The Roundpeg crew enjoyed a team building trip to the Super Bowl festivities last Friday. Have you had a chance to check out the fun?

Although it’s easy to get distracted this week we continue to publish at least one blog post daily. If you’ve been visiting Super Bowl Village on a daily basis you may have missed out. Now’s your chance to catch up.

Saturday - Faces of Roundpeg: New Characters – Jenna and Peter
We are a bit more polished, more professional and more grown up thanks to our newest cast members.

Sunday – What’s In a Theme?
Peter explains (to Romeo?) the basics behind WordPress themes.

Monday - Knowing When to Walk Away: Dealing with Anger Online
Always good to think before you respond whether in person or online.

Tuesday – Sometimes What’s Old is New Again
Sharing the love for WordPress plug in Tweet Old Post.

MTFW: Unfunded with Nick Carter
Listen to our talk with Nick Carter about his experiences growing his firm, AddressTwo as an “unfunded” venture.

Wednesday – Your New Truck is a Website
The inspiration for a client’s rebranding came from their original truck sign.

Thursday – Use FAQs as Blog Post Starters
FAQs and answers to questions make great content for blog posts.

Friday – Why Playing Hooky Can Help Your Business

Reflecting on our Adventure in the SuperBowl Village, Allison talks about why these types of outing are good for your business

I have a lot of fun visiting with Troy Hanna ( @the funsalesdude) on the new A2 University podcast today. This month they were talking about networking, so I had a chance to share a few of my favorite tips.

You can listen to the program here, and be sure to check out the entire series, every Tuesday afternoon from 4:00 – 4:30. Check it out. Troy definitely brings a level of fun to the broadcast.

It has been awhile since I have talked about or written anything about networking so it was fun to share some of my favorite tips, because I am a networking junkie!  I firmly believe this is an addiction every small business owner should develop.

If you enjoy the podcast and would like to learn more, you can order a copy of my booklet:  Confessions of a Networking Junkie.  Now available in hard copy, Kindle and eBook versions.

Last week we talked about the most popular posts of 2011. Those superstars got retweeted, shared and reaped loads of traffic. But there are other posts. Good posts, full of interesting information and terrible jokes, that for whatever reason never got much attention.

So we’re going to give them a second chance. Here are the Roundpeg staff’s favorite blog posts from 2011 which you may have missed:

Peter: Would You Jump Off the Roof for Social Media?
Heidi Cohen’s strategic questions offer a key to satisfying and successful social media engagement. Many people don’t think they have anything to write or talk about. That’s just not true. The rewards of reaching out with social media are worth a quick brainstorm to figure out what’s interesting about you. The tips in this post are a great primer for anyone looking to get started with social media.

Allison: Don’t Be Good at Social Media
When you spend all day mired in the echo chamber that is social media, it can be easy to get caught up in being “good” at social media. But that’s not the point at all: the point is to build loyalty, brand awareness and sales. It’s an important reminder for everyone.

 Jenna: Pick Your Palette
Color theory is undeniably one of the most important aspects of design.  The colors we choose when creating a logo, web design etc. can evoke so many different emotions, it is important to choose them wisely.

Lorraine: How to Discipline Your Boss
I love this post because it gives you some insight into the very strange and very special relationship I have with Allison.   It is also a great how-to for other young employees on how to sell their ideas to supervisors.

Rebecca – Whatever Happens, Happens for the Best & Moments
As the “mom” of the Roundpeg crew, I overlook our little family. Our little white house is filled with such positive energy it is usually a refreshing change from my legal address which is too often these days filled with hormonal teenage angst. So, when “my” boys decided to spread their wings and fly, it left us all reeling. Their final blog posts still move me to tears but they are also happy tears as we hear back from both Taylor and Jay and follow their travels on Twitter and Facebook.

We write a lot of blog posts for Business Notes from Roundpeg. We average eight to ten posts a week, on topics we think small business owners will care about: marketing, social media, networking, web design, strategy and team building.  Some posts are serious and some are informative, some of the posts are sentimental and others are rants.

Each of the members of Roundpeg writes posts from time to time and we regularly invite guests to join us as well.   The blending of our different voices has created a blog which really represents who we are as a company.

