Each year I “unplug” for 10 days. Basically this means I don’t use the computer — for anything. I’m always surprised by how difficult this is — and how the first two days are like going without caffeine.

Checking things like Twitter, LinkedIn, other blogs, this blog’s comments, email, etc. does give me a buzz. (I also realize how much time these things take, too.)

Suffice to say, I always come back refreshed and full of ideas, and that’s because I spend my time not thinking about much of anything, sleeping, and reading. It’s a wonderful 10 days.

And with that, Friday afternoon (today!) starts my annual unplugged vacation! Woo hoo!

When I give presentations and people ask if they should be on LinkedIn or Facebook or both, I tell them that both social networking sites fill a similar function but that the social “rules” are very different.

LinkedIn is like a professional meeting or face-to-face networking function. You know how to dress (no jeans or sexy clothing) and mingle with people.

You know that you don’t pick up chicken with your fingers or talk too much about yourself (the best networkers always ask lots of questions of the people to whom they’re talking).

In short, “business professional” is a mode of behavior and dress that we all know and feel comfortable with.

That’s why many people like LinkedIn — it feels comfortable and familiar.

Facebook, according to the anecdotal evidence I hear, causes anxiety. This is because Facebook is like attending a Saturday BBQ at your boss’s house.

The event itself brings up a whole host of questions for which the rules aren’t clear — especially if you’re in corporate or work for a conservative company:

Which clothes should you wear? For women, this is particularly tricky: can you wear the sexy sundress or should you stay with something more modest?

Can you eat that BBQ chicken and corn on the cob with your fingers — which can become pretty messy — or stick with something safe?

Should you drink?

Do you bring the spouse? The kids? The pet dog?

What do you talk about? Business? Personal? The books you’re reading? What if you don’t read and watch trashy reality TV shows instead? Is that something you want everyone to know?

Now I know many people use Facebook quite well for both business and pleasure — and that they’re able to keep their personal lives separate from their business lives via the judicious use of groups within Facebook.

I also know that people feel quite relieved when I tell them they really don’t have to use Facebook for business.

In fact, many people tell me they use it only to keep up with far-flung family and don’t use it for business — that’s why they use LinkedIn.

And some people even admit they don’t have a Facebook page at all.

Here’s the bottom line with regard to social media: Do what makes you feel comfortable.

Along that note, I decided to delete my Facebook profile altogether.

After reading The Power of Less, I decided it was time to simplify my life, including my online life.

So, I deleted my profile in order to stop worrying about the fact that I had a profile that I virtually ignored.

How do you use Facebook and/or LinkedIn — and how do you feel about each one? I’d love to hear your story.

Yield Software is offering its new free e-book, The Link Economy and Why It Matters to Small & Growing Businesses (no registration required).

(Full disclosure: Yield is my client and I helped put the book together.)

The 70-page e-book explains why small and medium-sized businesses need to sit up and pay attention to the Link Economy.

As authors Matt Malden and Derek Gordon state in the book, it’s no longer enough to simply have a website.

These days, you must understand and employ the Link Economy — which means you must create content that other site owners will want to link to and in turn, you must link out to other content.

The Link Economy concept is something I knew about based on my own business and how people find me but I didn’t connect the dots in a big picture way until I began working on the book.

What hit home for me: links don’t just happen between website and website.

They happen when someone includes a link to your blog post via a Tweet, another blog post, a news article, a Facebook or LinkedIn comment, or an e-newsletter article.

They happen in iPhone apps, in YouTube videos, and within e-books like this one.

And they happen when someone comments on your blog and you comment on theirs.

In short, we are a Linked Economy and the sooner you as a business owner or marketer understand this — and take advantage of it — the further ahead you’ll be.

A Silicon Valley start-up, Yield Software offers its Yield Software Web Marketing Suite.

The software enables small and mid-sized businesses to automatically perform multivariate testing for SEO, PPC, and landing page optimization across all three search engines — and then serves up the best performing pages automatically in real time.

Based on my own experience working with small companies, this type of software is desperately needed as many small mom and pop shops are losing their shirts on PPC campaigns and have no clue to how to maximize SEO and landing page tactics.

Be sure to download the e-book (it’s chockablock full of Web marketing info) and do check out Yield Software.

You can test drive the software via a risk-free, no obligation demo.

