Yesterday evening I posted on Twitter that I had achieved a “zero inbox” (i.e. no email in my Gmail inbox), and Chris Yates (@chrisyates11), one of my followers, asked how I did it.

Managing email — versus it managing me –has been my holy grail for months ok, more than a year now. I am completely overwhelmed by it. Not only do I have my Gmail account, I also have a personal Yahoo one — which fills up with clutter from temple, my son’s school, my personal stuff, and spam.

My problem is compounded by the fact that I work in different locations — from home, at my office, at my son’s fencing lessons, at Starbucks between client meetings, etc.

I tried Xobni for Outlook for a few months, but due to the work in various locations problem, I realized I needed email “in the cloud.” Gmail works well — but isn’t ideal, if you want my opinion — but email-in-the-cloud still left me with an overflowing inbox.

You can’t manage email. You have to reduce or eliminate it.

The strategies I’ve been training myself to use to aren’t difficult per se. You’ve read these tips in other places, but I’m posting them again because they do work — the trick is that you have to be incredibly disciplined and use them (that’s the hard part).

1. Don’t check email constantly. The checking-email-constantly addiction has to be worse than smoking. I have learned the hard way that I simply cannot keep Gmail open all day long as I tend to live in my inbox and get nothing done.

You really have to set pre-determined times when you’ll check email. For me, that’s now 11:00 AM, 2:30 PM and 4:00 PM. When I do check it, I try to process all of it. I even write these times on my daily task list. Sometimes I write, “Don’t check email until 11:00.” It works.

This strategy is still a work in progress but it’s getting easier. One thing that helps is to keep track of just how many “urgent” messages you get per day. For me, that’s just about zero. I’m not a brain surgeon.

2. Don’t check email first thing in the morning. Again, this is another tough habit to break. Instead of checking email first thing, I sit down and get right to work on my biggest task of the day.

To make this step work, you have to write your task list the night before.

3. Decrease the amount of email you send out. Back in the days of hand-written letters, the advice was that if you wanted someone to send you a letter, you had to send one yourself.

Well, it works the same with email — you send out an email and the person replies to it, putting more email in your inbox. I now find myself asking, “Is this email really necessary?”

I also found I have a really bad habit of sending multiple emails, either because I type too fast and forget to include information, necessitating another email, or because I’m giving status updates on multiple items.

Once I became conscious of this, I realized I needed to better manage projects.

4. Use project management tools. I’ve tried to use Basecamp, a project management application, numerous times, but always seemed to fade out on it. This is because I never really gave up the email habit.

However, due to multiple clients and multiple projects, I was just losing track of important details as they would get lost in the email shuffle.

I’m back on Basecamp and now that I’m better managing my email, Basecamp is working like a charm. I email clients from it and since everything is grouped by project, I can keep track of discussions and add to-dos and milestones as soon clients give them to me. Best of all, everything is located right there in Basecamp, making it easy to keep track of details.

5. Eliminate “status” updates and other unnecessary stuff. I discovered by accident that you can receive Google Alerts via RSS. What a relief! I’ve added all Alerts to my Google Reader — eliminating in one fell swoop dozens of daily email Alerts.

I’ve also begun unsubscribing from those newsletters I no longer read as well as those that people send me without my permission (in the past, I would simply delete them). For those newsletter I want to read, if they have an RSS feed, I subscribe to it instead.

I’ve also charged my VA with reading HARO emails for me — she reads them for other clients as well, so it was easy for her to add my potential PR opportunities to her list. That eliminated another three emails per day from my inbox (plus freed up some valuable time).

And finally, I eliminated all those “status” updates from social media platforms, including Twitter and LinkedIn, and configured my blog so that I don’t receive email whenever anyone posts a comment.

These are the steps I’ve taken to reduce email and get to a zero inbox. What strategies have you used to reduce and manage email? Post them below.

One thing about blogging — you have to post content on regular basis (re: at least twice a week).

Consequently, I always feel anxious when I don’t post, especially since I said I would be posting new marketing e-books and reports every Friday.

Do I have a good excuse? Actually, I do.

I’ve been working on my own marketing — and in order to get the project done by the end of February (versus stringing it out for six months), I’ve let everything else fall by the wayside, including this blog, my e-newsletter, sleep, and cleaning my house.

