Wow! That's all I can say. I haven't been to TELive in a long time, and the other day I went in there and was shocked at how many people were in the room. And get this, Jon wasn't talking!

It really has morphed into the community we always saw it as. As more of you have been brave enough to turn your cameras on and talk, it's now like a family that keeps on growing.

I'm being honest here too. We don't charge for TELive, there is an email list but we use that to tell you if we won't be having it or if something special is going on in there. So don't think this is some kind of pitch to buy anything.

You really can't understand it till you go in there and people are talking. People I didn't even recognize their names were in there chatting. And you don't have to be a "somebody" because there is no totem pole here, everyone is part of the family and everyone cares about everyone.

And I'll admit it was fun seeing Sam and Marie chuckle about the goober button and how I changed a bunch of things at StartXchange and drove them nuts. But seeing them on video made me realize they weren't angry but more poking fun.

The best part about TELive is that the room is always open, and around 4PM EST it gets filled with the most caring people in the industry. People who are happy to help newbies and welcome them in immediately. So if you've been struggling in this business going solo, come join the community for a daily dose of encouragement, motivation, and help!

http://www.trafficexchangelive.com

So you really want to pwn your Facebook Fan Page, right? You want to get a lot of likes because then people hear your message and your EA value goes up. Well I've got TWO tips for you:

1. When you reach 25 likes, goto the following URL to give your fan page a shorter URL. This makes you look like a PRO, and let's face it, you earned it. But still 90% of the people out there aren't doing this. You can also do it for your personal profile too ;-) Just note, you can't change it later so if you type "trafficexchangeR" then you are stuck for life with it.
   http://www.facebook.com/username
2. Give your subscribers badges! We have the functionality for you to give a badge if someone like's your fan page. It's real easy too, just order a badge and let us know your fan page URL. We'll tell you the easy 2 step process to get it to show on your fan page. Want to know what fan pages have this already?

We talk about list building all the time, but what is more important is relationship building. Especially if you are a small one man show, having real relationships will make you more money over the long run.

But we all want that easy button.

I fell for it. I used software to watch what people are Tweeting and follow people who talk about traffic exchanges. I got tons of people following me. It looked great on paper.

But I didn't know any of them.

I've started to see this same trend moving to Skype now. Especially with the launch of software that makes spamming on Skype easy. I look at Skype as a huge powerful tool because it is so personal, but when you automate it you take the person out of it.

Don't fall for it.

My recommendation with you would be to NOT use tools to automate networking and relationship building. It is not the golden ticket. If you are sooo big that you need tools, hire someone to take care of it. Keep it personal. THAT is why it works. The second the person on the other end realizes they are talking to a machine, that power is gone.

You might have noticed this by now, that whenever I make a blog post I add my post to Sweeva to show it off to everyone. What you might not realize is the SEO impact of doing so.

First and foremost you get the link from your go page. There is a direct link to your page to Open it in a New Window under the thumbnail. As we all know there is SEO benefit to links to your site.

But what many people don't realize is the social power behind it. We make it easy to Like and Tweet your pages while members are surfing. This actually helps improve your rankings. Google and Bing both admit to using these social signals to influence rankings.

Take my Select all Friends on Facebook page. 308 tweets and 7,000 likes on Facebook, and I'm constantly getting people going to that page from search engines.

So how can you leverage this? Well make sure you are using a catchy title for your pages. That's what Sweeva uses in the Tweet and Like text. It all comes back to grabbing attention. If someone is intrigued by the Tweet a Sweeva member sends out, they are more likely to click the page and re-tweet the link.

While nobody knows how much the social signals impact rankings in a percentage, you can be sure it will be used more and more. So remember to leverage it to increase your traffic from all your sources ;-)

OK so this is really exciting for me. You can now "be" your Facebook Page. I can like other pages as that page, and post comments to them as that page. It's really cool.

So what's this mean for you? Well if you have a Facebook Page, please post a link below! I'll check it out, and if I like it - Fan it. Or Like it. Or whatever the term is today.

This has been the missing link, and the reason so many people haven't embraced Facebook Pages IMO. I've wanted to interact with fan pages of other sites, but the problem is I had to do it as a person. But I really want people to like my page, not add me as a friend.

So now I can do that, and I encourage you to too. Facebook pages have some cool features like..

• Send an Update - Wow, this is like a mailing list within Facebook. You can send a message to all your fans.
• View Insights - You get some cool stats about your fans. Stuff like feedback %'s, active users, etc.
• Ads - Well you can advertise your page on Facebook!
• Widgets - You can put cool widgets showing off your fans on your site.

The list seems simple, but when you use them effectively you can really maximize your time on Facebook. Just like Twitter and surfing traffic exchanges, there are some really powerful ways to maximize your results. So learn them and use them!

Many people underestimate the power of social marketing. A while back I posted about One Cup, but since then a few others have popped up on my radar.

Nothings New Norfolk - This is an antiques shop right near One Cup. Opening up a channel for customers to see what's new (or should I say old?) to get them to come back in is great. You can even see people mentioning things they are looking for, so now the owner even knows what is in demand! A simple facebook page and the loyalty of your customers just increases crazy fold.

