Maybe Facebook thought we all could quickly figure out how to read a timeline. OMG! I took forever to upgrade because I hate to admit this,  I couldn’t figure out how to read the darn thing in date order. I was so fustrated.  I was reading wall posts like a newspaper or magazine, up and down on the left, then move top right and go down. Wrong, wrong wrong. I did not even notice the center “time line” bar in the center of the two columns with the little round dots for the longest, longest time (talking weeks)! Your square posting boxes with their little talking bubble stem from this. To read in order, start at the top and follow the “timeline” in the center of the two columns of your posts. You will mostly find the order moves left to right but this is not always the case, so careful to follow the timline bar in the center with the little dots. I guess Facebook figures we all think alike because I could not even find anything under their help on this. Crazy!

Be aware that privacy settings for Facebook Cover Photos are set to public, and you have no option to change this.  The public can see your current cover and your entire cover album. It took me a bit to figure out how to delete them so I am providing that info here! Go to photos>click on your cover photo album>click on the image you want to delete>under the photo toward the right click on “options”>delete this photo

I wrote this more for your personal use of Facebook, not business. I am sure many/most things crossover. I was answering some questions to friends who had problems with Apps and things showing up on their wall, that they did not post, so I decided to put together a list of all the security tips I could think of.

■Log out – always log out of Facebook when you are done using from any device. For example, phone, ipad, computer
■Secure Browsing – enable secure browsing (https) under account settings>security>secure browsing
■Apps – privacy settings>apps and websites. Limit your Apps, or better yet, don’t use them. If you do, browse them frequently to see what is there. You’d be very surprised. Currently, Apps need to ask you only once for permission. Once they do, they’ll mine your profile information as often as need be, sometimes even when the App isn’t being used. For the Apps you do keep edit the setting to privacy, “only me” to be sure you App activity is only seen by you. Also, If you use them create a app password for extra security. account settings>security>App passwords.  Delete all Apps if you are getting spam or hacked. Most/many Apps grant permission for them to use your wall as you, and access all your information, anytime.
■What you share – limit the information you share and who you share it with (review your settings, most should be “only me” or “friends”), like your birthdate (this is a very common security issue people post), address, phone number, emails, pictures, your comings and goings from home, commenting you are away or on vacation.
■Who you share with – limit/carefully scrutinize your friends/connections. I’d stick to real true friends. privacy settings>how you connect. Unless you are in a popularity contest, running for office, or, using Facebook as a business operation there is no reason to accept people you barely know into your space and then to grant them access to all your business.
■Tag settings – found under privacy settings> How Tags Work. Enable profile review and tag review, this allows you to review prior to things going public.  Maximum Timeline Visibility should be set to friends. Disable tag listings, it makes it harder for friends to tag large quantities of photos featuring you or people that look like you. But it also takes some of your profile’s privacy out of the hands of others. Disable friends can check you into places.
■Active Sessions – under security check your active sessions routinely and delete them. This tells you who and from what device your account is being accessed.
■Disable Recent Activity updates – don’t leave your tracks in the sand, which broadcast new friendships, groups you’ve joined and any other changes in your basic information (such as relationship status or political views). Just click on the X next to a Recent Activity update on your timeline and select Hide Similar Activity from Timeline.-
■Passwords – change your password frequently to what is considered a safe password (by standards) and especially if you feel an unauthorized login has occurred.
■Tidy – Keep your wall clean, delete posts, and private messages regularly.

USPS has updated two of their shipping codes -system available since 1/23/2012

First-Class Mail International Package
is now First-Class Mail International Parcel

First-Class Mail Package
is now First-Class Mail Parcel
Please contact me if you are having difficulties using these methods.

Check out all the photo editing cgonsa just did for It’s Your Party! photo gallery. Amy did not have time to do this herself so she sent me her event images and I prepped them in photoshop and uploaded them to her site. Wow does Amy Goldman do some fine events! I was so excited to prep so I could see all the details she puts into each and every event. Her events are a beautiful work of artistry. Such creativity, style and flair. SEE it right here! It’s Your Party!

This should be helpful mostly to my clients who want to switch from constant contact mailing list services to their own newsletter manager.

1.)login to your constant contact account

2.)at the home page tab go to manage your contacts

3.)select the lists you want to export.

4.)at the top next to the right of manage contacts click export

5.)under export selection put a check box in first name and last name only

6.)export as a CSV

7.)open your admin and go to mailing list subscribers>import users from file

8.)under step 1:click browse and select your file you just downloaded from constant contact and click upload. do not change the default settings.

9.)on step 2 define fields, you should now see some of your emails and a first name and last name column which are blank. click define data selection

10.)step 3 perform import click it.

You will now see a screen that says inserting data….Import Complete and the number of records inserted. close the window you are done.

You can open up the original CSV file in Excel to see if all your emails uploaded by noting the count and then the count in your admin.

Getting listed, improves your seo (search engine optimization) in local searches.  Per Google, studies have shown, 97% of consumers search for local businesses online.  A complete and detailed listing in Places can help Google better understand your business and match you to relevant search results too.  Using Google Places you can help your business stand out with tools to add photos, videos, get and respond to reviews, or give a shout out to special promos.  Using stats gathered you can study keywords used in searches, and where your customers coming from.  Google Places is a tool to help with your marketing and seo.  Why not get listed today, it’s a great tool and a FREE one!

Getting Started

By using Open Graph tags you can control how  facebook shares your information. These are like  <meta> tags that you add to the <head> of your website to describe your page.

 If you use, Open Graph tags, the following six are required:

• og:title – The title of the entity.
• og:type – The type of entity. You must select a type from the list of Open Graph types.
• og:image – The URL to an image that represents the entity. Images must be at least 50 pixels by 50 pixels. Square images work best, but you are allowed to use images up to three times as wide as they are tall.
• og:url – The canonical, permanent URL of the page representing the entity. When you use Open Graph tags, the Like button posts a link to the og:url instead of the URL in the Like button code.
• og:site_name – A human-readable name for your site, e.g., “IMDb”.
• fb:admins or fb:app_id – A comma-separated list of either the Facebook IDs of page administrators or a Facebook Platform application ID. At a minimum, include only your own Facebook ID.

An Open Graph tag looks like this:

<meta property=”og:tag name” content=”tag value”/>

If you are just concerned about the image Facebook will grab and don’t want to deal with all involved in Open Graph tags, you can use the following meta key in your <head>

<link rel=”image_src” href=”path_to_your_thumbnail_image” / >

To see Sitemap details:

1. Sign into Webmaster Tools with your Google Account.
2. On the Dashboard, click the site you want.
3. Click Sitemaps.
4. In the list, click the Sitemap you want.

1.) open photoshop

3.) go to image>image size>the image size box will popup
I am resizing to 160×160. Reduce either the width or height to the size you want the square. Pick the one that does not make the other less than the size you are wanting. I used the height for mine. This made the width a litte bigger than 160 but that is okay.

4.) Now open a new document, go to File>New. In the new box that appears put a width of 160 and a height of 160 and click OK.

This is what you will see now-

5.) Now using your move tool and your mouse drag your resized product image over the blank white new document you created. Move it around to find the placement you want.

6.) Now save it for the web by going to file, save for the web and you are done.