Thursday Thirteen #52 - #15 - Things of Interest

OK Jessica Smith knows a lot! I've been following her #15 days of marketing for many reasons. As a blogger and business owner I have to gain all the education that I can but because I also have a behavioral sciences background the psychology of why people buy fascinates me. It's amazing that there are studies based on the color you use for your logo and how it makes people feel. I want to focus this Thursday Thirteen post on the things that I've found interesting this far.

1.) I posted about twitter last week and if you want to know how much you influence your followers you can find out with Twinfluence. Someone posted this on twitter so I had tried it before. I also tried Twittergrader which also measures your twitter power. Good tips if your goal is to influence others and prove to the PR folks you have clout.
2.) Website Grader - this is great for getting the details of your blog and breaking it all down. This was also a little depressing for me. I'm not sure why because I want blogging to stay fun. This report wasn't fun and it told me all the things I need to do to fix it. I have too many photos. That's ok because I'm a mom, I'm visual, I've got kids and I like that aspect of my blog.
3.) Help A Reporter Out I've seen this before but have been scared to try it. Why? I don't know.
4.) One2One Network and Becoming an expert for Wishpot are the two ways I chose to build my marketing resume. I like the look of One2One and I tend to take the road less traveled. Wishpot is just fun. I like the little pot that sits in my toolbar and it makes it really easy to add stuff to my lists. I'm hoping for a badge soon!
5.) Take a risk, reap the rewards: I would love to get more into vlogging etc. but I don't have the technology right now. I chose to be vulernable in all my glory and post that goofy photo about Blogher '09 in the top right corner of my blog.
6.) Blog giveaway that gives you more. I find that the bigger the ticket item the better this would work. I could test it if I had say a $100 gc to Wal-Mart, Amazon, Target. Maybe if I had a great electronic device like a printer, camera, camcorder or something it would work better. You need something that appeals to the masses to get the most out of traffic.
7.) Self promotion - I haven't made it through this exercise yet but the concept is appealing. I have never used Tumblr. Oddly enough I feel like I have a hard time promoting myself. I'm much better at promoting others. Weird.
8.) Awesome Allies! I love this part. There are so many people that I network with it's bananas. Here's a few of those (not named last week) I would consider my awesome allies - @BirdOnAWire55 , @cherishbound176 , @bookieboo, @aordinarylife, @jyl_mommygossip, @DebMomOf3, @klacustom, @poshpointofview, @TheAngelForever
9.) Mashable - Have you heard of it? I've never used it but it looks interesting.
10.) The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business.
11.) The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
12.) Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
13.) Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking
Does this mean I'm going to turn my blog into a money making machine? I don't know - really it just means I'm learning and that is what I desire. It's important to me to always remain open to the idea of learning new things.