So, until I resurface, please amuse yourselves with finding Waldo. Cheers!

When Seth Godin released his viral e-book last week, “What Matters Now,” he invited people to spread the word about the e-book and post their own inspirational riffs.

The e-book download (3 MB file) is registration-free. Read it, get inspired by it, and pass it on.

Herewith, my riff.

Time

Who forces time is pushed back by time; who yields to time finds time on his side. ~The Talmud

“I don’t have the time.”

That’s the phrase that has run through my head for years. A destructive thought pattern, it’s kept me from starting projects, finishing projects, writing a book, taking big leaps of faith, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, taking really long walks with the dogs, stopping work when I’m exhausted, and just about anything else you can imagine.

It’s easy to blame technology for our lack of time. Smart phones keep us connected all day and all night. TVs blare their incessant noise in airports, restaurants, and the gym — clamoring for our attention. Computers, which were supposed to save us time, require even more time to get work done.

We sit in traffic fuming yet life rushes by at a hundred miles an hour. Just yesterday it was January 1, now it’s December 25. Where did the time go? What did you accomplish this year? No time to think about it — it’s time to plan out 2010.

We plan our time, organize our time, and try to manipulate time . . . but no matter what we do or how far we advance technologically, we still have a finite amount of time.

60 seconds in a minute.
60 minutes in an hour.
24 hours in a day.
168 hours in a week.
8760 hours in a year.
86+ years in a lifetime (if we’re fortunate).

When God made time, He made enough of it. ~ Celtic Saying

For me, how I allocate my time has come down to learning how to say “no” — no to projects I don’t want, no to time vampires who want to suck the life out of me, no to old rules, and no to other people’s agendas.

Saying “no” means I can say “yes” to what is important:

Being the kind of mom who cooks dinner every night, makes French toast every Sunday morning, and has time to listen to my son when he talks.

Reading, reading, reading.

Working out at the gym five days a week.

Getting eight hours of sleep every night.

Breaking the ingrained rule that says that to be successful, you must work more hours.

Having deep relationships with my clients.

Developing the courage and discipline to follow through on the “big” ideas that come to me in the quiet nothingness of time.

Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save. ~ Will Rogers

How will you spend your time this year? What’s important to you? How will you make your time count — not in the big important save-the-world sense, but in the little minutes of time where grace happens?

Will you be so full of yourself that you can’t hear your own voice?

My challenge for you: turn off the phone, the TV, the laptop. Don’t worry about being “behind.” Create spaces of quiet nothingness where you can hear your heart.

What is your heart saying — and how will you honor it?

One thing I’ve realized in the last year is that online networking does not replace face-to-face networking. In fact, offline and online networking actually go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Rather than try and explain how it works, I’ll show you how it does with three examples:

Jill Whalen, SEO goddess — I first learned of Jill back in 2001 or 2002. I found her Website, High Rankings, and subscribed to her newsletter. I would catch glimpses of her at Search Engine Strategies conferences but was always too shy to introduce myself.

When she started SEMNE, I joined, and when I opened a Twitter profile, she was one of the first people I followed. We exchanged emails here and there and then met for the first time last year. We’ve since gotten to know each other more — in fact, I even follow her daughter, Corie Whalen, on Twitter.

What all of this networking online and off has resulted in is 1) a rewarding relationship with someone who is smart, out-spoken, and a personal inspiration to me and 2) a paying gig as Jill introduced me to someone at a company (that I’ve been trying to get into for a while now) at her last SEMNE meeting. Wow! I was rather blown away by this, to be honest, as it all happened so effortlessly.

Lois Geller, Direct marketing expert — I have “known” Lois since I started my business in 1998, although she never knew me. I used to read her Target Marketing column every month. Smart, funny and insightful, Lois always presented information I could use immediately.

I don’t remember how I found out about it, but I knew Lois had published a book, SOLD! Direct Marketing for the Real Estate Pro, and when I needed someone to interview for an article about direct marketing and real estate, she was the person I called.

Of course, she graciously gave of her time and expertise, and I ended up with a meaty article that pleased my client.

As with Jill, once I learned Lois was on Twitter, I started following her, and since then, she and I have traded DMs back and forth — and she’s even sent me brownies simply because . . . she’s a fabulous person. I’m sure I’ll meet her face-to-face one day and really look forward to it.

