Read Hugh MacLeod’s whole story.

Learn how to build and market your business online using open source tools.

Here’s how to attend:

Where: Sherlocks Pub, http://g.co/maps/nkgzf
When: Friday, May 4th @ 6pm – 9pm
Cost: None
Special Notes: Wear your favorite t-shirt.

To help us kick things off Dr. Brian Burton, author of Beginning Mobile App Development with Corona will be joining us to help answer questions about the Corona SDK. Dr. Burton teaches a course on mobile development at Abilene Christian University and he is a Corona SDK Ambassador.

As a creative person with great ideas, this event is your chance to connect with other incredibe people. Story tellers, writers, artists, programmers, business types, we all have a skill we can use to create great things together.

The Corona SDK makes it possible to rapidly prototype and develop mobile apps on iOS, Android, Nook, and Kindle devices without needing to learn a complicated programming language. That means you can spend more time being creative.

This first meeting is all about connecting and getting to know each other. Whether you’re new to mobile development or you’ve been developing for years, this event will put you in the same room with other talented people. Building relationships is what its all about, so come out and join us.

Contact me directly if you have questions or suggestions.

See you at the meetup,

Charles McKeever
Corona SDK Ambassador

Accelerate your business online using LinkedIn.

I have great news to share with you. I’m pleased to announce that I am now a Corona SDK Ambassador. What that means to you is that you’ll be hearing a lot more about mobile development on Open Source Marketer and I’ll be letting you know about upcoming Corona SDK events in the Dallas area.

What is the Corona SDK?

Well, essentially Mobile development is clearly the future of computing and it’s where the eyeballs are going. The Corona SDK makes it possible to rapidly prototype and develop mobile apps on iOS, Android, Nook, and Kindle devices without needing to learn a complicated programming language. That means you can spend more time being creative.

Last year I joined the Corona community after doing a lot of research on how to develop mobile applications for iOS, Kindle, and Android devices. Ansca Mobile’s Corona SDK was the most attractive solution I found because it uses the Lua programming language which shares a lot the the same syntax and programming style as PHP and JavaScript does, while still maintaining a high level of user experience for the end user. As a WordPress developer, the Corona SDK has allowed me to enter the mobile space without needing to completely retrain or retool. I’m able to reference Ansca Mobile’s documentation during development and use the same development tool that I’m already comfortable using.

So what does it mean to be a Corona SDK Ambassador?

To me being a Corona SDK Ambassador means that I’ll be doing my part to help promote the Corona SDK and build a strong community of both mobile developers and non-techies. I believe anyone can be a creative person with great ideas and the Corona Community will help connect story tellers, writers, artists, programmers, business types, and others together so we can all use our individual skills to create great things together.

So, if you’re in the Dallas area, be sure to join the first ever Dallas Corona SDK Meetup group. The group is brand new and fully supported by the great folks at Ansca Mobile. Right now there are 19 Corona SDK Meetup Groups and growing. If you can’t join the Dallas Corona SDK Meetup Group, consider joining one close to you or contact Ansca Mobile directly to help them start a group in your area.

Let’s build something great together.

Charles McKeever
Corona SDK Ambassador

Learn how to build and market your business online using open source tools.

As always we recorded the whole thing so you don’t miss out.

5 Step Website Development Process

• Introduction – Min: 0:00
• We’re taking notes – Min: 2:02
• 5 Step Overview – Min: 2:38
• Step 1, Defining Your Message – Min: 9:13
• Step 2, Planning Your Design – Min: 13:53
• Step 3, Defining Your Features – Min: 17:01
• Step 4, Marketing Your Site – Min: 21:04
• Step 5, Securing Your Investment – Min: 25:23
• Website Reviews – Min: 30:52
• Questions – Min: 1:18:42

Let me know if you have any questions about what we discussed and if you’d like to have your website reviewed, let me know that too.

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com

Accelerate your business online using Facebook.

Rumor has it that Google is planning to offer some form of cloud storage that will rival Dropbox, but can they really pull it off?

Well, yes and no (maybe). On space and price Google already beats the pants off of Dropbox. I’ve been using InSynchq for the last month or so to synch with my Google account. The service works just like Dropbox in terms of keeping files in synch between my local InSynchq folder and my Google account. I able to purchase additional storage space on my Google account. I added 80GB of space for $20/year. That’s a lot cheaper than Dropbox and the synchronization is just as good, if not better than Dropbox. However, there is one challenge Google will have to overcome.

Using an email address and a password, you can set up a free Dropbox account and start swapping files in minutes. Sharing files with non-dropbox users is extremely easy and inviting someone to use Dropbox is just as simple.

Getting started with Google isn’t nearly as easy. Not everyone has a Google account and those who do don’t understand that they can add storage space to their account. Today you have to use a service like InSynchq to synch your files and that means you have to download and install the app, and you have to authorize it to access your Google account, which is a little unnerving for some people since a lot of their important data lives in their Google accounts.

