The Western Digital My Passport is a sleek, compact portable hard drive that is designed for the busy, on-the-go professional.  Available in sizes from 500gb to 2tb of storage room, the My Passport has plenty of room to hold all of your important videos, photographs, and music files.  It can hold up to 240 videos; 500,000 songs; or 400,000 pictures.  This is more than enough room for me to take care of all my and my client’s needs.

The Western Digital My Passport is formatted NTFS for Windows &, Windows Vista, or Windows XP.  It includes the portable hard drive, USB cable, WD backup software, WD security, and WD drive utilities software as well as a quick install guide. It literally took only a few minutes for me to have this up and running on my computer.  Best of all, it runs in the background every time I save or add a file.  The My Passport automatically makes a copy for me.  I do nothing at all and I if I do lose the original, all I need to do is to find and retrieve the copy of the file I lost. This is a huge help when you accidentally delete that one photo you need to finish a project.

A few other features of the Western Digital My Passport that you’ll appreciate are:

• USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 compatibility – It works with your technology now and when you upgrade.
• The drive is powered through the USB adapter – No need to carry around a bulky power supply when you travel or try to find another outlet to plug it into.
• Password protection and hardware encryption is available to protect your valuable files.

If you’re a busy professional that is looking for a quick, effective way to back up your files, I definitely recommend the Western Digital My Passport.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

You know that hosting contests and giveaways is a great way to grow your blog and build relationships with companies that can grow into profitable, long-term connections. But you can’t just put a product on your blog to give away and hope for the best. In order to reap those benefits, you have to have a strategy when you host your contest or giveaway.

Here are a few things you can do to ensure that your contest or giveaway is successful and will help you grow your blog and nurture its success:

Promote It in Advance

Don’t wait until your contest has started to build buzz. Once you know that you have a product to give away, start advertising it on your blog. Give advance notice of when the contest will begin, and start hyping up the product and the special opportunity to win it. Notify your e-mail list, write a blog post or two, and share it on your social media.

By the time your contest begins, you should have contestants virtually lined up to enter, making them more engaged throughout the length of the contest, which will make them more engaged with your blog, as well.

Allow Enough Time to Enter

The more time you give your readers to enter your contest, the more time they have to spread the word about your contest and to build buzz around it. If your contest is only a few days or a week, many readers may not hear about it and you may miss out on the opportunity to get them to share it with others.

Two weeks is a good time frame for your contest, but you can shoot for longer if the prize is very good. One blogger gave away 7 iPads and left open his contest all summer, building buzz and creating relationships with new readers as they checked back for more entries.

Provide Lots of Entries

Give your readers a lot of opportunities to enter to win — and take advantage of multiple opportunities to grow your blog and your online presence. Some possibilities for entry include subscribing to your e-mail list, becoming a fan or follower of your blog or your prize sponsor, or sharing information about the contest through blogs or social media.

The more possibilities for entries you provide, the more buy-in you will get and the more potential publicity you and your sponsor will get.

Promote, Promote, Promote

Once your contest is up and running, go all out to promote it to get maximum exposure and maximum entries. In addition to the usual channels of your e-mail list and social media, promote it on other blogs, in forums, and through sites that advertise contests and giveaways. Some sites will even feature your giveaway for a nominal fee (usually about $5), which could get you a lot more traffic and entries.

Follow Up

Your contest isn’t over once you pick the winner. Follow up by announcing the winner on your blog and then contacting the winner. Make sure you ship your prize in a timely manner and include a nice note. You don’t want to get a bad reputation for taking too long to ship your prizes or for sending them in careless packaging.

Also follow up with your sponsor. Provide details about your contest’s stats, like traffic, entries, and new social media followers. Express your thanks and invite the sponsor to work with your blog again. You want to build a long-term relationship so that you can offer more contests in the future and maybe even get paid to review products or provide advertising.

Hosting a contest or giveaway is just one step toward growing your blog. You also need to follow the proper steps for success, including promoting it in advance and for its duration, offering your readers ample time and opportunity to enter, and following up with your winner and your sponsor to nurture a long-term relationship.

What are your tips for a successful contest or giveaway? Share your ideas in the comments!

Lisa Shoreland is currently a resident blogger at Go college, where recently she’s been researching college scholarships for adults. In her spare time, she enjoys creative writing and hogging her boyfriend’s PlayStation 3. To keep her sanity she enjoys practicing martial arts and bringing home abandon animals.

However, Pinterest does have some (perhaps) surprising benefits for job seekers. Here’s how you can use Pinterest in your job search:

Find Job Openings

Many companies are beginning to recognize the viral potential for content on Pinterest, and are taking advantage of it by posting their vacancies and career information on the site. Some create pins to their job postings, while others create whole boards dedicated to their openings, with information about the qualities they are looking for in candidates.

