The Love Tree

This oak is completely wrapped around it's love, the palm tree. Does your relationship need some help? Visit this tree with your significant other. They say if you kiss while standing under it, you will have good luck in love for years to come!

It is located in the oldest continuous city in the United States: St. Augustine, Florida. It is a beautiful city; I've been going there since I was a kid. It is rich with history and filled with fun things to do for people of all ages. If you make it down there, you can find the love tree just south of the Visitor's Center on the west side of Cordova Street.

Tip Tuesday: Twitter impacts your customers the most

Smart phones are everywhere. Adults and children alike can't put them down, using their crackberries and iPhones for everything from playing games to scanning business docs.

Something else smart phone owners use them for is social media. More specifically, Twitter. A study done by Compete.com, a web traffic analytics service, measured how consumers are using social media, and found that 43% of Twitter users access the service through a mobile device. Also, when it comes to engaging with brands, Twitter is the medium of choice, beating out Facebook and LinkedIn.

The study also found that 56% of Twitter users who follow a brand say they are "more likely" to buy their products, and 84% of Twitter users follow brands for updates on new products. Facebook and LinkedIn are important too, of course, but with all the smart phone addicts out there tweeting their hearts out, Twitter may be the dominant source of marketing to your customers.

If this data doesn't demonstrate the importance of using Twitter to interact with your customers, I don't know what will!

Please Pray for Lauren Spierer's Return

I was born and raised in Bloomington, IN. It has always been home, a place I returned to many times for holidays, football games, and Little 5. It is my safe place. It's a small college town where everyone is friendly; a relative Pleasantville. So when people like Lauren Spierer go missing, it gives me a sad reminder that even in a small town, a perceived safe-haven where I spent my childhood, there are still dangerous and hurtful people out there.

That is why it is extremely important, especially for girls, to be aware of your surroundings at all times. And please, NEVER walk home from a party or from the bars alone. Even if you are on a college campus and you think it is safe. Anything can happen.

My thoughts and prayers are with the Spierer family. I ask that you pray as well, that Lauren returns home safely, and soon.

Tip Tuesday: The smartest way to shop online

If you are an online shopaholic, and you don't use Ebates.com, you are throwing away your money! When you shop on Ebates, you get a percentage of what you spend as cash back. Sounds too good to be true, you say?

Well it works like this:
Like most online shopping sites, Ebates gets a commission from the stores when you make a purchase. Instead of keeping it all to themselves, the brilliant people at Ebates shares it with you! No matter how much or how little you spend, they give you a chunk of that back.

Is it legit?
The company was founded in 1998 by two Deputy District Attorneys in California who used to prosecute online fraud & identity theft before starting Ebates. So you know they are very into secure online transactions!

What can you buy?
No need to ever leave your house again. With thousands of participating stores, you can buy clothes, books, music, jewlery, electronics, food & wine, and even travel & vacations (in which case I guess you'd leave your house).

How much does it cost?
It is absolutely free to sign up. In fact, if someone you know sends you an invite to join, they give you $5 to spend right off the bat. So if you want an invite, send me a message and I'll be glad to send one to you.

Happy shopping!

Happy Memorial Day!

Ah, Memorial Day. Trips to the lake, cookouts, a day off of work. Thankfully those thunderstorms and tornados have come and gone, leaving us with beautiful weather (finally) to enjoy. This year, April showers held off until May, and with the Indy 500 behind us, we seem to have skipped spring and are heading straight into the heat of summer.

So I hope you took advantage and spent some time outdoors today. If you haven't yet, it's not too late; it's almost 7 pm and the sky is still sunny and blue.

Tip Tuesday: Sometimes the best blogs are the simplest blogs

Just because the Internet provides you with a seemingly endless amount of space, doesn't mean you have to cram every last inch with words. It's not a clown car people.

If you're going to write a really long blog, the content better be really, really good, or readers are going to X out of your web page faster than you can say "click."

Besides, good content can come in miniature size too. Take Seth Godin's Blog, for example. Short and sweet; Effective and powerful.

Homegrown

This plant is just a baby, but soon enough we'll have delicious red tomatoes in our backyard!