Just received a telemarketing call where the caller (a marketer) made the following mistakes:

1. The caller ID name didn’t match the caller’s name (nor even the gender!).

2. Caller assumed I knew who he was by announcing his name only — no company name.

3. Caller was surprised when I said I didn’t know who he was.

My friend Mac McIntosh has given me two great pieces of advice over the years: “Never believe your own press” and “Never assume everyone knows who you are.” I keep these top of mind constantly — and you should, too.

4. Caller had NO CLUE that I was a one-person company even though he had my first name, last name, and telephone number.

A two-minute Google search would have told him who I was, who I work with, and what I do for a living — all questions he asked me. I have a website, a blog, and Twitter and LinkedIn profiles where all of this info exists.

5. Caller used the word “gal.”

Listen people, I am a successful business woman. If you want to do business with me, do NOT call me “girl” or “gal.” (I can’t think of anything that irks me more than this.)

All in all, a typical telemarketing call made by a clueless marketer. “Fail!” as my son would say.

According to a July 30, 2009 post at Dental Blogs, the Pew Internet Project reported 75-80% of Internet users look for medical information online.

This data is right up there with B2B buyers and consumers who use the Internet to search / shop for products, so I wasn’t surprised by the number.

Dental Blogs went on to advise dentists about how to educate these searchers:

If you want to make sure your patients are getting the solid, accurate information they need so that they can make informed decisions about dentistry, consider expanding the education center on your dental website.

This is really great advice — and one any service professional should follow, be she a lawyer, accountant, dermatologist, or marketer.

However, the author of the post goes on to add that dentists can expand their learning center with canned content — and this is where I got my marketing knickers in a twist.

Part of this twist is due to the fact that I’ve been reading Dr. Bill & Carolyn Blatchford’s book, Blatchford’s Blueprints: The art of creating practice success. For those of you who don’t know, Dr. Blatchford is *the* coach for dentists — he helps them achieve practice profitability by focusing on developing their unique vision, leadership skills, and goals.

According to Blatchford, “Vision is a positive statement of what you see, how you believe and desire your life to become. Vision is seeing the future of what you hope to be. Personal vision is not about numbers and goals. . . . Personal vision is the bigger picture of you. It is the values and standards that cover you 24 hours a day.” (emphasis mine)

Remember, people do business with people they trust . . . and by communicating your personal vision, no matter who you are or the job you do, you attract people who instinctively resonate with your vision, whether or not they know it.

So, my question is: How do you communicate your personal vision if you’re using canned content that “dental marketing” companies are willing to sell to you — and that any number of dentists are also using?

In the last few years I’ve had the opportunity to work with three dentists: Dr. Helaine Smith, Dr. Steven St. Germain, and currently, Dr. Anne B. Filler. All three have had me write copy for their websites (Dr. Filler’s new site is still under construction).

What has struck me with each dentist is that while each one provides essentially the same type of service — exceptional dental care — each of these dentists is guided, and indeed driven, by their own personal passion and vision (which I hope comes through clearly on their respective sites).

Dr. St. Germain, for example, believes in educating patients about their dental options and providing the “gold standard” in dental care. In addition, he’s pretty passionate about helping others and regularly volunteers his time on mission trips.

Dr. Filler also believes in educating patients as well as helping them maintain healthy mouths for a lifetime. What I love about Dr. Filler is that she’s very active in her local community: she sponsors youth sports teams, donates her dental services to various community organizations, and hosts high school interns, via the New Hampshire Partners in Education, who are thinking of entering the dental field.

Dr. Smith is passionate about educating consumers about the connection between one’s oral health and one’s physical health as well as helping people transform their lives. She provides her patients an unsurpassed level of care (she once told Yankee Dental workshop attendees that she will visualize a cosmetic procedure from beginning to end before she begins any work). Like Dr. St. Germain, Dr. Smith gives freely of her time and has been on over a dozen missions to third world countries where she provides dental care to children.

Because each dentist took the time to actually develop a website based on their unique values, passion and vision, they come across as authentic, caring providers — something you’re just not going to get with canned content.

Bottom line: If you’re a dentist (or any type of service professional) and you want to create a website that basically says nothing and sounds like all the other dental websites out there, use canned content. (It’s also a whole lot cheaper than hiring someone to write it for you.)

However, if you’re passionate about what you do and want to stand apart from your local competitors, consider hiring a copywriter who can help you craft your unique message that will actually get people in your office door.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Does canned content have its place? Or should companies strive to create unique content throughout a website?