Search the site for openings, and try a variety of keywords to get the best results. You can also follow companies that you would like to work for and keep an eye out for pins that suggest they are looking for new people to join their team.

Learn More about Company Culture

Even if a company you want to work for doesn’t advertise vacancies on Pinterest, you can still follow that company’s pins and boards to learn more about its products and its culture. Learning about these things can give you a better understanding of the company’s values and mission, which can help you to better identify yourself as the best candidate for the job.

Pinterest is a great tool for researching companies if you are preparing for an interview or are just trying to put together a package to sell yourself for a position (whether advertised or not).

Create a Virtual Resume

Most companies like candidates who are tech-savvy and who stay ahead of marketing trends. Creating a virtual resume for yourself on Pinterest shows that you have this savvy, and it sets you apart from other candidates by showing off your creativity and ingenuity.

Create pins from posts on your own personal website that highlight your experience and provide work samples. If you don’t have a website, you can create pins that link to companies you have worked for, as well as links to online samples of your work hosted by the companies you worked for in the past. You can also create pins to links showing off your values or your qualities as a candidate.

Gather all your pins onto a board labeled with your name or the job you are trying to get, and send the board to your prospective employer.

At first glance, Pinterest may seem like nothing more than a crafter’s own private candy shop. However, it is growing into a powerful marketing tool for all kinds of companies, and is responsible for generating a great deal of referral traffic. You can take advantage of its marketing potential in your own job search by using these tips.

Have you used Pinterest in your job search? Share your tips in the comments.

Lisa Shoreland is currently a resident blogger at Go college, where recently she’s been researching college scholarships for teachers. In her spare time, she enjoys creative writing and hogging her boyfriend’s PlayStation 3. To keep her sanity she enjoys practicing martial arts and bringing home abandon animals.

Contact: Bola Ajumobi
Company Name: Slimy Bookworm
Telephone Number: 888-370-1445
Email Address: info@slimybookworm.com
Web site address: www.slimyBookworm.com

SlimyBookworm.com an online children’s bookstore has launched it’s Adopt-a-School campaign where anyone can nominate a preschool or elementary school to receive $50 worth of quality children’s books with no purchase requirements.

Every month, well wishers can fill out a simple form on the SlimyBookworm.com website nominating a school for this gift. The school with the most nominations wins – American Idol style. So the key to securing a win for a nominated school is to coax other people to vote for the same school.

The campaign was launched after the labor day weekend and it is gaining momentum among PTAs and school officials who are turning out record number of nominations for their schools by  having parents and other school officials turn in their votes.

“Exposing kids to quality books is necessary for learning. With the budget cuts across the country, I felt it necessary as a private citizen and a small business owner to pay it forward to the next generation. ” says Bola Ajumobi, owner of SlimyBookworm.com.

For additional information, Contact: Bola Ajumobi at info@slimybookworm.com or at 888-370-1445. More information about the SlimyBookworm.com Adopt-a-School Campaign can be found at http://www.slimybookworm.com/content/15-adopt-a-school-program

SlimyBookworm.com has been online since 2010 serving parents, grandparents and teachers by providing high quality books for the kids in their lives along with the back stories of the authors.

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The creators of AgainBags.com had that same thought and it led them to create stylish re-usable snack and sandwich bags that could be used over and over again instead of tossed in the garbage to sit in the land fill for years and year. Now, I have used re-usable bags before and found many to be lacking.  Either they did not stay closed well or they allowed the crumbs or moisture from the food they were holding into the rest of my lunch.

The re-usable snack and sandwich bags from AgainBags.com are a step above anything I’ve used before.  They offer small, medium, and large re-usable bags that are created to keep messes contained with either cotton laminated fabric or nylon fabric.  These bags use a Hook & Loop closure to keep the contents safe inside.  They are BPA, lead and phthalate free as well! If you have a bit more of an active lifestyle, you can always choose their small or large active bags that come in solid colors and can be mixed and matched to create a unique set.  They use a heavy weight 2 ply construction and will hold up to the most active of lifestyles while keeping food fresh.

These bags are dishwasher and laundry safe but I honestly found that it was very simple to keep them clean with a damp cloth.  I just wiped down the inside after using them for all but the messiest of snacks and sandwiches.  I really love how sturdy these bags are. I had no problems at all with any messes escaping the bags when I used them. The sizes and styles are perfect for a variety of different types of lunch items.

