Personally when eating a calzone, it seems like as soon as you cut into it…the entire contents of the calzone is oozing out everywhere.  With a stromboli it is more contained and you can enjoy all of the elements together.

Anyways, I have created my own personal favorite stromboli that I want to share with you here.  The only time consuming part of this is the dough, but if you want forego making the dough and buy some pre-made at your local grocery store (I’ll just look the other way).

Let’s go shopping:

*1 pack of yeast

*1 1/2 cup warm water

*3 1/2 cups of white bread flour

*2 teaspoons course sea salt

*3 tablespoons of olive oil

*1/2 medium white onion (sliced thin)

*1 large red pepper (sliced thin)

*1 1/2 tablespoons of minced garlic

*1/4 cup white wine (any)

*5 oz salami (thinly sliced)

*7oz mozzarella cheese (cubed)

*1.5 oz basil leaves

*1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

First – let’s make the dough.

The starting block...

Mix the yeast, water, flour, salt and oil together.  You can use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or do what I do – mix it with a spatula and then knead with your hands.

Don't be shy...use your hands.

When fully mixed, form into a ball, dribble a little olive oil on top.

A little olive oil....

Now cover with a warm towel and put in a warm spot to rise for an hour.

Time for my nap. Zzzzzz.

While you are waiting for your dough to rise, start preparing your fillings.  In a pan, add the wine, garlic, onion and red pepper.  Put the heat to high on your stove, place the pan on the heat and cover.  Heat this mixture covered (without taking the lid off) for around 8 minutes.

This smells amazing.

Then take off the lid and heat until all of the wine has cooked through and there is little moisture left.  Then take off heat, drain and leave to cool.

Drain and rest.

Take the rest of the fillings and place them at the ready for filling the dough.

Forget the stromboli - I'll have this for dinner please.

When your dough is ready, take it out onto your counter and punch it down and knead for 2 minutes.

This dough sure is knead-y.

Then cover with the warm towel and leave for 10 minutes.

At the end of that, using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a large rectangular shape.

Rolling in the deep.

I usually tell people that it should be the size of the average cutting board (15 x 10).  Then baste on a little olive oil and add a pinch of salt and pepper to flavor the crust.

Nearly ready for the fun part!

Now you are ready to start adding the filling.  Start with the salami….

….then basil…

…and finally the cheese and the pepper and onion mixture.

Now you are ready to roll…quite literally!  Take both ends and tuck them in, and then grabbing one long side, carefully roll.

Rollin'

As you go, you can re-situate the dough at the ends so nothing falls out.

Tuckin'

When you get to the end, pinch everything together so that everything is tightly sealed.

Pinchin'

Then carefully pick up the stromboli and flip onto your baking sheet.  Here I used the Wellbake Cooking Liner as it helps to crisp in a healthy way (which with all of this dough and meat you definitely need!).

Cover again with a warm towel and leave for 10 minutes.

Wrap it up!

While waiting for your dough to rise one final time, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

After the 10 minute period, discard the towel and with a toothpick, poke hole 30-40 holes in the top of the dough.

This will help the stromboli keep shape and let the steam vent beautifully.

Baste with some more olive oil and sprinkle a little salt and pepper to taste.

Now you are ready to rock and roll!  Pop it into the center of a preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes.  You will know it is done when you see steam coming from the holes and the outside being a golden color.

When finished, take out of the oven and place on a rack to cool.

Come on and cool off already! I'm hungry!

My suggest is serve once it has cooled slightly, so that the inside is still a little hot.

Ahh....perfecto!

It’s great with a side of fresh salad.

My dinner, yum!

I like to have a side of marinara handy in case anyone wants some, but usually this recipe does not need a thing.  Also, try this cold….even more delicious!

I find carrot cake pretty polarizing (as I’m not a fan, but my mom swoons at the thought), but if you know your audience you are in like flynn.

This one is a quick and easy version with the prep being just a few minutes.  Let’s get started!

