised over the past few weeks is that with each of online profiles I have set up in various different social networks, each one comes up with a lovely RSS feed.

What does this mean?  I can add the feed of this blog to each of my profiles.

I have fairly active profiles on Facebook, Ecademy, Linked In and Giant Potential.  And as I post every working day (if not twice a day when I have something interesting to share with you, like this bit of info) this means that every one of my social networking profiles gets updated with fresh content.

Talk about multi-tasking!  One action creates a multitude of activity, which only goes to prove to me even more that blogging is one huge, powerful marketing tool for small businesses!

One i-pod later and I'm hooked

I got my very first i-pod for Christmas and I can’t believe how easy and gorgeous it is to use.  It is a little Nan so I can use it whilst out running (yes, got to get rid of those mince pies!!) and I have already found myself spending money on i-tunes buying up tracks that I used to have on 7” and 12” records.

But the real reason I asked for an i-pod is so that I can get listening to some subscribed podcasts and the many hours of audio recordings I have on my PC. 

I just found that I wasn’t listening to anything when sitting in front of my PC.  The few times I did try to listen to some audio recordings, I started multi-tasking and the good stuff just passed me by.

Now?  Well, I have been listening to hours of great, mind-shifting stuff over the past couple of weeks.  I got round to listening to my Alex Mandossian audios that I have had for weeks and my favourite podcast which I am now addicted to is the Podcast Sisters.  Heather, Anna and Krisna are 3 highly entertaining and knowledgeable ladies who talk about social media tools (that’s blogging, facebook and all the other interactive web-based stuff out there) in “non-geek speak”.  I highly recommend it and you can get listening to their latest podcast here.