that came as a recommendation from our friend, Barry Moltz

When it comes to keeping track of my competitors’ web activity, I have been using this free tool “forever.” In short, you can track the traffic of your competitors (and your own site for that matter), who links to their site and the top 5 keywords that bring them traffic.

Here is the link: http://compete.com

email: barry@moltz.com

web: http://www.barrymoltz.com

Do you have a long URL that needs shortening?It’s a handy tool that will help you share long URL’s and also help you track their popularity.

Google’s URL Makes it smaller:  http://goo.gl/

Here’s the short link for InSights Group http://goo.gl/kBR3

Or how about our site InSights For Dentists: http://goo.gl/bE7J

We recently asked some of our clients to share their social media stories so that we could share them with our readers. Here is Marie’s Story:

About a year ago, I started actively using social media as a method to move forward in  my business. With the help and patience of the InSights group, I have:

• Developed a WordPress blog,
• Written over fifty blog posts,
• Created an e-mail newsletter,
• Achieved over 2,500 Twitter friends,
• Made nearly 500 FaceBook friends,
• Created a FaceBook fan page, and
• Uploaded numerous videos on YouTube

As a result, my LaRaedo horse farm management software business has been growing rapidly.

But I think the most valuable experience I had with InSights is the weekly Mastermind group meetings.  It was here that I learned how important it is to work together with a close knit group to help each other grow in their business.  One person can achieve much but working together as a unified group has really opened my mind to many new ideas.

What I have found is that it is not so much just attending various social media events but what I did AFTER I left.  I received a lot of information that I then went home and started to experiment and figure out how to make it work for me.  No one took me by the hand and created it for me which is what I valued the most.  I listened, learned and then took action.  That is the fun of it all, the adventure and the journey in business that we all talk about.  It is not about arriving so much as the fun along the way.

My wish to every person starting their own business is to enjoy the journey, even the bumpy ride that it will present, because it is the ability to imagine and create that we are all after in the long run anyways.

With Great Appreciation,

Marie Taulbee

http://www.laraedo.com

http://www.laraedo.com/blog

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LaRaedo/

http://www.twitter.com/laraedo_lady

The InSights Collaboratory will be at the Job Fair sponsored by Cleary University that is taking place at Crystal Gardens on Wednesday, April 22nd from 11;30am-4:30pm. We will be sharing the word about two very valuable upcoming events. Together the InSights Collaboratory (a non-profit organization) and The InSights Group bring you these great opportunities:

Have you considered starting your own business? Join us for an Entrepreneur Exploration Workshop to help you decide if starting a small business may be right for you, what local resources are available and where to start.

Date: Wednesday, April 29th,
Time: 9am-10:30am @ the InSights Group Center
Cost: $10

This workshop will help you decide if starting a business might be right for you. Explore your business ideas, find out what to do first, and how to get started on the track to business ownership with people who have started right where you are now.

TO RSVP ONLINE CLICK HERE

Join us to learn How to Use LinkedIn to assist in Your Job Search

When: Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
Time: 10am-noon @ the InSights Group Center
Cost: $10

This LinkedIn® training for business takes the mystery out of LinkedIn® and gets you quickly up to speed with everything that you need to know to be a skilled user of this extremely powerful business and network development tool.

Get found and get noticed.  We will teach you how to create the most effective profile to fit your needs;
Find exactly what you need.  You will learn to successfully search for people, business opportunities, resources, and jobs; Turn your network into results.  Build your network quickly and efficiently (to over 1,000,000 connections in a week!);
Leverage your time.  Learn key tips and tricks to help make you a Master LinkedIn® Networker.

TO RSVP ONLINE CLICK HERE

Sponsored by: The InSights Collaboratory, a non profit local resource organization

RSVP for either class by calling: 810-623-5839 or email tickets@insights-group.com

We had a day full of networking opportunities and meetings at InSights today, and in Ann Arbor as we attended the ACE ’09 Entrepreneur event, then travelled back to Brighton to wrap up the day with a Toastmasters meeting. I overheard a conversation from a woman who was wondering when she would have time to get any work done. Interesting question, considering I have the same dilemma. So, here we are late at night and I am writing a blog post, twittering, and updating my facebook account. Where does the balance come in to the in person social activites that are so important for growing our contact spheres? Does anyone have any advice on their strategy and how to keep it all simple?