Matthew Nelson, Web Designer — I met Matthew while giving a presentation at the VT-NH Marketing Group meeting a few months ago. He started following me on Twitter (and I him) and just the other day left a comment on this blog as “Matthew Nelson.” Because I know him by his Twitter name, “nhwebdesign,” I didn’t “connect the dots” until I clicked through to his site.

Even better, I learned via a Tweet by Lois this morning that she had given him a scholarship years ago. On top of that, Lois and Matthew have connected on Google Wave and have invited me to connect with them. Is that cool or what? Not only do I now have a new connection with Matthew, but he also knows Lois!

These are just three examples of how I use online and offline tactics to expand my networking base — and this post doesn’t even address how I’ve been able to uncover relationships between people . . . Debra Helwig who knows Ardath Albee who knows Brian Carroll, Jill Konrath and Laura Ramos . . . whom Ardath told about my Smart Women on Twitter post, which then prompted Laura to write about me on her blog.

And Debra “met” me through Michelle Golden’s blog, started following me on Twitter and then hired me to speak at her IGAF Worldwide conference.

Do you see how this works? It’s about building relationships and trust over time, not posting “hit and run” Tweets or posts on LinkedIn Groups that say, “Hire me! I’m for sale!”

It’s about getting to know people, being genuinely interested in them and when possible, giving back in the form of quoting them in articles, books, or blog posts.

It’s about sending cookies just because (which is something I actually do myself), hand-writing thank you notes, meeting for lunch even when you’re swamped, and remembering to ask about spouses, kids and pets.

And yes, it all does take time, but trust me, it comes back to you in spades.

Why? Because people do business with people they trust.

The DailyFinance posted an article by Anthony Massucci about how social media may be making us less social — as in, we’re afraid to do or say anything that might end up on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.

In some cases, Massucci is correct.

If you cause trouble in your neighborhood, your bad behavior could end up on RottenNeighbor.com — your neighbor can film video of you and post it to this site. Yikes!

Or, a customer can record a customer service call that puts your company in a bad light and post it to the Internet — as AOL learned much to its chagrin.

Or even worse, your “off the cuff” (re: off the record) comment can become the shot heard ’round the world — as President Obama learned when he called Kayne West a jackass.

As Massucci points out, our behaviors can easily be recorded by others and posted for all to see/hear. So it pays to follow some common sense behaviors when it comes to social media:

1. THINK before you post — Platforms like Twitter and Facebook let you express yourself (and easily become addictive). You really don’t want to post that you’re leaving for vacation. Nor do you want to post that snarky comment about a customer.

In fact, I make it a policy to never post anything about customers unless I have their express permission to do so.

You’ll also want to keep TMI (too much information) posts to a minimum — as this information can come back to haunt you in terms of lost contracts and/or lost jobs.

2. Limit phone use in public — I’m rather amazed at how much *business* information I overhear from people talking on their mobile phones in public.

Because we can become so absorbed in the conversation, we don’t “see” the people around us (nor do we know them usually). So we gab away, and in the process we let out confidential information that by-standers can easily pick up — and use against us.

True story: my lawyer friend’s firm won a negotiation because one of the partners overhead the lawyer for the other side talking about the deal on his cell phone on the train. Her firm now has a policy that no one is allowed to discuss client cases on the phone in public.

3. Practice good old fashioned manners — I do think that social media and the Internet have made us all a little more rude. Graciousness seems to have been fallen by the wayside. Where we used to send lovely hand-written thank you notes, we can now SMS — “Thanks for dinner!”

Bad manners includes yelling at sales clerks, screaming at people while driving, and posting nasty comments to blogs under assumed names.

One thing I’ve committed to of late is being nice — to everyone. I tell the front desk people at the gym “thank you,” and “have a nice day.” I let drivers go ahead of me. I wait patiently while sales clerks wait on those ahead of me. I compliment other business owners on their marketing.

The benefit of this good cheer is that it makes me feel better — and people respond in kind.

It also means my bad behavior doesn’t end up on a social media site somewhere.

What do you think? Has social media made us more rude? Do we need to be more careful about how we present ourselves in public? Do you worry that your behavior at a party will end up on someone’s Facebook page?

Let me know!

(Hat tip to Dr. Helaine Smith (client) who sent me the DailyFinance article.)