We watch our statistics to see which posts get the most traffic and conversation.  There are always a few surprises, like the little posts we thought were “throw aways” that generate lots of interaction.  Here is a list of the most popular posts we have added to the blog this year.  Notice how many different authors have content in our top ten.

1. Keep Visitors Coming Back  Getting people to your website is only the first step. To be an effective part of your marketing strategy, your web design must look good,  engage visitors and give them reasons to keep them coming back again and again.
2. What Do You Say?  Make Podcasts Part of Your Web Design Inspired by  Bill Catsky, we began a weekly podcast.  This post is about how we did it and how it is working.
3. Hike Through a Work Flow – A guest post by Bill Lundy discussing  why every business should periodically review its key workflows looking for ways to improve quality, lower cost or save time.
4. Why I Am Mean to Interns - Allison explains her unique management style.
5. Blasts from the Past - Our intern Brittany Wright spent some time digging through the archives of our blog.  She wrote a post sharing what she learned about SEO from these old posts.
6.  Web Candy When you go to check out in the grocery store, do you ever grab a candy bar from those tempting shelves near the registers? What if your website could do the same thing?
7. Hardworking…Really? The process of interviewing and hiring interns can be tedious and tiring when they all say the same thing
8. Faces of Roundpeg, Kyle My Teacher  Part of a series of tributes to Roundpeg employees (past and present), customers, friends and others who have been an important part of our first ten years. This segment is about Kyle Lacy.
9. Twitter is Supposed to Be Easy  New kid on the block Peter shares some of his early Twitter lessons
10. Even Dead Fish Float  A guest post by my sales coach, Matt Nettleton.

As a confirmed networking junkie, I was always looking for my next fix. When I found LinkedIn, several years ago, with it’s emphasis on career history, educational background and association membership it seemed like a great fit.   It is a supercharged version of my address book, but by itself it isn’t interactive enough to feed my need to connect.

I always believed the real power of LinkedIn is in the ability to see who knows who, but it wasn’t much of a conversation tool.  I could introduce people or exchange an email, but it wasn’t convenient to keep logging in, so I quickly moved conversations elsewhere.

Then Amber Naslund, who I follow on Twitter, posted her LinkedIn profile and invited her followers to connect, and it all made sense.  Combining the platforms makes each more valuable.  Twitter allows me to chat with people efficiently.  As long as I keep it to 140 characters, I can share information, humor, insights and ideas.    Adding the connection via LinkedIn gives me a broader more detailed introduction.

I still don’t think it will replace face-to-face interaction, but it can give traditional networking an extra buzz.  The key is cross pollination. Bring your contacts across platforms, using the best tool for the best purpose.  Interested in testing the idea?  I am on Twitter as @lorraineball and you can find me on LinkedIn too.

Roundpeg, an Indianapolis social media firm helps our clients develop strategies to use LinkedIn as part of their marketing mix.

I met Tony Scelzo at a Rainmaker’s event.  The conversation was lively and fast paced, with the appropriate amount of trying to impress each other.  We exchanged business cards and went on our way. But that conversation was the beginning of a relationship which would change the course of my business.

A few days later, Tony called and asked me to be a part of Rainmakers Advisory Board.   If you have ever had a conversation with Tony, you know there is lots of energy and when you walk away you realize you agreed to something.  Often, you are not sure what it was you agreed to.  That was the case during my first phone call.  I wasn’t quite sure what I was signing up for, but it felt right, and so I took a chance and said yes.

I said yes to being a speaker, board member, hub chair and ultimately president. Rainmakers introduced me to hundreds of people.  Many of my closest friends, clients and business resources were people I first met at a Rainmaker event. I refined my public speaking skills and the platform help me establish myself as a player in the small business community.   In return, my involvement with Rainmakers created processes which helped grow the organization to more than 1,600 members.