Kite Tails Play Center - A simple idea, a play center for kids. They have standard hours, but open up for special events or themes and use Facebook to announce them. There are tons of moms posting great feedback, and asking questions. Most parents want to know what other parents think about stuff like this, so having a page on Facebook is huge

Soft Clothing - This company makes clothes for kids with special needs. A friend of mine has a daughter who is extra sensitive to tags and clothing, so it's perfect for them. They are constantly posting photos of new clothing available, and when cool stuff happens like NBC using their clothing on a TV show.

These types of pages really help local small businesses, people love to share with their friends and keep tabs on whats happening. So a tip for those who are struggling out there.. Talk to local businesses, and offer to make them these pages for them! Most small businesses want to be on Facebook, but just don't know how. So offer to do it for them at a nominal fee, and show them how to keep it updated. It could bring in a few bucks to help you afford the things you need for your business to grow ;-)

It can be time consuming. But it can be really really fun. Especially since our business is all about small businesses. Getting to connect with other people in other ways is great!

I recently figured out that I never clicked save on the StartXchange fan page on Facebook. DOH! I mean really?? I talk about being social and I never hit save (well technically "publish"). Anyways I did yesturday.

Starting last year I decided to do a Daily Challenge. And that's been fun too. It's helped pick up activity on StartXchange back up. That and also finding out who was DOSing the server.. But that's a rant for Traffic Exchange Live.

If you haven't started a Facebook fan page for your business. What's holding you back? It's time to embrace the social fun..

Previously I wrote a post and a video about how to select all your friends on facebook. It stopped working when they changed some code. Well after much tinkering, I found the solution and updated the post. The key is to open the select your friends page in a new tab.

They now have it in an iframe, whereas before it wasn't. Simple but didn't have the time to figure it out. Just remember, only invite your friends to things they'll actually support. And if you use the above trick please tweet, like on facebook, and blog about it cuz it's helping lots of people ;-)

Oh and stay subscribed if you want to find out how to do it later if they change it lol

Last time I wrote about One Cup it was purely about the right way to facebook. This time it's more of a hype of One Cup, because I got to go there a few times and check it out in person.

In the video you can see Larry the Sweeva Guy with a blank slate to pick out his custom 24 variety K cups. And I show you the entire wall of single cups. They have full boxes of flavors available too, but the wall is super cool. I didn't talk much in the video because the owner was talking to someone from the local paper so I didn't want to interupt them.

So what do I think? Well I think it's great. Not only does "Java Johnny" have a ton of varieties, but they are all very organized so if you know a certain blend you like you can simply move over a couple boxes in each direction and they will be very similar in blend. This makes it super easy to find new blends!

So far I've gotten about 50 different kinds. My favorite so far is Nantucket Blend. My least favorite is the peppermint tea. Really really really really didn't like that one. But that's OK because I didn't buy a whole box of it! Which is the whole point of the store. When you are stuck with 24 of the same flavor, you are less likely to try new ones. But here you can do 24 different ones in a box, or do what I did and pick 3 of each kind closest to a blend you already like.

So I'll definitely be going again. The prices are great, the people working there are very friendly and helpful, and I'm trying new coffees which is pretty fun. (they have a ton of teas too but after that peppermint one I don't think I'm a tea guy). If you are within an hour drive of One Cup, you have to go check it out. Seriously, I drive an hour to get there.

Check them out on Facebook Here. It's how I found out about them. Social Marketing Works What??

One of the reasons people say facebook is a waste of time, is because they are adding everyone and their mom as friends. That's the wrong way to utilize facebook. The right way is like One Cup Norfolk.

Here we have a company that has a grand opening tomorrow in Norfolk, Ma. They have 120 varieties of K-Cups, and you can go in for a cup of coffee or boxes. And the unique part is you can mix and match from those 120 varieties.

Well what they did for Facebook was started a page for their business. They've posted videos and photos of the store and setting things up.

Already they have 116 people following their updates, myself included. A family member sent me a link to their page because they know I have a Keurig machine. It's viral, it's social.

The key thing to learn is that this is a facebook PAGE not a PROFILE. I didn't become friends with the owner of One Cup. They can't see into my private world, I can't see into theirs. They can't invite me to farmville, I can't invite them either.

Now I know what some of you are going to argue. It's not really social if you aren't FRIENDS. I disagree completely. This allows everyone to be social about your business. You still get to reply to them, they get to reply to you. It's two way communication with everyone involved.

The big difference is the privacy part. More people will fan your page than friend you because they know you won't see all their secret info. You're able to reach way more people as well, because you aren't overwhelmed with game invites or doodads. But at the same time you get to be social with your business, and allow it to go viral.

I'll go into more social stuff in the future, but there are some things to think about! And if you are in MA I expect you to be at the grand opening tomorrow and say Tim sent you. I'd be there too but I'm way too busy so wife won't let me =P

I updated my Review of One Cup. They are doing so well they keep getting MORE kinds of coffee!