*1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

*1 1/4 cups Self Raising Flour

*1 3/4 cups chopped carrots

*1/2 cup raisins

*1/2 cup walnuts (smashed with a rolling pin into pieces)

*3 large eggs (beaten)

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 oranges
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 8oz package of cream cheese
• 1 cup powdered sugar

First prepare the carrots.  I suggest brushing them and slicing off the ends.  Then I like to pop them into my food processor.  Some people like the carrots shredded, I like them diced.  Totally up to you.

Now onto the oranges.  Take the first orange and zest the entire fruit.  Place in a bowl and set aside.  Now, with a vegetable peeler, peel the other orange rind into skinny strips.  These are going to be for decorating the cake later.  Place these to the side.  Now squeeze both oranges into a bowl and set aside.

When you have the carrots finished, grab a nice large mixing bowl and add the carrots, sugar, oil, eggs, raisins, walnuts and orange zest.  Mix these together until fully incorporated.

What the blended mixture should look like.

Now add to that the baking soda, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir until fully mixed.

Now carefully add the dry ingredients.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grab a cake pan.  I used a Wellbake Universal Square silicone pan as it involves no cooling spray or oil and cooks perfectly!  Dump the cake mixture into the cake pan.

Carefully dump the mixture into your pan.

What's up doc? Ready for the oven?

Now pop into the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until a toothpick can be placed in the center and comes out clean.

I'm ready! Time to take me out.

When the cake is done, take out of the pan and place on a rack to cool thoroughly.

While the cake is cooling, make the icing.  Take a generous 2 tablespoons of the freshly squeezed orange juice and mix it with the powdered sugar and cream cheese until it is a smooth frosting mixture.  When your cake is cooled, spread the icing on top and garnish with the orange strips from before.  Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving and enjoy!

Ready to eat!

I came up with this recipe when I was scratching around for a muffin idea for my dad.  He is also a rhubarb lover, but I wanted to put a little bit of a healthy twist on it.  This recipe is too simple and the resulting muffins are absolutely delectable.

Let’s go shopping:

*1 1/2 cup of brown sugar

*1/2 cup vegetable oil

*1 1/2 cups of diced rhubarb

*1 egg (room temperature)

*1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

*2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

*3/4 cup fresh buttermilk

*1/2 cup walnuts (broken to bits by a rolling pin)

*2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

*1/2 cup of wheatgerm

*1 teaspoon baking soda

*2 teaspoons baking powder

*15-16 cupcake cups (or muffin cups)

This recipe tends to make more than the yielded 12 – usually around 15-16.

Start off by chopping the rhubarb.

Then move onto chopping the nuts.

In a mixing bowl, add the following and mix together: 1 1/3 cups of the brown sugar, buttermilk, egg, oil, vanilla, rhubarb and nuts.  Once this is fully mixed, add the rest of the ingredients (except for the remaining brown sugar and cinnamon).

Start mixing. I like using a Wellbake silicone whisk.

Beat it all together until all of the dry ingredients are thoroughly mixed.  Work fast here as it will begin to thicken the slower you move.

The perfect consistency.

Next up – preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Grab you muffin/cupcake pans and quickly douse with cooking spray.  If you want to avoid this, use a silicone muffin pan like I did.  Mine were courtesy of the great people at Wellbake.co.uk.  Its great because you use no oil and they pop right out (and its a cinch to clean).

The Wellbake Muffin pan I used.

Then pop in the cupcake wraps into the holes.  Very carefully (and quickly) add the mixture to each of the cups until each is 3/4 of the way full.  These WILL rise, so don’t fill to the top unless you are looking for some nuclear looking muffins.

Fillin' that pan!

Ready for the next step!

When you are done, dust with the sugar and cinnamon and pop into the oven.

Dusted and ready for the oven.

These will usually be done in 25 minutes, so check on them around that point and test with a toothpick to see if they are completely cooked.