Julia Child and her colleagues, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking for the “servantless American cook” — re: the 1950/60s American housewife who had become dependent on her can opener, Jello molds, and Fluff.

Until I read Julia’s biography, My Life in France, I had no idea that Julia and her colleagues spent eight years testing recipes, ensuring French ingredients could be found in American supermarkets, and writing instructions that could be easily followed by anyone who wanted to cook French food but wasn’t sure how.

I’ve had a copy of the cookbook (second printing!) sitting on my shelf for close to 15 years and not once had I cracked it open. After reading My Life in France and becoming inspired by it and the movie, Julie and Julia, I decided it was time to start cooking.

It was while cooking (and eating) that I realized that the lessons I had learned from Julia could also be applied to marketing:

1. Read marketing books — Before MTAOFC, I had never made a hollandaise sauce. Reason? I thought it was too difficult. Nothing is further from the truth — in fact, it takes all of five minutes following Julia Child’s instructions. (Be sure to make poached eggs to go with it. Yum!)

It’s the same for marketing. Your landing page isn’t converting? Get the book, Landing Page Optimization by Tim Ash. Don’t know how to fully maximize Google Analytics? Read Google Analytics 2.0.

These days nothing with regard to marketing is a “secret” — all it takes is effort on your part to read and follow instructions in just a few of the hundreds of marketing books and blogs available.

2. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes — My first batch of hollandaise turned out perfectly. My second batch was a dud.

Marketing campaigns often follow a similar pattern. You send out a direct mail letter, for example, and get leads galore. A few months later you conduct another campaign that ends up costing you big bucks for little ROI.

Just because a campaign doesn’t do well doesn’t mean you’re a bad marketer or that direct mail is dead or whatever “wisdom” is bouncing around the Internet. What it does mean is that you tried something, it didn’t work, and you need to try again.

3. Make notes in the margins — After you cook a fabulous meal, take a few minutes to note in the recipe margins why it worked. For example, Julia Child says hollandaise can sit for a half hour or so on low heat, so I made it first, then made the poached eggs. Big mistake. My hollandaise fell apart in minutes. Note to self: make the eggs first.

When you conduct a marketing campaign, take the time to evaluate why it worked or didn’t. Write out your strategy, the vendors you used, or any challenges you faced during the design or implementation process. Writing notes “in the margins” will help you remember what to do “right” the next time.

4. Don’t stop testing — The glory of MTAOFC is that Julia and colleagues tested every single recipe, repeatedly. Then they tested variations. In fact, Julia even tested different methods for cooking asparagus. (The best way is to peel each stalk, bundle a half dozen peeled stalks together, and boil them until tender. Superb!)

One person who has the testing thing down is Anne Holland. Not only did she test, test, test while at MarketingSherpa, she’s now featuring people’s marketing tests at her new venture, Which Test Won. The results of these tests are sometimes surprising — which is why it pays to test, constantly.

5. Invest in the best tools you can afford — Nothing is more wonderful than super sharp knives that can cleanly cut meat, fish, bread, and veges. A dull knife leaves delicate fish ragged and makes it hard to skin and debone a chicken.

Lots of marketing tools exist, from free stuff such as HubSpot’s Grader tools to fee-based tools such as Yield Software’s Web Marketing Suite, that help you do your marketing job better. Whichever tools you use, make sure they provide the data you need to make informed decisions.

6. Invite your friends to dinner — The best part of cooking is sharing a meal with your friends and family. (You can make the meal even more special by including a cheese course. Hint: pull the cheese out a half hour or so before you eat it, especially if you’re serving brie cheese. Include some grapes and crackers and be sure to have plenty of wine!)

You can invite your friends to your marketing party by writing a blog, opening a Twitter account or hosting a Group on LinkedIn. Share your marketing triumphs and mistakes — your openness will show others they can share their insights as well.

7. Show your passion — Julia Child states in My Life in France that she was a “scientific cook.” All science aside, Julia was also passionate — about food, cooking, and sharing her joy with others.

Too often marketing becomes bogged down in numbers and ROI. We can all use a dose of Julia’s enthusiasm and joie de vivre — in our copy, our campaigns, and our lives in general.

So tonight, stop at the market and buy fresh veges, fish, really crusty bread, some gooey smelly cheese, and an excellent bottle of wine.

Bon appetit!

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.

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?