For more then seven  years, if you wanted to find me, all you had to do was show up at a Rainmaker event.  Most mornings I started my day with a conversation with Tony. We talked about Rainmakers and Roundpeg and the ups and downs of small business ownership. We shared employees and employee stories.  Tony always had another great idea and I had a hard time saying no. That is how I got involved in  The Buzz, the ill-fated Rainmaker University, and even the Rainmaker’s Golf Outing 

Saying yes to Tony opened a lot of doors and changed the way I looked at building connections.   I can’t imagine what Roundpeg would be like today, if I hadn’t said yes back then.
Over the years, I gave a lot of presentations at Rainmaker events. This is one of my favorites:

People have a lot of misconceptions about introversion. Being an introvert doesn’t necessarily mean you’re shy, and doesn’t necessarily mean you hate people. The main crux of the difference between introverts and extroverts is where you draw your energy: extroverts draw their excitement and energy from being in crowds of people, while introverts find crowds exhausting, and take their energy from spending time alone.

Normally, it’s not a huge problem: introverts find jobs that allow them quiet time to analyze and absorb, and know how to manage their social lives in a healthy and positive way. But what about during networking events?

When I started working at Roundpeg and had to attend networking events, they were nothing short of a grim death march to the end. I loathed them. But after a year and a half, I’ve come to peace with them, and figured out a few tips and tricks that help me survive:

• Have a Goal: Before you set foot into a networking event, figure out why you’re there. Is it to make new sales contacts, meet new friends or make strategic connections? Having a firm sense of purpose can help you tailor your discussion to your needs, and make the time more productive.
• Have a Spiel: I’m not recommending that you go in with every word planned out ahead of time, but having a few key questions to ask can help smooth your way into a productive conversation. I like to ask “So what brings you here tonight?” as well as the ever popular “How can I help you?” Show genuine interest in the answers. As an added bonus, asking questions lets the other person carry the conversation–and you come out looking like a sensitive, great listener.
• Have a Reward: When I go to a networking event, I always have an ending in mind. Maybe that means I stay until 7:30, or it means I stay until I make five quality contacts. Having a set time or goal helps me get through the evening and be more productive. If it’s a particularly long or trying event, I might promise myself a treat afterwards–some time watching my favorite show or a nice dinner. Whatever helps you make it through.
• Be Realistic: I learned the hard way that if I try to do a networking event in the morning, another in the evening and work in the middle, I wind up not being my best at any of those things. Know what works for you, and let yourself be choosy about which events are really worth your time and energy.
• Don’t Be Clingy: This is one I’m still working on. It’s so easy to find people you feel comfortable with and spend all your time with. Don’t. This defeats the purpose of networking–to meet new people and make new connections.

Are men and women really that different or do we just have a tendency to just focus our differences instead of our similarities? We are excited to announce that we will be chatting with Hazel M. Walker, the “Referral Strategist” on this week’s radio show. We will be discussing Business Networking and Sex, the subject of Hazel’s new book, coming out in 2012.

Do you have any comments, questions, or tips about business networking and sex to share? Post it here, send it to one of us on Twitter or Facebook, or call in during the show at (805) 285 -9865. Remember to use the #hashtag #MTFW on Twitter, so we can find your comments easily.

The call will be live from 11:30 – 11:00 on Wednesday, July 27. You will be able to listen to the program from my station on BlogTalkRadio.com

And if you miss the live show, you will still be able to hear a recorded version of the broadcast here.

In today’s competitive job marketing the internship experience is becoming a requirement for college students, and they’re also becoming increasingly harder to land. Once you have an internship, being successful at it is a whole new challenge. Roundpeg’s interns Melissa, Scott and Stephanie will discuss their internship experiences as well as tips for other students who are considering an internship.

The call will be live from 10:30 – 11:00 on Wednesday, July 20. You will be able to listen to the program from my station on BlogTalkRadio.com And then, if I do it correctly, you will be able to hear the recorded program from the player below.  If you have a question, you will be able to call in: (805) 285-9865.

Everyone knows that Linkedin is a great tool for job hunting and networking with large companies, but what about Linkedin and small business?  We will be discussing how small businesses can effectively use Linkedin as a networking tool.

The call will be live from 10:30 – 11:00 on Wednesday, June 22nd. You will be able to listen to the program from my station on BlogTalkRadio.com And  if the time is not convenient for you, listen to the recorded program from the player below or from our iTunes channel.

So, I hope you will join us, to listen, learn, or share!