Are they done yet?

When done, take out of the oven and put them on a rack to cool.  Then warm with butter and jam or right off the rack and into your mouth.  These are addictive…so you have been warned!

The finished product! If only this were scratch and sniff....

Then one day I turned the corner.  I put on my “big boy’s pants” and saddled up to the task of baking.  My goal: to force myself to make baking a natural creative process.

While it did take some time, in the end I found out that I had a knack for it.  While the intense love I feel for cooking is not matched when I bake, I’ve come to enjoy my time coming up with new recipes and trying them out.

One of these was bread.  I’ve seen my mom, her sisters and my grandmother make bread for years….but it always looked like such a pain.  Then I found a few recipes that I really liked….that took half of the time!  I changed and experimented and the following recipe is what I came up with.

This is a healthy version of my favorite rustic-style bread.  If you want to go full-throttle, trade the whole wheat bread flour for plain old white bread flour.  So let’s get baking folks!

*5 1/2 cups whole wheat bread flour

*2 packages of instant yeast

*2 cups warm tap water

*2 teaspoons of salt

*2 teaspoons of ground black pepper

*Olive oil (approximately 4 tablespoons or so)

As you can see, this is not an expensive recipe by any means.  Here’s the simplicity of this.  Dump all of the ingredients (except for the olive oil) into a large mixing bowl.  If you have a stand mixer, pop the ingredients into that and mix with the paddle attachment for 5 minutes or so, until fully incorporated.

Start off with all of the ingredients in the bowl.

I say – let’s get messy!  I enjoy combining the ingredients with my own hands, mixing and kneading until fully mixed.  While this will take a toll on your hand muscles, I really love it.

Get in there with both hands and mix together.

When done, shape it the dough into a ball and place back in the mixing bowl.  Cover with some of the olive oil until lightly coated.  Then get a dishcloth damp with warm water, and cover the dough.  Then place it is a warm spot for an hour and 15 minutes or until it has doubled in size.

Get your dough ready to rise up!

When it has doubled, dump it onto your counter and punch the dough down.  Once the dough is flat, knead it for a minute or two.  Then back into the bowl, a little more olive oil and the same damp cloth.  Put it back into the warm spot for another hour (or until it doubles in size again).

Time to knead that dough into shape!

Now dump the dough out onto your counter and punch it down again.  Cut the dough in half so that you have to equal parts.  Knead each into the shape that you want your bread to be in (round, square, rectangular, etc).

In this demonstration I used the wonderful Wellbake non-stick Loaf Dish for baking which browns the bread evenly without having to use lots of excess oil….plus it is easy to clean!  Check out all of their products on their official website here: http://www.wellbake.co.uk.

Next place the bread in your loaf tin (x2).  If you don’t have a loaf tin, shape and place on a baking sheet with at least 6 inches between the loaves.  Cover with the damp dish towel and place in the warm spot for 10 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Once the time is up and the oven is preheated, uncover the bread and score diagonally.

Score the load diagonally with a sharp knife.

Brush with olive oil and dust lightly with a pinch of flour.

Dust with flour and olive oil.

Pop into the oven for 20-25 minutes, checking on it regularly after the 20 minute mark.  When the bread is a golden brown – take out and place on a rack to cool.

Ta-Da! Thanks WellBake.co.uk!

That’s all!  While it does take a few hours, the active time on the recipe is mere moments.  My tip is to schedule this around other cooking or when you have things to do around the house.  It’s all down to timing!

Twitter autoresponders.  I love this topic because it is such a polarizing one.   Some people love them, some people hate them…and let’s just say those that hate them REALLY hate them.

What I am talking about here are what appears to be ‘stock’ messages that show up in your Twitter Direct Messages folder from the new Twitter users you just followed.

I’m sure you are familiar with these.  The better messages will say something like: “Thanks for following.  I tweet about sports medicine and have more information on my blog www.sportsmed.co.uk”.

