Over the last year I’ve used my site Medicare Sherpa as an educational opportunity and proving ground to test and validate best practices for blogging, link building, keyword research, social bookmarking and social media. My research objective: What are the best tools to attract audiences searching online for answers about Social Security and Medicare Health Insurance? Continue Reading »
It’s been a while since I made time for this blog. As I reread my last article, I take a lot of pride in announcing the launch of Medicare Sherpa, Your Guide to Health Insurance and Retirement. In March of 2008, I launched this blog to help me chronicle my successes and failures. Flipside Journal is my attempt at redefining my career path, documenting my experiences and providing a place for me to look back.
It’s been a busy year and I have not had much success with applying these social networking tools to an actual business need (mainly because of my day job). I started this blog and project as an opportunity to learn more about social networking, the technology and the resources necessary for a one man operation. So here is my New Year’s Resolution:
“Continue to explore and learn about these tools and attend necessary training, seminars and conferences to further develop technical skills necessary to launch my site by March 2009.”
Shorts & Rants: Community Building Made Easy
Skills Required: Can you write an eMail?
Technology Required: Do you have a PC or Laptop?
Annual Cost: Do you have $90.00?
* Domain Name: $10.00 (GoDaddy Domain Services)
* Linux Hosting: $45.00 (GoDaddy Hosting Control Center)
* Site Template: $35.00 (Joomla Website Templates)
Feature: Evaluating Social Networking in New England
I’ve changed direction with my blog. I was a little naive to think I could launch the next FaceBook or MySpace (not really my intention) merely by soliciting others to engage in social blogging. Lets face it, I don’t have the programming skills, I don’t I have the financial resources and I don’t have access to the tools necessary to be successful. Or do I?
I’ve spent the last month evaluating social blogging and social networking sites with the expectation that I will ultimately define a business plan for engaging boomers and retirees online.