One lucky reader is going to win over $50 worth of Again Bags!:

2 large active
2 small active
2 medium printed
1 small printed

Here’s what you can do for a chance to win:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Genietrack Corporation is mobile software company that is dedicated to providing industry leading solutions to busy moms and dads, helping them to keep track of their children’s location in a convenient, hassle-free fashion. Parents’ main concern is the wellbeing of their children.  Thinking about how much time children spend away from their parents, at school, extracurricular activities, or out with friends, it is even harder to stay in touch.  Genietrack Mobile family safety service helps parents answer important questions by using location technology available on most smartphones:

* Is my child safe? Is my child in danger?

* Is my child at school, practice or wherever they are supposed to be
at now?

* Can I advise authorities of my child’s last whereabouts?

* Can I review on regular basis my child’s school attendance?

* How do I know when my child left school or wherever they are supposed
to be unexpectedly?

* How can I be sure they are ok without intruding in their life?

Genietrack mobile family safety service gives parents peace of mind when they are away from their children. Parents can keep track of current and previous location of their children. Parents can also setup preferences to receive real-time alerts via email or SMS messages when their children travel outside custom defined geographical areas, travel in
a motor vehicle, approach a residence of a known sex offender, or simply when their phone is turned off. Genietrack service offers the following features :

* Parents can securely view current and previously visited locations of
their kids.

* Service offers interactive view of location and profile information
of sex offenders in your neighborhood or in proximity of your kids’
location.

* Real time alerts via email and text messages are available, with
multiple alert options, including location relative to sex offenders’
residences, when your child leaves or arrives at a specified
location, speed of travel, last location visited, prolonged
inactivity, and more. Genietrack service supports geofencing with
multiple monitoring options, including mile radius.

* “Personal Dashboard” features real-time location view and
customizable weekly and monthly activity reports, and ability to
suspend or re-start tracking with a single click.

* Genietrack locator service is supported on Android and iPhone mobile
devices.

You can learn more about the company, the service, as well as watch the
product demo, at www.genietrack.com.

PhotoPad Fun ~ a cool & whimsical way to organize photos in a photobook, send a postcard, eCard or cool animation! One stop app on Facebook.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Work at home tips for parents

Keep a to-do list and a calendar: This is the the biggest thing that I do to stay organized. Whether kept electronically or written down on paper and pen, keeping yourself scheduled and your tasks written down will help keep you sane and get tasks done. There are so many ways one can keep a calendar and to-do list so you just have to test different ones out and figure out what works for you. Personally, I like to use two different items and I carry them with me almost every where I go. I have my planner where I keep all of my appointments, meetings, and events and also keep track of all my children’s therapies, school activities and playdates. I then have a separate to-do notebook where I make my daily to-do lists to keep track of what needs to be done. This is where I list emails I need to send, phone calls I need to make, posts I need to write, errands I need to run and the like.

Schedule your “work” time: Once you have a calendar set up, it is important to schedule your “office hours” and then stick to your schedule {as best you can with children and other last minute things that come up}. When you work from home it’s so easy to accept lengthy phone calls or invitations from friends but if you are scheduled to work you need to dedicate that time to your business and find another time to go out to lunch or call your friend to chit-chat. I have found that scheduling my work time in chunks of time, instead of down to the minute works best for me. Also, I suggest switching tasks frequently so you are more productive and attentive to the task you are working on.

Create a space for working: Having a space dedicated to working is important when working from home. It could be a room, a small portion of a room, or even just a desk. Whatever you can find to call your “office”. I have an upstairs loft that I call my “office” and everyone knows that is off limits to go in. I also sometimes sit in the TV room to relax on the couch while I work because sitting in the same chair gets uncomfortable after a while. Having a space for working will get you in a “work” mindset and keep you from getting constantly sidetracked by the laundry, the dirty dishes, and the rest of the household chores that you need to do.

Work when you can, where you can: I’d love to work normal business hours during the day and be off on evenings and weekends but it’s just not possible during this season of my life. My schedule varies weekly and, since I take a lot of time off during the day for my children’s needs, I end up working many evening hours and weekends. I also try to be creative and squeeze in work when I can. I take advantage of naptime, bedtime, and Sinisa’s days off to work. I get work done in the car while I’m sitting in the preschool pickup line, at the pool while my son is having water therapy, and while my kids are eating lunch. They might just be short periods of time but all the minutes here and there add up.

Realize you can’t do it all: There may come a time when you can’t do everything yourself and you may need to ask for help or let something go. It’s okay. You just have to decide what is important to you and what’s not as important and what you need to do as opposed to what you can pass on to someone else. For me, my family and friends and my blog/job are the most important and I decided that my “domestic” duties weren’t as important. Many of the household jobs could be done by someone else unlike my job as mother and blogger/business owner. I realize that my home is not going to be spotless and that’s okay with me. You can also hire people to help with the aspects of business you don’t know much about or don’t have time to do. Living Your Moment was created to help parent  business owners who are in this situation. We grow Twitter and Facebook accounts, run blog review campaigns, and provide many other services for business owners so they can focus on running their businesses.