The worst ones will say something like this: “Someone is saying something bad about you.  Click here to find out:www.whocares.com”.

Obviously the second one is straight spam, with the user probably involved in some affiliate program where they get paid for click-thrus.  But many would argue that both of these are spam, as they are auto-generated.

My thoughts?  Different strokes for different folks.  Personally I believe if you do not have the time to personally say hello to each new person who follows you, these auto-direct messages can be very helpful.  They allow you to get in front of the person and share exclusive information about yourself or your business.

My two rules?

1.  Make it Juicy. When I read a good auto message on Twitter, I will click the link, reply and all the rest.  It will drive me to action.  So if you choose to go down this route, be sure to make it count!

2.  No Bait and Switch. Don’t lure the person with a message that doesn’t mirror what they will see on the other side.  Be 100% transparent…this approach always works beautifully online.

Now, how do you do it?  There are loads of services out there (free and paid) that will enable you to generate these auto-direct messages.  I’ve tried many of them and there are two services I would suggest.  The first is a paid service called SocialOomph.

SocialOomph (https://www.socialoomph.com/) is a pretty robust third-party agent that helps you handle many aspects of your social media campaign.  I’ll let you go through the site and check out all of the bells and whistles.  Right now I want to focus on how to quickly set-up an auto-direct message for Twitter.

Here are the quick steps:

1.  Register and/or login to SocialOomph.  When you register, you want to choose the service where you are able to send “Welcome DMs” to your new followers.

2.  Once you are registered and paid, go to the left hand side menu there is a button for “Social Networks”.  Click on that and follow the directions for adding your Twitter account.

3.  Now that you are registered, go to the left hand menu again, this time choosing “Direct Messages”.  Then click “Edit Welcome DM” and choose your Twitter account.

4.  On this page, first click the box next to “Auto Welcome”.  Then, in the “Send This Message” write your 140 welcome message (remember to follow my two rules above).

5.  Underneath this you have the option to “Auto Follow” which means that anyone who follows you, you will immediately follow back.  This can be tricky, so I would use this with caution.

6.  Last, I would click the box next to “@Replies Digest” to receive the email updates as it is a great way to track your engagement on Twitter.

The other site is called Tweet Manager.  It is a wonderful service, just visit them online and follow the very easy to follow steps that they provide.  It is much easier to use than SocialOomph and currently doesn’t cost a penny to use.

And there you go!  From then on in, your new followers will receive a welcome message.  Again, this method is not for everyone, so try it and track its effectiveness for your campaign.  Twitter marketing, like other social media marketing, is organic and can be tweaked when needed.

So where do you fit into the messy, fast and furious Twitter-verse?  Good question.

I think finding your way on Twitter does take time, research and a good plan.  But once you have these crucial elements a new question arises: how often should I tweet?

I love this question as it seems everyone has a different perspective on the correct answer. Some believe that it has to be based on time, others based on topic.  While both of these are good points, especially for targeting purposes, they really don’t answer the question “how many”.

Let me throw my hat in the ring and attempt to not only answer this question, but give you a quick template on how to do it.

I believe that consistency and a plan are both crucial to a successful Twitter campaign.  With every plan, I believe there should be a good mixture of activity so all of your bases are covered.  Twitter gives you a few options in terms of activity/interaction and I want to focus on the main venues here: tweets, mentions, direct messages and re-tweets.

So, as you can see, there are several ways that you can communicate with others on Twitter.  First, think about how much time you will be able to dedicate to marketing on Twitter everyday.  Maybe you have a couple of hours (lucky you) or maybe just 20-30 minutes a day (which sounds realistic).  Using this time frame, consider how many actions that you will be able to complete during this time and create a daily plan.

While this is a bit more practiced and could be labeled “not spontaneous” I think when you are a busy person (which I know you are) you need to tick things off your daily list with great speed.  If you don’t, then things probably slip away from you and end up in the dreaded “Ah, tomorrow’s another day” pile.

