A1-Webmarks…. if you are like me, you’ve never heard of it before and just think – jeesh!  another site to have to worry about. So let’s check it out.

At first glance I see that it was very recently added to Add-This (mid-late October of 2009).   They define as “Webmark” as follows:

A webmark marks a location on the web, just like a bookmark marks a location in a book. It’s a web page, whose address you want to remember for some reason. Webmarks are often called bookmarks or favorites, especially when the webmark itself is stored offline on your PC.

Furthermore… A1 stands for:  Anywhere, 1 Click Away. If that’s true, then in theory I already like this service because I feel I’ve got bookmarks on sites all over the darn place.  Here’s what they tell me they claim they offer:

• Hierarchical tagging of webmarks to assign them to a topic
• Instant access to your most often used webmarks (your favorites)
• Alphabetic indexing of your webmarks
• Personal evaluation of webmarks
• Private webmarks and private comments, visible only to you
• Webmarks to password-protected areas or to your local intranet or files
• Webmark search
• Periodic checks of your webmarks to let you know, which pages are no longer accessible
• Import and export of webmarks

And the social aspect of what they say they offer:

• Sophisticated evaluation of the community’s webmark evaluations to show you “more webmarks like that” for all of your topics
• Most popular webmarks amongst all A1-Webmarks users, separated by language
• Most popular tags and their corresponding most popular webmarks
• Access to the public webmarks and public comments of other A1-Webmarks users
• Publishing lists of interesting webmarks on some specific topic
• Rating of lists and list entries
• Making proposals for new list entries

At first glance it appears to be much like the other Social Bookmarking sites out there, but not as “pretty” or dolled-up.  The interface loads quickly, but it also includes banner ads.

I see the advantages of this site with the ratings and evaluations of links, rather than just ranking based on number of bookmarks.  I see the advantage of some of the organization and tagging methods behind the ‘webmarks’ and such.  It looks like it’s a good service that may be up-and-coming.

I have to say personally for me.  I probably, at most, will be a very basic user of A1-Webmarks for the time being – only because of the time factor, and the number of sites I already need to manage.  I may down the road decide to import and organize my bookmarks fully into this service, but for today I will pass.

As it rates/ranks and allows you to vote on webmarks and lists, it gives no point of reference on how those approval rating are calculated, the number of “members” or people voting.  So until I learn more – I have added a few basic ‘webmarks’ that will create incoming links to my favorite sites, and we’ll leave it that.

Know more about A-1 Webmarks than I do?  Please leave a comment and tell me why you like/dislike it.

As an internet marketing account manager, I service 30+ clients of my own, and these days am covering a vacation for another account manager and a partial load for yet another account manager who is on part-time maternity.

Needless to say, there are never enough hours in the day, days in the week to get all the tasks done that are on my continually expanding list of things that I need to accomplish for this set of customers.  Tasks can be miniscule, such as changing or adding a link to a page, or they can be middle of the road – like setting up an email campaign – or at the total opposite end, it could be something as daunting as getting a customer set up with a new online credit card processor.  

Here are my tips for staying organized motivated…

Color Code/Stay Organized… I keep a running list of tasks.  I tend to color code based on priority and status – if it’s in progress I highlight in Yellow, once it’s done, I highlight in Blue – if it’s a high priority task – it gets Pink so it jumps off the page at me.  Green is just another story altogether – I use Green on problem tasks.

Follow up… Often times I have phone conversations with clients where many things are discussed – lets add this product category, lets do an online press release by this day, we should run a promotion on the home page, AND, lets offer 50% of this product.  AS SOON AS YOU HANG UP – FOLLOW UP – send a list of tasks confirming what you spoke of and who is responsible for what.  This will keep you focused on what you just promised to deliver.

When you get totally overwhelmed focus on a few small easy tasks to complete…  you’ll feel accomplished and this will help you get movitated to jump on some of the larger more daunting tasks.

Re-Review your task list daily… This keeps it all fresh in your mind and some days your mindset may be more focus on one type of task over another.  I find on some days I’m totally focused to do a certain type of work over another.

Remember to breathe… You cannot conquer the world in one day, and you customers cannot either – be realistic about the volume of work you need to manage and work it into manageable chunks.   When you get overwhelmed take a few deep breaths and re-focus on what you can accomplish now.

Always remember to laugh at yourself when you get worked up – it’s the best way to relieve pressure, and realize that you are not God.  You did not create this universe and you cannot solve all of it’s problems in one day, but you can accomplish little things along the way if you stay positive and focused.

So for me now, I’m re-motivated to get back to work and it’s time to review my to-do list again.  Good luck with yours!

Perkonomics:  A marketing technique that involves adding new perks and privileges to a brand’s regular offerings, in an attempt to satisfy a customer’s need for “novel forms of status and/or convenience.”

A fellow Account Manager here at Cazbah cut this out of a recent Reader’s Digest – their recent Word of the Month.  She’s always sending me interesting little tidbits to think about and potentially blog about.

After reading the definition a few times it finally sunk in that I apply perkonomics into all that I do for my clients on a daily basis.  For the most part it pays off.

When I write an internet marketing plan for a client and their small business website – it consists of an outline of shared tasks to be completed over time to effectively enhance site usability, content, product information, optimization for search, social media awareness and brand development and much more.  

My role as their internet marketing account manager is to provide high level strategic guidance on what works and what isn’t working and guide them on an ongoing basis to help their site evolve and ultimately convert and drive their brand and business.

Perknomics, for me, comes in to play when I’m out there tweeting about my clients, working them up on Facebook, using my network stream to promote them, and cross promoting between clients.  These are things I am not required to do, but as I am passionate about my work and my small business clients, I look to promote them anyway I can.

Additionally, we guide them to do the hands-on work, and often times I will roll up my sleeves and get in the trenches with them and do much of the work for them if I know they are putting the effort in elsewhere.  

I am a firm believer of random acts of kinds and paying it forward.  I apply this to what I do at work also.  It’s kind of like when someone’s parking meter runs out of money and you throw a quarter in as you walk by so they don’t get a ticket.  Those little extras we do for people that are not part of the “package” we sell, but greatly enhances the service we provide.

For the most part this method pays off with mutual respect and a great working relationship.  In some situations it is necessary to proceed with caution when doing this extra work as it becomes expected practice and gets taken for granted.

If perkonomics is a part of what I do, it is because I feel the recipient is deserving of the extra effort I put in.  

How do you apply Perkonomics to your brand?