While traveling around on the internet, we all come across websites that make a difference in our lives and businesses. It could be that they brought more fun into our day, or taught us something new to take our business to a new level, or introduced us to someone new…these sites made a difference for me.

I thought it might be fun to share the best websites I found throughout 2008 with you. These are in no particular order and I’m sure I’m missing some.

• Mari Smith – www.marismith.com- the powerhouse Facebook woman whose generosity knows no limits. A dynamic and friendly personality that I feel fortunate to have been introduced to.
• VAClassroom – www.vaclassroom.com – identifying niche-market topics and offering superb training for virtual assistants. Their programs helped me solidify a new offering of business services.
• Stompernet – www.stompernet.com – the place that started it all for me with the SMARTS program for social marketing strategies.
• ProBlogger – www.problogger.com – how they can come up with spot-on topics for each and every blog post is beyond me. Talk about talent! A must read for every blogger.
• Copyblogger – www.copyblogger.com- perfect for bloggers and writers from every walk of life. Just like ProBlogger, they are always right on the money when it comes to their blog topics.
• Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter – The “Power 3″ social networking sites that opened up a whole new world for me in virtual socializing and making connections – business and personal. Welcome to the party!
• Need-An-Article – www.need-an-article.com – an affordable service for the non-writers, allowing us to take our own thoughts, ideas, and outline, and create great articles that we would write ourselves, if only it didn’t take us 8 hours to do so.
• CommonCraft – www.commoncraft.com – the genius behind their training method astounds the educator in me. They can teach anything to anyone, no matter how complicated it seems. Brilliant!
• Sherman Hu – www.shermanhu.com- can he really be this nice? The answer: YES. Sherman is another person I found myself fortunate enough to get to know this year. A man after my own heart, he offers up great information about blogging, podcasting, and using videos. Also, being the devoted husband and father that he is puts him WAY up high on my list of favorite people. Sherman’s Twitter – @shermanhu.
• The 30 Day Challenge – www.thirtydaychallenge.com- where else can you find a free program that walks you through the newest and coolest ways to get acclimated to internet marketing, and via the humor of the one and only Ed Dale?
• The Marketing Professor – www.marketingprofessor.com – when I first met Travis Campbell, I thought he was just an ACT! guru, but there is so much more to him. What a great source of marketing information.
• Podcasting Scout - www.podcastingscout.com – Marketing with Podcasts for the Small Business…need I say more?
• Borderline Gypsies – http://borderlinegypsies.wordpress.com - I don’t think there’s a single person that is tied to a computer or office all day that doesn’t appreciate the experience of traveling by proxy. Their ability to take me along for the ride with stories and pictures is always a wonderful and welcomed distraction. And now that Paula is on Twitter, @vagablonde, you can feel like you’re there in real-time. Thank you Paula, for embracing Twitter as your way to take us with you!
• Ty and Mari Smith – http://tyandmari.com/ - for the RVer wannabe in all of us, Ty and Mari virtually took us along on their Alaska trip this summer. What a wonderful experience. Follow Mari on Twitter for great traveling and Facebook tweets – @marismith.
• Robin Good – www.masternewmedia.org – I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about the compilation of lists that makes me happy and comforts me. Whenever I’m researching a technology, Robin’s site always comes up in the search. This site is a wealth of information on so many topics, too many to list. You simply must visit this site.

Do you have any websites or people that have made a difference in your life this year? Are there any people you made connections with on the social networking sites that made you feel like you struck gold?

May 2009 be as rich and wonderful as 2008.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Andrea

Andrea Kalli
Certified Internet and Social Marketing VA

Your powerhouse virtual assistant support for:
Keyword and Competition Research, on-page SEO, and Link Building strategies
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MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that I, Andrea Kalli, have an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this page and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

Tags and Categories: best websites of 2008, business productivity, favorite people, favorite websites, Marketing, podcasting, social networking, traveling blogs, va training, vaclassroom, Virtual Assistant Training

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