Here’s a sample of how many “tweets” and other Twitter activities that I would suggest you execute on a given day with a little description of the importance of the activity:

Tweets (2): These come directly from you/your company and will contain content that is engaging, entertaining and/or educational.  Share links, photos, videos, quotes or updates pertaining directly to items that you target market (followers) will enjoy reading and will be eager to share.

DMs/Direct Messages (2-5):  These messages are sent privately between two Twitter users.  If you have a relatively small number of followers, these do not come in fast and furious.  They will once you begin to amass followers on a daily basis.  Take 2-5 of the DMs that you receive and send a personal response to the Twitter user.  This will help you get in front of your followers yet again and add that “personal touch” that many miss on Twitter.

RTs/Retweets (2): These are tweets from another Twitter user that you are sharing with YOUR followers with the click of a button.  I suggest finding two influential Twitter users in your product/service category and RT (share) their tweet with your followers.  This is a great way of getting in front of that influential person, while also sharing good solid information with your followers.

@replies/Mentions (2):  When you type @ in front of a Twitter user’s name, your tweet will be shared within their main Twitter stream.  Choose two influential people and tweet them about something that they have shared, or even something that you have seen in the media outside of Twitter – anything on topic.  This is a great way to connect with influential people in your niche and will help you connect with more quality members of your target audience.

So my total for the 20-30 minute Twitter user is a consistent 8-10 per day.  As your Twitter following begins to grow, you will need to spend more time as you will receive more mentions, RTs and DMs.  By the time this happens though, you will be in a groove and will be able to handle everything that comes your way.  When you do this everyday, you will hit your stride and after the first month won’t even need to worry about the number of Tweets that you put out.  It will become second nature and the whole process will become organic.

Another good thing to mention is that there are tools such as TweetDeck and Hootsuite that can help you schedule your Twitter activity so that you don’t always need to be in front of the computer when your Tweets go out.  Be aware that you should not depend on them 100% as it is helpful to keep a watchful eye on the live activity on Twitter.  Also,  sometimes these sites will go down for maintenance….and you could make you lose all of your scheduled activity.  Just keep an eye on your actual account so that you are not shocked when you check back and see that your scheduled Tweets did not go out for the last two weeks.

I hope this sheds some light on how to get your act together on Twitter.  If you can tweet more than this, do so!  If you can’t, don’t!  It is all about consistency – so only bite off what you can chew.

Over the years I have been compiling a list of online marketing sites from my friends, colleagues and just plain old excellent sources in the wonderful world of marketing.  I was taking a look at it the other day and thought that I would share it all with you.

Here are some of THE BEST resources when it comes to marketing your business.  Click and read any combination of the following blogs and be dazzled.  Let them know I sent you and if you like what you see, make sure to subscribe to their RSS feeds.

Without further ado…..here’s the list (of course, my favorite is the first one!):

Go! Media Online: http://www.gomediaonline.com

B2B Marketing Insider: http://www.b2bmarketinginsider.com

TrueYouMarketing.com: http://www.trueyoumarketing.com/

Read Write Web: http://www.readwriteweb.com/

Emergence Marketing: http://www.emergencemarketing.com/

MarketingProfs: http://www.marketingprofs.com

Traffick: http://blog.traffick.com/

Marketing Interactions: http://marketinginteractions.typepad.com/

Michel Fortin: http://michelfortin.com/

Smart Bloggerz: http://www.smartbloggerz.com/

How to Change the World: http://blog.guykawasaki.com

Social Media Explorer: http://www.twitip.com/

Neuromarketing: http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/

Marketing VOX: http://www.marketingvox.com/

Influential Marketing Blog: http://www.rohitbhargava.com

The Brand Builder Blog: http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/

