New Issue of WHY is Live at www.workhomeyou.com!

Our mar/apr 09 issue of WHY magazine features articles written exclusively for folks who work from home, including:

• 10 ways telecommuters can stay on their boss' radar;
• 7 tips to solicit business w/o looking desperate;
• 18 home business deductions to consider;
• 5 tips on using Twitter to boost your profile;
• 10 easy ways to green your home office;
• 10 things you should know about those elusive customers;
• 5 no-no's of online journalism, and much more!

We hope you enjoy the issue and would love to hear your feedback. We've got lots of exciting things happening at WHY. Join our mailing list and stay in the know.

Now, I think I speak for Lucille as well as myself when I say, "We're pooped!" Time to leave my computer after what feels like -- and probably was -- nearly 48 straight hours of work and play in the snow. Enjoy!

Google Alerts

I realized I should have talked a little bit about Google Alerts when mentioning Twilert in my previous post. Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results for whatever topic or keyword you input. Every morning, I receive a Google Alert for "Dina Santorelli," "WHY magazine" and "work at home." This way, I'm aware of ANYTHING that has been mentioned about me or my business or my field of business in the previous 24 hours. (I have my alerts set for 24-hour intervals, but you can choose whatever time frame works for you.)

As a writer, I'm able to see where my stories are running and who is linking to them, and as editor/publisher of WHY, I can monitor mentions of our magazine. If you like, you can also set Google Alerts for competitors in your industry or, on a personal level, for your favorite sports teams or celebs.

So Twilert takes care of Twitter mentions, and Google all the rest. Both are really invaluable -- and FREE -- tools, particularly for shoestring marketers (aren't we all?).

Track Your Tweet Mentions

Do you know about Twilert?

Twilert is a Twitter application that lets you receive regular email updates of tweets containing your brand, product, service or any keyword you like. (Think Google Alerts for Twitter.) If people are talking about you or your company or retweeting your tweets, it's good to know.

No Facebook Friday

I have declared today No Facebook Friday.

I have spent so much time reminiscing with old friends on Facebook over the past few weeks -- enjoying every minute of it and laughing like I haven't laughed in years --- that I am getting absolutely nothing done. My productivity is shot. Every time I go to complete a task, I get an email from a friend on Facebook who is commenting on my status or on another person's status that I'd commented on or has completed his/her 25 Random Things About Me, and there I go off on another round of silly bantering.

It's useless to try to limit Facebook to a certain time of day, as I've heard people suggest. Once you make a few comments, the after-comments come pouring in, and I feel compelled to say "Who's there?" to every "Knock knock" for the rest of the day.

So today is a little experiment. I thought it would be super easy. But no sooner did I declare No Facebook Friday on Twitter than Martin Neumann sent me notification through Facebook that he'd completed his 25 Random Things About Me. And then my kids got out of bed and clamored to see that cute baby video that somebody posted yesterday and that we watched at least six times.

"I can't," I asserted as strongly as possible. "It's No Facebook Friday!"

Now it's after 9 a.m. The kids are gone, and Martin's presumably asleep (he lives in Australia), and the Facebook emails are few and far between -- just some stragglers commenting on things from yesterday. Should be a cakewalk from here on, although I just completed some tax forms and suddenly am feeling the urge -- the urge to chat or read at least 3 random things about somebody.

But I'm staying strong.

For now.

Productivity: Home vs. Office

A recent Twitter post from @ericabiz stated this: "Working out of Citizen Space has made me realize how completely unproductive I am at home. I'm biting the bullet and leasing an office."

The comment made me wonder: Am I really as productive at home as I think I am?

Granted, one of the great things about working in an office is that you are away from "your life" and the various distractions of your home -- laundry, dishes, kids. But my last full-time office job was when I was a twentysomething working with a bunch of twentysomethings, and I can remember TONS of distractions, all of them self-generated: chatting by/in the bathroom, near the fax machine (remember those?) or copy machine, in the lobby, elevators and cafeteria. I called friends from the office, my dad to see how he was doing, my husband to chat, even though I'd just seen him an hour before. But somehow I managed to get all the work done as well. (Admittedly, that was before Twitter, Facebook and all the time-sucking rest...)

Distractions are all around us, whether we work in an office or at home, whether we find them or they find us. How much you give into them ultimately determines your productivity.

What I do miss about working in an office away from my home, though -- and maybe this is what Erica is talking about -- is that you're on "office time" and have no other reason to be there than to focus on your work. When you work at home, the work/home life is forever blurred, however thick your home office door is. Personal responsibilities, instead of being a subway ride away, follow you like a cloud and hover over your shoulder, even as you try to write your latest blog post.

Twitterspeak: Thoughts from a Relative Twitter Newbie

For those of us who get a kick out of trying to squeeze complete thoughts into 140 characters, Twitter is not only a great real-time communications tool, but a blast in which to engage. I also got a kick out of Grammar Girl's Strunk & Twite: An Unofficial Twitter Style Guide, which offers some linguistic tips on the best ways to Tweet. And, although they're not really grammar-related, I have some Twitter tips of my own I'd like to add:

• For the love of all things holy, enough already with letting us know you've got something great coming: "Finishing up my next blog post, you're going to love it!... Next post almost ready... Just put the last period on the last sentence of my new blog post -- it's going up soon!" Just let us know when it's there.
• And when you let us know, tell us once. Not over. And over. And over. Most of us don't have Short Term Memory Loss.
• If all your Tweets direct us to your website or blog EVERY time, it gets a little boring. As much as we all understand it, it still gets a little boring.
• When you're Tweeting a link, tell us why. Just having the link (even if it is coming from YOU) just isn't enough to get us to click with all the other tiny URLs we've got vying for our attention.
• Be patient with Twitter newbies. It takes time to figure out the lingo, like RT and those bizarre pound-sign phrases. Remember, questions, however naive or ridiculous they seem, are what open our minds and move us forward.

WHY Xtra: 5 Websites We Love

Here's this week's WHY Xtra, kids:

5 Websites We Love

1. WhoLinksToMe.com. Check out what websites link to yours. C’mon, you know you want to…
2. HelpAReporterOut.com. Sign up and social media meister Peter Shankman emails you 3 times a day with all kinds of queries from a variety of reporters looking for expert sources. Great free marketing tool.
3. Google.com/analytics. Free web analytics to help you improve your site and increase marketing ROI. We check ours first thing every morning.
4. Hulu.com. You can watch your favorite TV shows anytime, anywhere. We try to limit our A-Team and Incredible Hulk viewings to lunchtime.
5. Twitter.com. Many businesses are coming up with all kinds of ways to harness Twitter’s bite-size messages into effective marketing platforms. Join the flock, and follow us at twitter.com/whysgirl.