Make time for yourself and your family: If you aren’t well, your business will suffer so don’t forget to take care of yourself. Do something you enjoy every day whether it’s taking time to read a book, pamper yourself, or exercise. Making time for your family is also important. Carve out time to spend with them each day. Cuddle with your little ones on the couch while watching a movie, spend time in the kitchen making dinner together, or go for a bike ride. Your work time will be that much more fulfilling when you come back to it after taking a break for yourself.

I hope I have given you some work at home tips for parents to make working from home work for you. If you work from home and have other work at home parents I would love to hear them.

Social media monitoring tools

The world wide web is huge and it’s not possible to be everywhere all the time to see what’s being said. There are a number of different social media monitoring tools that will help you keep on top of things.

1.  Google Alerts – This is one of my favorite social media monitoring tools.  You can request that you be emailed when Google finds instances of your company name, your URL, your product name, etc.   You set up a Google Alert telling Google what to look for and you’ll get an email each time Google finds something.

2.  Topsy – Topsy will let you search the web for anything you want.  Their advanced feature (free) lets you receive an email notification as well.  This is very helpful if you are trying to monitor a competitor to see what they’re doing or you have a targeted campaign on a specific product that you want to keep abreast of.

3.  Twilert – Twilert is just like Google Alerts except it’s focused specifically on Twitter. You can set it up to send you a mention of a word (like a product or your company name) or a link (like the link to your website).  You will receive a digest of all the times it finds your search on Twitter each day. This is a great way to follow hash tags or trends that might be pertinent to your business.

4.  Addictomatic – Addictomatic will automatically scan social networking sites like Twitter, Friendfeed, Digg, YouTube, Bing web search, and Yahoo blog search for mentions of whatever you like.  These results can be viewed instantly and you don’t have to provide an email address. Visit the site every few days to see what’s going on.

There are a lot of ways you can use social media to promote your company.  It’s important that you monitor the results using some of these social media monitoring tools to make sure you’re not spending your time in ways that aren’t productive. Do you use any other social media monitoring tools? Which ones are your favorite?

Time Management Tips

Working at home can be a dream or a nightmare depending on how well you can manage your time.   One of the big reasons I began working at home was so that I could have the flexibility to be here when and if my family needed me.  It’s a great feeling to be able to go outside and throw the ball in the backyard with the kids at 2:00 if you want to instead of being held to someone else’s idea of office hours. However, the draw of flexible hours can be a negative as well as a positive.  It’s all too easy to take time out in the afternoon for your favorite television program or to take a super long lunch or coffee break with a friend.  While these things don’t hurt every now and then, if you find  yourself doing them all the time, they can eat away at your productivity.

I’ve been working at home for two years now and have come up with a routine that works to keep me on track for the most part. Here are a few of my time management tips.

1.  Try to stick to regular office hours. It can be tempting to work more or less than you need to and neither is good over all.  Determine what the ideal number of hours is to work each week and divide that up as it works best for your business and your family.

2.  Get dressed in the morning.  I just don’t *feel* like I’m working if I’m in my pajamas. I make sure to dress to the shoes in business casual clothes.  It makes me feel like I’m really at the office instead of hanging out at home.

3.  Don’t be afraid to let the machine answer the phone for you.  If you’re up against a tight deadline or have a great creative streak going on, don’t be afraid to ignore the phone and let the machine get it.  If the call is important, you can return it and if it’s a friend who wants to chat or a salesman, you’ve avoided an interruption you don’t need.

4.  Use a planner or calendar to keep track of your appointments and deadlines. Be aware of conflicting dates.  I find it’s easiest to keep a family calendar for appointments. Since I’m the one who needs to handle family appointments like doctor’s and repairmen, it’s important that I know not to schedule a business appointment with a client at the same time my child has a dentist appointment.  I find that a paper calendar works best for me but many people use apps or Google calendar as well.

5.  Be aware of your time wasters.  Facebook can be a huge help in getting the word out about your products and services but it can also be a huge waste of time.  Don’t get drawn into the playing games, chatting with friends, or otherwise wasting time that you should be spending working on your business goals.  Allow yourself so much Facebook time per day and try to stay off it at other times.

Do you have any time management tips that work for you and your business?  What’s the one thing you struggle with the most when trying to accomplish your goals? Feel free to share your time management tips below.