SmartBlog on Social Media: http://smartblogs.com/socialmedia/

SEO MOZ: http://www.seomoz.org/blog

Search Marketing Standard: http://www.searchmarketingstandard.com/

Social Media Darwinism: http://pauldunay.com/

AdPulp: http://www.adpulp.com/

Jason Keath: http://jasonkeath.com

Yoast SEO Blog: http://yoast.com/cat/seo/

Majon International’s Official Internet Marketing Blog: http://www.majon.com/blog/

Stokefire: http://www.stokefire.com/blog/

Dominique Hind’s Collective: http://dominiquehind.wordpress.com/

Conversionation: http://www.conversionation.net/

Design For Users: http://www.design-for-users.com/

Small Business Search Marketing: http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/

Conversation Agent: http://www.conversationagent.com/

Get Elastic: http://www.getelastic.com/

twitip: http://www.twitip.com/

Chris Brogan: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/

idaconcpts: http://idaconcpts.com/

Marketing 2.0: http://www.marketingtwo.net/

blogstorm: http://www.blogstorm.co.uk/

REEL SEO: http://www.reelseo.com/

Zero-G Creative: http://zerogcreative.com/blog

Steve Rubel: http://www.steverubel.me/

HubSpot Blog: http://blog.hubspot.com

Jay Baer’s Convince & Convert: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/

Conversation Marketing: http://www.conversationmarketing.com/

We Are Social: http://wearesocial.net/

WindMill Networking: http://windmillnetworking.com/blog/

Branding Strategy Insider: http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/

Brian Solis: http://www.briansolis.com/

Damn, I Wish I’d Thought of That! : http://www.damniwish.com/

HigherVisibility Blog: http://www.highervisibility.com/blog/

The Search Agents: http://www.thesearchagents.com/

Mint Blogger: http://www.mintblogger.com/

The Future Buzz: http://thefuturebuzz.com/

ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/

Doug Haslam: http://doughaslam.com/

Marketing TechBlog: http://www.marketingtechblog.com/

copyblogger Blog: http://www.copyblogger.com/blog/

ShoeMoney: http://www.shoemoney.com/

Jim’s Marketing Blog: http://jimsmarketingblog.com/

Chris Baggott’s Email Marketing Best Practices: http://www.exacttarget.typepad.com/chrisbaggott/

PR Squared: http://www.pr-squared.com/

Drew’s Marketing Minute: http://www.drewsmarketingminute.com/

Webbiquity B2B Marketing Blog: http://webbiquity.com/

Duct Tape Marketing Blog: http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/

Marketing Pilgrim: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/

Compete Pulse: http://blog.compete.com/

Ypulse: http://www.ypulse.com/

Jonathan Volk: http://www.jonathanvolk.com/

Dose of Digital: http://www.doseofdigital.com/

Brand Architect: http://www.collings.co.za/

Chris Moody: http://www.chris-moody.com/blog/

Bad Pitch Blog: http://badpitch.blogspot.com/

MarketingSherpa: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/

ChasNote: http://chasnote.com/

Wonder Branding: http://www.wonderbranding.com/

Church of the Customer Blog: http://www.customerevangelists.typepad.com/blog/

Wired PR Works!: http://wiredprworks.com/blog/

Media Bullseye: http://blog.customscoop.com/

Content Marketing Institute, Joe Pulizzi’s Blog: http://blog.junta42.com/

Mari Smith: http://www.marismith.com/mari-smith-blog/

Seth Godin’s Blog: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

WebInkNow.: http://www.webinknow.com/

Ingrid O. Catlin: http://www.ingrid-catlin.com/

The Social Media Marketing Blog: http://files.scottmonty.com/

Insights & Ingenuity Blog: http://insightsandingenuity.com/blog/

TopRank Online Marketing Blog: http://www.toprankblog.com/

Success Works: http://www.seocopywriting.com/

Eat Media Blog: http://www.seocopywriting.com/

Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/

Straight Talk with Nigel Hollis: http://www.millwardbrown.com/Global/Blog/StraightTalk.aspx

Writing on the Web with Dr. Patsi Krakoff: http://writingontheweb.com/

Since its inception at the end of 2011, Google+ has grown astronomically and stole the spotlight by snagging more headlines than any of its competitors.