Since joining Twitter in October 2008, I’ve had the chance to “meet” lots of really cool women. Many of them are in marketing, some are not, but they all have one trait in common: they are very, very smart.

Herewith, my list of women you should be following on Twitter (in no particular order):

1. Anne Holland (@AnneHolland55) — After selling MarketingSherpa, Anne took a hiatus and spent three months sleeping. She’s now back in the entrepreneurship saddle with WhichTestWon.com and her blog, Anne Holland’s Ventures. Welcome back, Anne!

2. Sandy Carter (@sandy_carter) — Author of The New Language of Marketing 2.0, Sandy is a VP at IBM who writes about social media for technology companies.

3. Stephanie Tilton (@StephanieTilton) — Stephanie is an expert freelance white paper copywriter and one of the founding members of the way cool, totally hip Savvy B2B Marketing blog.

4. Jamie Wallace (@suddenlyjamie) — Like Stephanie, Jamie is a founding member of the Savvy B2B Marketing blog. She’s also got her finger on the B2B social media pulse and “gets it” like it’s no one’s business.

5. Lois Geller (@loisgeller) — Lois moved her highly successful direct mail agency from NY to Florida and never looked back. President of the Lois Geller Marketing Group, she’s also the author of SOLD! Direct Marketing for the Real Estate Pro. Be sure to check out her Joy of Direct Marketing blog.

6. Rachel Levy (@bostonmarketer) — Rachel just recently accepted a job as Director of Marketing and Social Media at Second Time Around. Hopefully she’ll keep up her blog. Congratulations, Rachel!

7. Ardath Albee (@ardath421) — Ardath writes about B2B marketing and sales. Read her fabulous insights at her Marketing Interactions blog.

8. Kellye Crane (@KellyeCrane) — Kellye, a PR consultant, is one person whose tweets I enjoy reading. She also writes the Solo PR Pro blog.

9. Beth Harte (@BethHarte) — Beth is the MarketingProfs Community Manager and publishes the Harte of Marketing blog.

10. Ann Handley (@MarketingProfs) — In addition to being being a terrific writer (she can write circles around me), Ann is the Chief Content Officer for the very popular MarketingProfs publication. Be sure to catch her on her Annarchy blog.

11. Allen Mireles (@allenmireles) — Allen, a social media consultant, is the Principal of Allen Mireles Marketing PR. She writes frequently about social media and PR on her blog and is frequently retweeted.

12. Jill Konrath (@jillkonrath) — Jill is the best selling author of Selling to Big Companies (a must read for anyone who wants to work with the GEs and HPs of the world). She’s also the SHeEO of Sales shebang, *the* Web resource for women in sales and provides training as well as an annual conference.

13. Laura Ramos (@lauraramos) — A VP and analyst for Forrester Research, Laura writes about issues pertaining to B2B marketing — including social media. Be sure to catch her insights at her B2B Marketing POSTs blog.

14. Helaine Smith, DMD (@helainesmithdmd) — Full disclosure, Dr. Smith is my client, but the longer I work with her, the more I learn — about business, working with people, and setting and achieving goals. She also has an “outsider’s” perspective on social media that is often refreshing. Learn more about dentistry and how it affects your health at her Successsful Smiles blog.

15. Kel Kelly (@kelkelly) — I met Kel at a Publicity Club of New England meeting and have been her fan girl ever since. She possesses two things I would kill for: daring and deadly wit. The founder of the “un-agency” Kel & Partners, Kel writes a blog that will leave you in stitches.

16. Leslie Poston (@geechee_girl) — A “social media enabler” Leslie helps social and entertainment businesses (think restaurants and artists) market themselves. I met her face-to-face at the last New Hampshire TweetUp — very exciting! She also publishes the UpTown Uncorked blog.

17. Kelly Parkinson (@copylicious) — Kelly is one of those copywriters who combines real creativity with business acumen to deliver copy that’s different, engaging — and that gets results. (Her Twitter profile reads, “I help companies fight robot invasions” — ha!) Be sure to read her fun and witty blog.

18. Jill Whalen (@jillwhalen) — *The* SEO goddess, Jill is a frequent speaker at SEO conferences around the world as well as the President of the SEO firm High Rankings. I met Jill for the first time this year — she’s smart, funny, and lives, eats, breathes SEO. Sign up for her popular High Rankings Advisor newsletter.