So basically, what Google has to do is create a service makes it easy to sign up, easy to share, and cheap to operate. They already have the price point, but the setup and sharing are yet to be seen. I’m sure Google will want to integrate the service into all their other offerings like Google Docs, Calendar, Gmail, and Google+. Hopefully they won’t require you to have a Google+ account like they do today when sign up for a new Gmail account. Even a hurdle as small as that creates unnecessary friction, which might keeps some non-techies (or Google haters) from using the service.

Personally I say Google-ize everything and give me free wifi everywhere I go.

I’m not scared. What do you think?

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com

Learn how to build and market your business online using a blog.

As an example of what I’m talking about, take a look at these two status updates.

This status update was made on Google Plus.

This one was made on Facebook.

The content was the same, but look at the difference in presentation. Google Plus put the video front and center, fully expanded and ready to go. Facebook gave a postage stamp that isn’t all that inspiring. Google Plus made put the ability to leave comments out in the open with the least amount of clicks to get to the action. Facebook hides the ability to comment under a link that requires multiple clicks to interact.

After looking at the two updates it occurred to me. Facebook recently announced that they are buying Instagram for 1 billions dollars in cash and stock. That’s nothing more than a media play before their stock IPO when you realize that Google dropped that much pocket change in the parking lot on their way into work this morning.

The fact is Google isn’t going away any time soon. In fact, if you use Google Docs, Google Calendar, Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Voice, Google Chat, or Google Search, then your already there anyway. Your gonna use Google Plus eventually. Maybe not today, but eventually. Google doesn’t need to take Facebook head on because Facebook can go the way of … the way of … what was that other thing called again … oh yeah, MySpace.

Don’t get me wrong. I like the interaction that I get on Facebook. My friends are there. My clients are there. But I’m telling you, one day you’re gonna wake up to the fact that Google Plus is just a part of the fabric of your daily internet experience. It’s not going to be a billion dollar announcement, it’s just going to be a fact.

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com

Accelerate your business online using Twitter.

Highlighted status updates stay expanded even after new updates have been made. This means that as visitors scroll down your timeline to look at past events, any highlighted items will continue to stand out. You can either leave them this way indefinitely or you may choose to go back and un-highlight them later.

Click to enlarge

You can also click the icon in the upper right corner of the status update to pin it to the top of the timeline, but unfortunately it won’t pin the update and highlight it at the same time. That means the update will always be show at the top of the timeline, it just won’t get full width exposure.

Once you unpin a pinned item though, it will return back to it’s chronological place in the timeline and if it was highlighted before it was pinned, it will be highlighted again when it is unpinned.

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com

Accelerate your business online using social media.

What you may not realize is that built in Facebook Apps don’t give you an option for setting custom images.

Take the Facebook video application for example. When you add it to your business page using the new Timeline format you will notice that an atomic sprocket shows as the default thumbnail. The only way to change this is to upload a video. Facebook automatically generates a thumbnail using the last video that was uploaded to your videos.

It does the same thing with photos, only the placement of the photos application can not be rearranged like the other application favorites can. For some reason Facebook felt like anchoring the photos as the first favorite application was necessary. You can however move the videos application around to meet your needs.

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com

Accelerate your business online using social media.

There seems to be some confusion about whether their phone number should be included in the image or whether their company name should be part of the image. Some level of confusion is understandable because Facebook has historically been against people selling using their personal profiles. So, when personal profiles switched to the timeline layout last year Facebook reinforced the idea that you shouldn’t use your cover image for selling.

Well, now business pages are converting to the new timeline format, so how should Facebook business page owners use their cover images? Well, once again Facebook has given some guidance on cover images.

Here is what Facebook has to say about the subject:

Use a unique image that represents your Page. This might be a photo of a popular menu item, album artwork or a picture of people using your product. Be creative and experiment with images your audience responds well to.

Cover images must be at least 399 pixels wide and may not contain:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

All cover images are public, which means anyone visiting your Page will be able to see the image you choose. Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property. You may not encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines.

So for the most part your cover image needs to convey what your business is about without literally spelling it out using words. A good example of this is the Toyota Facebook cover image.

The cover image conveys pride, joy, freedom, and confidence. There isn’t a single piece of text included to describe those characteristics. The image says all it needs to say. It might take you a few tries to find the right image. Just don’t feel like you have to get it right on the first try, and don’t forget that you can change out your cover image over time.

If there’s an annual event going on like a convention, make sure your cover image reflects that. You can use images from a previous event or snap a pic while you’re live on the floor of this years event. Just make sure that the cover image you choose reflects what your company does and most importantly how it makes the customer feel.

Stick to conveying positive emotions and you should be safe.

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com

Accelerate your business online using social media.

Well, sharing Pinerly on Pinterest almost instantly got me a sneak peek at the Pinerly stats reporting and I have to say, I’m not all that impressed. Hopefully Pinerly will be able to provide more than just surface level reporting. Knowing how may Followers, Likes, Pins, and Re-pins is important, but the reporting looks cumbersome and doesn’t show any signs of allowing customization.

If you’ve been inside and had a better look, be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below. If I’m wrong, let me know

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com

Accelerate your business online using social media.