As the site continues to grow, it continues to define itself as a major player in the social media marketing arena.  NOW businesses too have the opportunity to throw their hat in the ring with Google+ Pages for professional purposes.

While to some it may seem straight-forward how to use Google+ Pages for business, many are confused as to how to set up brand marketing on the site.

Much like Facebook – Google+ has some ground rules that you have to follow.  Remember before Facebook Pages, how many companies registered their business under a personal profile…and when Facebook Pages was implemented, were left out in the cold and had to start over?  Thankfully Facebook has fixed this problem and now those who were out in the cold can transfer their info over to an official Facebook Page, but what a pain, right?!

Google+ moved quickly on this front in order to trounce this confusion and to get users started using the Pages quickly.  But the question remains: if I am marketing my business in Google+, do I use a Google+ Profile or a Google+ Page?

Here’s the skinny.  The best way to get the most out of your time on any social site is to follow the guidelines that are presented when you sign up.  If they are asking for your first and last name – its a personal profile.  If they are asking for your business name and website – it’s a Google+ Page.  Pretty straight-forward right?

Here’s a little curve ball for ya…in order to create a Google+ Page, a personal profile must be presented.  Yikes!  What do I do now?

First, don’t worry.  Think of your Google+ Profile as you would your LinkedIn profile.  You can list your interests, achievements, work and educational history, as well as social media links and lots more.  Update your profile and interact on Google+ as if you were on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter in a professional way.

Now on to  your Google+ Page!  This is pretty much a similar format to your Facebook Page, Company Twitter or LinkedIn Company Profile.  Here, updates will be in your brand’s voice and carry information that your company wants to share to engage your audience.

So to keep it short and simple, use both profiles to market yourself and your business on Google+, as this will give you two areas of coverage.  Not interested in having your personal details connected?  Keep your personal profile sparse.  I think it is best to fill everything in, but everyone is different.  Here’s one way to look at it; The internet is a pretty open place, you can find out just about everything and anything about someone – so rather than hide behind your business, be transparent!  Although there may be some good reasons that one may not want to be the spokesperson for the company’s

Google+ or LinkedIn page, the trick here is in how you manage your privacy settings, and what content you put online.

I was listening to an online radio show from the UK yesterday that said that of 300 hiring firms, almost all of them had ‘researched’ social media sites regarding individual candidates – the takeaway from that should NOT be negative…rather – solidly build, manage, and populate your social media sites, and they will be your living resume!  (And if someone is interested in speaking to you about a job offer – they will usually contact you utilizing your offline contacts!)

Once you have yourself setup – dive in!  The conversations are lively and you will be able to connect with lots of interesting people and drive brand awareness like never before.

Yep…I had the same reaction.

But, as I was throwing a huge Super Bowl house party, I was looking for a novelty food that looked like a lot of fun to make.  Obviously the buffalo chicken cupcakes fit right into that category.

I trawled the internet looking for the best recipe to try and came across the wonderful Cupcake Project blog (which YOU NEED TO CLICK HERE AND CHECK OUT)!  Above all of the other buffalo chicken cupcake recipes, Stef’s was by far the most realistic (and may I add attractive…check out the photo of mine).

Needless to say they were simple to make, made a huge impact as part of the spread, and were surprisingly delicious!

I had to share this recipe with all of you (because you have to try it), so I got in touch with Stef from Cupcake Project to see if I could share her wonderful recipe.  She happily obliged and you can find it below!

As a thank you to Stef, please follow her on Twitter and “Like” her page on Facebook!