19. Sima Dahl (@simasays) — Principal of Parlay Communications in Chicago and founder of MarketingJobWire.com, Sima provides marketing that supports sales.

20. Ginger Burr (@GingerBurr) — Ginger is the person who helps me and lots of other women look good every day — she’s a wardrobe consultant, and a damned good one. Learn more about clothing, colors, and how to dress for the life you live at her website Total Image Consultants. She also has a new home study course — “Who Taught You How to Dress?”

21. Michelle Golden (@michellegolden) — I “met” Michelle online a year or so ago and am continually impressed with her insights and business acumen. President of Golden Marketing, Michelle helps lawyers and accountants grow their businesses. She also writes the terrific Golden Practices blog.

22. Debra Helwig (@dhelwig) — Debra is another person I’ve recently met and have come to know through Twitter and now phone calls. Smart and funny, Deb is the Marketing Communications Manager for IGAF Worldwide, an international trade association for accountants. She writes the pithy Service Minded blog.

23. Casey Hibbard (@casey_hibbard) — Author of the book Stories that Sell, Casey is the expert on writing case studies. She writes a blog by the same name.

24. Sandra Fathi (@sandrafathi) — Sandra is the president of Affect Strategies, a strategic marketing, communications and PR firm in New City. She and her team write the Tech Affect blog.

25. Michele Linn (@michelelinn) — Another Savvy B2B Marketing Blog founding sister, Michele is a freelance B2B marketing writer, blogger, and work at home mom. You can find her at the B2B Savvy blog (see link above) or her business site.

26. Margie Dana (@margiedana) — I groan when I see Oscar winners pull out a slip of paper to thank wonderful people in their lives. I needed a slip of paper when I made this list because I left off one the most fabulous women — Margie Dana, President of Boston Print Buyers. I’ve been a fan of Margie since before social media even existed. She is *the* goddess of all things relating to buying print (as in, you need that piece printed and whom should you hire?). She hosts monthly meetings, holds an annual conference and puts out a weekly newsletter. In short, she is a *must follow.*

I know I left out tons of other smart and successful business women. If you know of one who needs to be included on this list, please leave her name in the comments section (or DM me on Twitter @diannahuff) and I’ll start another list.

Additional Smart Women to Follow

27. Lilia Shirman (@B2BGuru) — Lilia is Founder and Managing Director of the California-based Sherman Group, a marketing firm that helps companies address complex challenges in growth and profitability.

28. Carla Clayton (@blondeaffiliate) — Carla helps Web newbies market their businesses via blogs, social media, websites, etc. Be sure to read her clever blog, Internet Marketing for Blondes.

29. Lisa Duhamel (@VirtuallyReady) — Ooooh! Lisa, President of Virtually Ready, does custom clickable Twitter backgrounds plus lots of other things to extend your reach online. Good to know!

30. Diane Hessan (@CommunispaceCEO) — Another very smart woman I follow but forgot to mention on the original 25 is Diane Hessan. Diane and her team help clients manage online communities. Be sure to subscribe to her Verbatim blog.

31. Kami Huyse (@kamichat) — According to Kellye Crane, Kami is a true pioneer in the social media / PR space. In addition to being the Principal of My PR Pro, she writes the Communication Overtones blog.

32. Rachel Kay (@rachelakay) — Another PR pro, Rachel’s firm, Rachel Kay Public Relations, is based in San Diego, California. Rachel writes the CommuniKaytrix blog.

33. Rebekah E Donaldson (@b2bcommunicate) — I met Rebekah about a year ago when she asked me to review her e-book about hiring a B2B marketing consultant. You can follow Rebekah via her blog, the red on marketing blog — great stuff.

34. Debbie Weil (@debbieweil) — Debbie is another smart woman I inadvertently left off my list — and one I’ve been a fan of before blogs and social media. (I subscribed to her newsletter way back when.) Debbie is the author of the Corporate Blogging Book and an all around smart woman. Be sure to check out her blog, BlogWrite for CEOs.

35. Penny Power (@pennypower) — Penny is the found of Ecademy, the online social networking site that is very popular in Europe. She coined the term, “Independent Capitalist,” which you can read more about in this February 2009 interview I did of her. She recently published a book about social media: Know Me, Like Me, Follow Me. A very smart woman, indeed!