Here’s the recipe, courtesy of Cupcake Blog:

Buffalo Chicken Cupcake Recipe

Yield: 10 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 1/2 cup hot sauce (I recommend a hot sauce that is typically used for Buffalo chicken.  Frank’s is the classic choice.  I used Bella’s Medium Wing Sauce.)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

For the blue cheese buttercream frosting:

• 2 ounces crumbled blue cheese
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Steps

To make the cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium-sized saucepan on medium-high heat, heat hot sauce and butter until butter is melted.
3. Add the blue cheese and mix periodically until blue cheese is melted.
4. Remove from heat and mix in the sugar.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and egg.
6. Once the hot sauce mixture is cool enough to touch, mix the sour cream mixture into the hot sauce mixture.
7. In another small bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda.
8. Fold the flour mixture into the hot sauce mixture.
9. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
10. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

To make the blue cheese buttercream frosting:

1. Mix blue cheese on high speed until smooth.
2. Add the unsalted butter and mix on high speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
3. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar until fully combined.
4. Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.

Read more: http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2012/01/buffalo-chicken-super-bowl-cupcakes.html#ixzz1mIQ3lPUh

One industry that my firm is doing more and more business with lately is the healthcare industry.  All areas of this field – from recruiting, hospital groups, medical facilities and clinics, to individual physicians and practitioners – seem to be jumping on the social media scene.  With the Age Wave and Baby Boomers demanding better, cutting edge, state of the art care – their ways of learning, communicating with their practitioners, and telling their friends about that care will advance too…and social media is the vehicle!

As we are always ones to keep up with the latest and greatest in marketing for all business segments, we have been compiling a list of resources to use to keep up to date with all the trends.

I shared this list with a healthcare client of mine and they went through the roof and suggested that we share it with all of you.  As you can guess – I loved the idea!

So below is a list of all of (my) favorite healthcare and medical marketing websites and blogs that have the sharpest and most informative content to help those in healthcare market their businesses more effectively.

Enjoy and make sure if you like the blogs, let them know I sent you!

• KevinMD.com: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/
• The Healthcare Marketing Exchange: http://www.healthcaresuccess.com/blog/
• Weekly Probe Marketing: http://www.weeklyprobe.com/category/marketing/
• MedTouch Blog: http://blog.medtouch.com/
• Dose of Digital: http://www.doseofdigital.com/
• Medical Marketing: http://blogs.estcomedical.com/
• Hospital Impact: http://www.hospitalimpact.org/
• KBM Group: http://www.kbmghealth.com/blogs.aspx
• Medical Marketing Blog: http://www.mednet-tech.com/newsletter/
• The Healthcare Marketing Community and Blog: http://healthcaremarketing.ning.com/
• ePharma Rx: http://blog.intouchsol.com/
• Healthcare.Marketing: http://hospitalmarketinganas.blogspot.com/
• Quaintise: http://blog.quaintise.com/
• Health Care 3.0: http://healthcareandthesocialweb.ning.com/
• ND&P
• Enabling Healthy Decisions: http://georgevanantwerp.com/
• Healthy Conversations: http://www.trajectory4brands.com/blog/
• Medical Marketing Blog: http://omnimedicalmarketing.com/blog/
• Gandolf’s Marketing Magic: http://www.gandolfsmarketingmagic.com/
• Medical Web Experts: http://www.medicalwebexperts.com/blog/
• HealthBlawg: http://healthblawg.typepad.com/
• RX MD Marketing Solutions: http://rxmdmarketingsolutions.com/healthcare-marketing-blog/
• Hospital Marketing Journal: http://hospitalmarketing.blogs.com/my_weblog/
• Health Care Leadership Blog: http://www.healthcareleadershipblog.com/
• Kru: http://blog.kruresearch.com/
• The Healthcare Marketer: http://thehealthcaremarketer.wordpress.com/
• Dan Dunlop: http://www.wellsphere.com/dan-dunlop/134463/posts
• Healthcare Marketing Success: http://healthcaremarketingsuccess.blogspot.com/

Are there any more that you would like to add to this list?